While we enjoy the sun on an exotic beach, that’s when burglars work overtime. They choose less risky homes, and any measures you take to secure your home will help deter burglars. A simple and effective facility is a light that automatically switches on when someone approaches the house.
What do you need?
Materials
- Outdoor lamp with sensor and watertight cover box
- 3-core outer cable
- Cable clamps
- Plugs and screws
Tools
Connecting an outdoor light with a motion sensor in 6 steps
You can opt for a separate lamp and motion sensor or a lamp with a built-in sensor. In the latter case, the installation is somewhat simpler.
- Run power cables from your meter cupboard through the outside wall to where you want to attach the lamp and sensor. To do this, drill a slanted hole through the wall, higher inside than outside — prevents rainwater from entering. For outdoor use, use a waterproof XMvK or YMvK cable.
- Screw the cover box to the outside wall, slightly above the hole through which the wires exit to prevent leakage.
- Mount the lamp on the wall. Choose the right height so that you make optimal use of the light.
- Mount the sensor on the wall. The place is important. A motion sensor covers an area of 180° and is most effective if a possible intruder does not walk head-on but straight through this area. Also, make sure that this area is free of obstacles as much as possible.
- Now, you can connect the different parts. The lamp has two or three wires: a blue and a brown wire, and sometimes, a yellow/green wire. With double-insulated lamps, this earth wire is not necessary. There are four contacts on the sensor: L, L1, N, and Earth. Connect the brown wire of the lamp to L1, the blue to N, and the yellow/green to earth. Then, connect the sensor to the wall box. Connect the brown wire to the L port of the motion sensor and the blue wire to the N port. The yellow/green wire goes to the ground port.
- Set up the motion sensor. Depending on the type, you will find three adjustment screws behind the decorative plate. With the first, you control the range of the sensor, from a few meters to about ten meters. With the screw with a clock symbol, you can regulate how long the lamp will stay when it switches on (from thirty seconds to fifteen minutes). The screw with the sun-moon symbol controls the brightness at which the sensor should become active: during the day, at dusk, or only when it is completely dark.
Wireless motion sensor
If you are hesitant to do the electrical connections yourself, you can also opt for an outdoor lamp with a motion sensor that works on batteries. The best — but relatively expensive — choice is a lamp with a battery charged by the sun during the day.
