Hello all

Just wondering last spring I got the ambition to put an Auto sensor on my garage lights that when you walk in or open an garage door my 6 overhead Lights will turn on. Took me all of 10 minutes.

It has been working great I love it when backing in the garage at night you can C everything cleary now, no more dim light from just the garage door opener or the backup lights of the truck.

This way when hands are full of bags/kids/stuff you can just walk out and the lights turn off after 1 minute of no motion in the garage.


Just thought I would share

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Sublime out.

 

Sounds like a good idea. How did you do it? What parts are necessary?

 

I got the switches from where I work they were gonna be thrown away so I took em home and hooked up the one for the garage lights and then have the other in the entrance room for the house this way lights turn on when you walk in the front door it is really great for at night. Also nice when running out of the house at night for a Fire Call "Volunteer Fire Fighter" lights turn on I can unlock the door grap keys off hook by door and garage door opener run down to garage open garage door on way lights there are on hop in da truck and tear on down to the fire station. Then when I get home in middle of night makes parking truck a little bit nicer to be able to see the side wall and back of garage clearly.

I would think any hardware store would be able to get this type of switch they are just motion activated and have a time delay to shut off, also have On/Off switch to bypass the auto sensing setting. Need to turn it to on when I'm working in the back of garage on the work bench other wise I end up in the dark every 2 minutes since back there I'm out of the sensing range to keep the lights on.

sublime out.

 

Those sensor switches are available at the Home Depot near me.

I have most of my exterior lights on motion switches so the illuminate when I pull in the drive or walk out the door.

I modified my garage door opener and mounted another light on the back side of the unit that helps illuminate the garage better (check the opener relay capacity). I also added a pull chain switch to the lights to turn them on without operating the door opener or cycling the power.

Garage door openers should have the lights on the back side of the opener anyway. They should not be shining in your eyes when you try to enter the garage.

 

I tried the motion sensor in the garage. I bought the one from Home Depot. However, I guess the 15 two bulb flouresent light fixtures where just too much and it got really hot and quite working.

 

When you get to that point you may need a lighting contactor. Check your switch ratings. An electrician may be able to help.

 

Make sure you know the lighting load before you buy a motion switch to replace your regular switch. If you have a 20A circuit you need to buy a 20A switch. Also make sure you wire it correctly.

 

Yep I also have Motion activated Flood lights on the entry way to the hose and the side door of the garage Makes it nice for coming home at night, since my garage is detached from the house. I kinda like it that way Makes escaping to the garage a more remote location. Though the only bad thing is coming home in the rain. Though I have an umbrella on standby in garage for those occassion's and also 1 at entry way in house so which every way you wanna go you can keep somewhat dry.

any way sublime out.

 

Thanks sublime. Put in my motion activated switch and am glad I did! Sure works well.

 

Glad you like it.

That is what FTE is for finding helpful things that will work for your own use.

 

Motion lights are a great home security device when used outside. A criminal is less likely to hang around if he is in a well lit area. It also scares them when the lights turn on while they are there. The more visible your house is with light and keeping obstacles out of the way the more secure you will be

 

While I use motion activated lights outside I am not sure I would want them inside in a shop environment where there were power tools etc. The more I think about it if they went OFF at the wrong time someone could get hurt.

Is there anything in the electric code on this?

 

I would think you could also have a switch that bypasses the motion sensor to keep the lights on.

 

I don't think there is anything in the code book about motion lights in a shop but I'll look it up

 

The motion sensor I bought has an adjustable feature which allows you to set the " on " time. If the on time is too short your body movements, or lack of, may not be enough to reset the "on" time program and the light will go out. I have mine set @ 30 minutes just for that reason. Unless I have fallen asleep, Quite possible at my age, the lights will stay on.

It also has a built in bypass or manual operator switch if you choose to have the lights on indefinetly.