Replace laundry room light switch with motion sensor
 

OK all of you Iris owners, you know where I'm coming from! You walk in from the garage and turn on the light to the laundry room, take 2 steps, then turn it off again. On and off all day long. Well I thought...let's replace one of these switches with a motion sensing switch and all will be well with the universe.

Instructions couldn't be more simple.....black to black, bare wire to bare wire, and white to white....er....what is this pink / purple wire??!! What??

Well white to pink / purple didn't work but white and bare to bare worked fine except now there is a slight hum to the light fixture (LED) that wasn't there before.

Does any of this look remotely right? Any comments you have would be most appreciated :)

Joe

did you have another switch also controlling the Laundry room light?

Yep, one switch at each end of the "room" (I'm using the term room loosely here.....more of a very short hallway)

Joe

does the other switch still work or was it disabled by removing the red wire?

the idea of a motion light in the laundry room is genius! i installed one at my ex girlfriend's house... having a load of clothes and reaching for a switch has become a hardship! GREAT TIP
& Thank you for the pictures

So what you've done is that you have voltage on your ground leg.

While the neutral and the ground are bonded in the panel, they are not the same. A ground should never be carrying any voltage.

The problem, as I see it here, is that you've got a switch that was switching the black leg but your sensor switch needs actual voltage to work which means it needs a supply black, a supply neutral and the switched black.

The red wire is used with a 3 way switch configuration or the 3rd leg for a fan/light. It may not be connected to anything. If it goes into the same wire sheath as the switched black, it's probably up in the ceiling with a wire nut on it.

I see whites in your box, tucked away. The white wire must go to that and not to the ground. When a GFI senses voltage on a ground leg it'll trip. Code also requires that grounds do not carry any voltages and now it does. That needs to change.

Yeah it does, on and off like normal

I didn't totally understand....but thanks I appreciate it :) I get "not right" though!

I tried putting the red / pink / purple (whatever color it is) to the white on the switch and it didn't work (wouldn't turn on or off).....does that mean anything?

No GFI's have tripped at all FWIW

Joe

IMHO, I think you bought the wrong switch, you needed one for a TWO switch arrangement, then the instructions would have indicated what to do with the extra wires. I would eliminate the second switch and place the the motion detector switch ion the location that would provide the best operation. Other option, go back to the original switches and wiring, and replace the LIGHT blub/housing with a motion sensing unit. Then you simply leave the switch(es) in the ON position and let the motion detection control the light.
Using any light control device designed for a single switch installation on a 2 switch installation is usually asking for a lot of trouble.

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IMHO, I think you bought the wrong switch, you needed one for a TWO switch arrangement, then the instructions would have indicated what to do with the extra wires. I would eliminate the second switch and place the the motion detector switch ion the location that would provide the best operation. Other option, go back to the original switches and wiring, and replace the LIGHT blub/housing with a motion sensing unit. Then you simply leave the switch(es) in the ON position and let the motion detection control the light.
Using any light control device designed for a single switch installation on a 2 switch installation is usually asking for a lot of trouble.

The third wire is your travelers wire used in three way switch configurations. For one switch configurations (ironically called a two way switch) it is not used.

Your instructions should have included how to wire this for three way switch set ups. A common way to wire it is not to 'eliminate' the extra switch, but rather use the motion switch in the other location and not use the travelers wire.

No, using a three way switch in a two way switch configuration is not dangerous, you just don't use the travelers wire (red).

Serious, hasn't anyone done house wiring here?

Bueller? Bueller?

Are there white wires in your box?

The white wire on your sensor MUST be installed into the white wire.

Having the white wire attached to the ground "works" by dumping AC down the ground leg. That's bad mojo. It can cause EMF, power quality issues, possibly a shock hazard and possibly a fire hazard.

Ground wires should only carry fault voltage.

Neutral wires carry normal loads. AC voltage is like a see saw. Electrons flow forward and back, 60 times a second. So the black supplies it, the appliance uses it and the electricity flows into the neutral....then back to the black again.

It sounds like the red wire is the 3rd leg of a 3-way. I.e. two switches controlling a 3rd thing. From the looks of it, that motion light does not support 3-way configuration.

It's been national code for ten years, 2011 or 12. Some states required it well before that

I see some white wires but they aren't hooked up to anything in the box....you can kinda see them in the first picture (the stock one)

How sure are we that the pink/purple wire is the "traveler wire" and...what is a traveler wire?

The ground wire is the bare wire, there is one in the wall and one on the new switch....I feel pretty confident about that.

There are also two black wires in the wall and two black wires on the switch....I feel pretty good about that too.

It's that forth wire I don't get. Would the wires under the other switch be different? As in....would there be a neutral wire green or white in color under there? I'm gonna look...

Thanks guys :)