Any sparkies on here that can give advice please

[RetroTed]

Basically I have a PIR security light outside just a cheap one from b&q and i want to run a second light off it so the both light up when the light picks up motion

I was told that i could use the switch live off the wire under the bulb as its activated by the pir sensor, so i ran a new 4 core wire from the original power switch so i had a spare wire. I then stripped the lamp and found a white wire and a brown. The brown was the same colour that went through a circuit board and to the +live power in the block connector

So I ran the new 4th wire from what i thought was the switch + live from below the bulb to the now + live on the new lamp and connected the earth and ground as normal
Now when i power itflip the switch on inside the house to power them up they both come on which is great but when the original pir lamp goes off the new lamp stays on ?????

Any ideas please
Oh and i am now running led bulbs to reduce the current draw

[TheDeuce]

RetroTed said:

Basically I have a PIR security light outside just a cheap one from b&q and i want to run a second light off it so the both light up when the light picks up motion

I was told that i could use the switch live off the wire under the bulb as its activated by the pir sensor, so i ran a new 4 core wire from the original power switch so i had a spare wire. I then stripped the lamp and found a white wire and a brown. The brown was the same colour that went through a circuit board and to the +live power in the block connector

So I ran the new 4th wire from what i thought was the switch + live from below the bulb to the now + live on the new lamp and connected the earth and ground as normal
Now when i power itflip the switch on inside the house to power them up they both come on which is great but when the original pir lamp goes off the new lamp stays on ?????

Any ideas please
Oh and i am now running led bulbs to reduce the current draw

Only the neutral and earth need to feed back to the power switch (if no neutral, that can also be returned to the existing light unit but you need to understand how to bridge the existing circuit in that layout), then the live has to come from the primary light unit to the slave light unit. Not sure why you need 4 core to achieve any of that. I'm guessing you've passed the live free m the power switch to the new lamp in addition to the pir activated live from the existing lamp?

The arrangement is also a little irregular but should be ok provided the existing light unit is rated to handle a bulb that exceeds the total current draw of both units in your setup.

The more typical approach would be a dedicated PIR sensor used to switch multiple dumb lamps on a radial circuit.

Edited by TheDeuce on Thursday 25th November 21:54

[Clarkedontgo]

Maybe a permanent positive and switched neutral?

[Rockettvr]

Hi
Looks like you’ve picked up on the permanent live rather than the switched live.
Don’t want to question your competence op but if you’re not 100% sure of what you’re doing maybe get in a qualified sparks?
Electricity is bloody dangerous with the risk of Fire serious injury or even death.
An example of when it goes wrong
https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/pu...
Please be careful

[RetroTed]

Rockettvr said:

Hi
Looks like you’ve picked up on the permanent live rather than the switched live.
Don’t want to question your competence op but if you’re not 100% sure of what you’re doing maybe get in a qualified sparks?
Electricity is bloody dangerous with the risk of Fire serious injury or even death.
An example of when it goes wrong
https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/pu...
Please be careful

I hear you mate and appreciate your input

[Mr Pointy]

You need a switchED live from the PIR lamp ie a live that is only powered when the PIR lamp is on. Does your lamp have that feature? If not you'll struggle unless you can find a place to connect to insdie the PIR lamp wiring. Investigate with great care.

[Hussein-z3ksd]

If its not possible you can get standalone PIR sesnors, so you could install one and then connect it to the two floodlights as you want.

Theyre not expensive

[Ganglandboss]

I'd echo what Rockettvr says.

You also need to consider what load the PIR switch in the first fitting is rated as you are now powering two lamps from the switch in one fitting.

Another option is to fit a couple of these at just over £30 a pop: https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LTFLPWIFI.ht...

They connect to your Wi-Fi network and can talk to each other. You can create programs with a smartphone app so one fitting will trigger the other, set time programs, set them to run dim until triggered, change colours, set PIR detection distance etc. They can even alert you if they are triggered and give you event logs.

[RetroTed]

Mr Pointy said:

You need a switchED live from the PIR lamp ie a live that is only powered when the PIR lamp is on. Does your lamp have that feature? If not you'll struggle unless you can find a place to connect to insdie the PIR lamp wiring. Investigate with great care.

Yeah it appears that I have picked up the permanent live ( brown wire ) and should of selected the switch live ( white wire )

I will swop them across tomorrow and fingers crossed " let there be light "

[speedyman]

Clarkedontgo said:

Maybe a permanent positive and switched neutral?

Do not do this. Switching neutrals only is dangerous.