Installing A Motion Sensor Floodlight - Wire Connections?

[jeffandgop]

Trying to install a motion sensor floodlight. The light fixture has these colored wires shown in the photo...The installation guide seems to indicate the Brown is the Hot wire; Blue the Neutral wire; and the Yellow/Green is the Ground.

 

I intend to connect these to my home wires using a Butt Splice.

My home wires are colored Black, Red & White! I believe White is Neutral and both Black and Red are Hot!!

What wires are to be spliced together? The light's brown wire with my home's red? The light's blue wire with my home's white? And then cap off my home's black wire as unused?

 

[Yellowtail]

Do you have a meter of some kind?

[tonray]

5 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Do you have a meter of some kind?

Multimeters are dirt cheap...I bought a perfectly workable cheapo one at Mr DIY for less than 200 baht...great tool to have around. 

[jeffandgop]

47 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Do you have a meter of some kind?

Why? To confirm my home wiring I presume?  I don't BUT if we can both presume that my home wiring is as stated- white is neutral and black and red are hot, what would you connect to the floodlights wires of blue, brown & yellow-green?

 

I believe I should connect the home red wire to the light's brown; the home's white wire to the light's blue; and cap off and do not use the home's black wire.....

[sometimewoodworker]

19 minutes ago, jeffandgop said:

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

Do you have a meter of some kind?

Why? To confirm my home wiring I presume?  I don't BUT if we can both presume that my home wiring is as stated- white is neutral and black and red are hot, what would you connect to the floodlights wires of blue, brown & yellow-green

If you have a home 3 wire setup and are in Thailand then your home wiring is faulty. There is no reason to have two line voltage conductors and every reason not to have that.
 

So the first thing to do is either confirm you are in the states or get your wiring sorted so you have line, neutral and earth, finding out why you have a faulty setup.

[bankruatsteve]

Can you open an outlet in your home and confirm the color of wires connected to the receptacle's L,N,E?

[Crossy]

The light is expecting:-

Brown - live or hot (220V).

Blue - neutral.

Green/yellow - ground or earth.

 

If you can verify what you actually have (it's unwise to assume anything with Thai electrics).

 

Thailand tends to use the US NEC colour coding:-

Black - live or hot

White - neutral

Green - ground or earth.

 

A multimeter and a neon screwdriver are very handy things to have.

[bankruatsteve]

6 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Thailand tends to use the US NEC colour coding:-

Black - live or hot

White - neutral

Green - ground or earth.

When running a 240V circuit, black and red are used.  Some installers will use black for  L1 and red for L2 in all circuits.

[Crossy]

2 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

My home wires are colored Black, Red & White! I believe White is Neutral and both Black and Red are Hot!!

 

Do you have a US style 120-0-120 supply? (certainly odd for Thailand)

 

If so connect Brown-Red and Blue-Black.

 

Otherwise it's Blue-White (neutral) and Brown-Black or Red hot.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

My home wires are colored Black, Red & White! I believe White is Neutral and both Black and Red are Hot!!

According to your profile you are in Thailand so your first step must be to get your wiring sorted out. At the moment if you have any 3 pin sockets then your system is in a seriously dangerous state, it is a potentially deadly situation and is essential that you sort it out.

[jeffandgop]

18 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Do you have a US style 120-0-120 supply? (certainly odd for Thailand)

 

If so connect Brown-Red and Blue-Black.

 

Otherwise it's Blue-White (neutral) and Brown-Black or Red hot.

 

I have 3 phase 220V. I live in CM. I believe the home wiring that I’m trying to connect to the light lacks a ground. Note I’m replacing another light that had different color wires!  The new model I’m trying to install was made in Israel and I’m wondering if it is for a single phase set up

[Crossy]

 

5 minutes ago, jeffandgop said:

I have 3 phase 220V. I live in CM. I believe the home wiring that I’m trying to connect to the light lacks a ground. Note I’m replacing another light that had different color wires!  The new model I’m trying to install was made in Israel and I’m wondering if it is for a single phase set up

 

Those colours (brown, blue, green/yellow) are a pretty global standard for single-phase.

 

I would go Blue-White and Brown-Black, insulate the ground (green/yellow) for now.

 

Dumb question, how was the old light connected?

 

[jeffandgop]

3 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

 

Those colours (brown, blue, green/yellow) are a pretty global standard for single-phase.

 

I would go Blue-White and Brown-Black, insulate the ground (green/yellow) for now.

 

Dumb question, how was the old light connected?

 

The home 3 wires connected to a buss that came with the light. 
The first pic shows the buss with lights wires on the left and the  home wires on the right. 
 Second pic closer view of the 3 home wires and then the third pic of the wiring that came with the old light

[Crossy]

I don't like that green/yellow connected to the black, leave the ground off for now.

 

The two white braided wires went to the old light?

 

If so just connect brown and blue to the same places. 

 

 

[bankruatsteve]

Or, is the braided wire jumping the red and blue?  Very strange.

[jeffandgop]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

I don't like that green/yellow connected to the black, leave the ground off for now.

 

The two white braided wires went to the old light?

 

If so just connect brown and blue to the same places. 

 

 

Im not using that buss. Im going to butt splice the 3 wires coming from the home to the 3 wires of the new light 

[Crossy]

So connect the brown and blue to the house wires that the white braided wires went to. Still leave green/yellow off for now.

