![]() ![]() It can help to position the sensor in full shade and away from large leaves. Changing light from moving leaves can also trigger the sensor. If the sun suddenly goes behind a cloud it can change the temperature of some places in the field of view and trigger the sensor. The heat from the sun can trigger the motion sensor in several ways. You can get around this by covering up the light sensor with a piece of duct tape. They have a light sensor that deactivates the system when it is bright outside. Many motion sensors (especially the ones that are designed for security lights are designed to shut off during the day. If you want to use it during the day, you may have to spend some time trouble shooting it. This system works best at night because the sensor doesn't get any interference from the sun. Now whenever the motion sensor detects movement, it will turn on the sprinkler. You can also use an extension cord to give you more range. Then plug the sprinkler valve's AC power adapter into the motion activated outlet. Plug the motion activated AC outlet into the outlet on the wall of your house. With the water handling parts in place, you can now connect the electrical parts. There may be several seconds of flow through the sprinkler while pressure builds up in the hose. Once all these connections are made, turn on the faucet all the way. But you could also connect the sprinkler valve directly to either the faucet or the sprinkler. Using two hoses gave me a little more freedom in where I could position the motion sensor and the sprinkler. Then I connected a second hose between the sprinkler valve and the sprinkler. I connected one hose between the faucet and the sprinkler valve. Next you need to connect the sprinkler valve to the faucet, the sprinkler, and the hose(s). The fitting with a male garden hose connector should be attached to the "OUT" port. The fitting with a female garden hose connector should be attached to the "IN" port. So you want to make sure that the adapter can still activate the sprinkler valve when it is plugged into the motion activated outlet.įirst you need to attach the two adapter fittings to the sprinkler valve. The output voltage of some motion sensors will by slightly less than the voltage of a regular outlet. You should also test it with the adapter plugged into the motion activated AC outlet that you just built. If you hear a click, the sprinkler valve was activated. ![]() The easiest way to see if an adapter will work is to just connect it to the terminals of the sprinkler. It is possible to calculate this, but for the purposes of this project we can just use some quick trial and error. This is because unregulated power supplies will output different voltages depending on what circuit you are trying to power. I was able to activate the sprinkler valve with adapters that list their outputs as low as 9 volts. It doesn't need to output 24 volts in order to work. For this project, I used an AC power adapter to turn it on and off. Most sprinkler valves are activated by a 24VAC signal from their controller. So it should be capable of driving circuits up to 300 watts. In my case, the original lights where three 100 watt halogen lights. The motion sensor should be able to power appliances that are rated as high as the original lights. To use it, just plug the male power cord into a wall outlet and plug your appliance into the female power cord. Now you have an AC outlet that can be activated by a motion sensor. Lastly, connect the third wire from the female power cord to the red wire from the motion sensor.Īs a safety precaution, I enclosed all the connections in an insulated plastic housing. Then connect the third wire from the male power cord to the black wire on the motion sensor. Next, connect one wire from the male power cord, and one wire from the female power cord to the white wire on the motion sensor. Start by connecting all of the green wires and any bare wires together. When connecting the wires, all the connections should be made with insulated twist-on wire connectors. Then strip the insulation off the ends of each of the wires. Start by cutting the power cords and separating each of their internal wires. Now you need to connect the wires from the motion sensor to the appropriate wires on the power cord(s). This color code may vary depending on where you live. The black wire was the hot input to the sensor and the red wire was the hot output from the sensor. Now you need to identify each of the connecting wires. Start by disconnecting the motion sensor unit and removing it from the original housing. I made one from an old motion activated security light. These can be purchased from some hardware stores or online. In order to control the sprinkler we need a motion activated AC outlet. ![]()
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