Thread: Cheap/ easy motion sensor

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I did not think that it mattered that it was dark for these things to work. They are designed for outside at night to make lights come on in the dark right?

Right. They don't need no stinking light.

Thanks for the great tut!! I am going to head to the store in get the things I need to make this!!!

Mumbo, if you have a Canadian Tire they sell these lights without the bulbs for about $15. I picked that up, a red light bulb and 2 socket adapters for $25 and change all at Canadian Tire. The one I got comes with wire nuts already so you won't need those. It works great once you get it figured out! I'm using mine for a MIB

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

can you tell me where you got that floodlight from?

You can get motion activated flood fixtures from stores like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart...

I made this awhile ago based on the tutorial. if I can do it anyone can! I got my floodlight at a yardsale but they are rare. But I have seen them cheap at Walmart.

Good tutorial! This is an easy solution, and I like that the light bulb can be plugged into the other socket.

Just as I was going to make another one of these, I discovered the motion-sensing outlet from Home Depot for about the same price, so I now use that method.

What is a "motion-sensing outlet"? Do you have a pic of work?

I know that I'm a day late and a dollar short, but here's my two cents worth....

It really does matter which wires you hook to which on the motion detector. On a standard zip-cord extension cord, the wire that is striped is the common (white) and the smooth wire is the hot (black). If you wire them the other way, you risk a shock hazard. That's why the wires are differentiated by color in the first place. Otherwise, they would both be black.

Sorry, that's just the old electrician in me (40 years of it) coming out. I'd hate to hear about someone getting severely shocked (or worse) by mis-wiring.

Be safe!

Ron