 

[bankruatsteve]

I would check the colors used in a receptacle before doing that.  If you don't have ground in your home or you're not sure, don't connect anything to the light ground.

 

[Yellowtail]

2 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

I have 3 phase 220V. I live in CM. I believe the home wiring that I’m trying to connect to the light lacks a ground. Note I’m replacing another light that had different color wires!  The new model I’m trying to install was made in Israel and I’m wondering if it is for a single phase set up

 

It would be very odd that you would have three-phase 220, standard three-phase in Thailand (as I understand it) is 380. You need to check this. If you do have three-phase 220V, and you do not have a lot of equipment imported from overseas, you might want to get it changed over to the Thai standard.

 

 

[Pilotman]

why not buy a solar powered one, lots of good ones on the market and no wiring?  

[Crossy]

35 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

It would be very odd that you would have three-phase 220, standard three-phase in Thailand (as I understand it) is 380. You need to check this. If you do have three-phase 220V, and you do not have a lot of equipment imported from overseas, you might want to get it changed over to the Thai standard.

 

Thailand is (mostly) 3-phase, 4-wire. Phase-neutral 220V (where you get a single phase supply from), phase-phase 380V.

 

There are still some places which are 220V phase-phase (like the Philippines is) but they are disappearing.

[Yellowtail]

3 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Thailand is (mostly) 3-phase, 4-wire. Phase-neutral 220V (where you get a single phase supply from), phase-phase 380V.

 

There are still some places which are 220V phase-phase (like the Philippines is) but they are disappearing.

 

The US is disappearing?

 

Is not phase-phase in Thailand 400V? I think all of our production  MIG welders here were all 380V three-phase and our resistance welders were most all 400V (415?) single-phase (or I guess phase-phase). 

 

In any event, I think the OP needs to invest in a meter and figure out what he has. 

 

 

 

[Crossy]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

In any event, I think the OP needs to invest in a meter and figure out what he has.

 

This ^^^!

 

And, as I'm sure you're aware I meant places in Thailand ???? 

 

Just to throw another spanner in Bangkok (MEA area) is 230V phase-neutral, 400V phase-phase.

Yes, your 400V "single-phase" welders are intended to go between two phases.

[jeffandgop]

2 hours ago, Pilotman said:

why not buy a solar powered one, lots of good ones on the market and no wiring?  

Because location is under an extended roof eave on the north side of the home and no sunlight shines on that surface. Is in constant shade. I would prefer solar but don’t think it will illuminate well from this spot 

[Pilotman]

Just now, jeffandgop said:

Because location is under an extended roof eave on the north side of the home and no sunlight shines on that surface. Is in constant shade. I would prefer solar but don’t think it will illuminate well from this spot 

Up you of course, but I would be surprised if you can't find a compromise position to cast the light where you need it and catch the sun.  I have 5 of them covering the outside of the house and I just positioned them to catch good sunlight by day,  but also illuminate where I want at night.  To be honest, it was more important that I avoided wiring than I had the perfect positioning.  But as I say, a personal choice. 

[jeffandgop]

18 hours ago, Crossy said:

I don't like that green/yellow connected to the black, leave the ground off for now.

 

The two white braided wires went to the old light?

 

If so just connect brown and blue to the same places. 

 

 

There's only one braided wire.  Looking at this pic again, the left side are the 4-colored wires that are from the old light fixture and the right side are the 3-colored wires from my home power.  This single braided wire definitely was/is not part of my home power and the electrician who installed the old light inserted it into the top slot on the right side and connected the other end into the same slot as the old light fixtures blue wire.  

So, left (old light fixture) to right (home power) and top (#1) to bottom (#4), it had been wired:

 

#1- Red wire opposite braided White

#2- Brown wire opposite Red

#3- Braided white and blue wire opposite White

#4- Yellow/Green opposite Black

[jeffandgop]

18 hours ago, bankruatsteve said:

Or, is the braided wire jumping the red and blue?  Very strange.

It's jumping the old light's Blue wire only

 

[Crossy]

25 minutes ago, jeffandgop said:

 Looking at this pic again, the left side are the 4-colored wires that are from the old light fixture and the right side are the 3-colored wires from my home power.

 

Ah, 4 wires to the old light. I wonder what the 4th one was for (could be a switch output to control other lights).

 

OK, really the safest thing for you to do is to go shopping and get a neon-screwdriver and a cheapo multimeter (you can get both at Tesco).

 

Identify which wires are "live/hot" (if you don't know how to use a neon, please let us know) and connect the brown from your new light to one of those. The chances are good that the white is neutral (if it's not live), so put the blue from the light on that and see if it works.

 

Edit - Did the old light have brown, blue, red and green/yellow? If so just hook the new light colours the same and ignore where the red went. I'd leave the green/yellow off until you know if that black wire really is earth.

[Yellowtail]

10 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Ah, 4 wires to the old light. I wonder what the 4th one was for (could be a switch output to control other lights).

 

 

Three-way switch?

[Crossy]

6 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Three-way switch?

 

Unlikely (but without the instructions for the old light who knows?), but it's possible it was an "over ride" so you could have a switch in the house to permanently turn on the light. That might explain why it's connected to the apparent neutral, just somewhere to put it rather than taping off the end.