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How to install and troubleshoot photo eye

Multimeter

Test for breaks in wire/ Test for voltage
Most appliance require 80% rated voltage to function correctly
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Safety when testing wires:
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Tape tester leads to wood sticks to keep hands away from power.
Use non-contact voltage tester before touching wires.
Never touch or lean into any made of metal.
Remove metal objects from pockets.
Do not use oxygen or fuel accelerants in same room as electrical repairs

Resource:
Basic house wiring

Non-contact voltage tester

Test for power without touching connectors
NEVER assume power is OFF
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How to test electric power is off

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Blue for 16-14 wire
Yellow for 12-10 wire

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Treminals

Terminals

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Push on wire connectors

Push-on wire connectors in place of twist-on connectors

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Red 3P connector for 10-14 gauge wire
Lever connectors for stranded wire at Amazon
remove cable staple
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linesman pliers
When removing insulation from wire, do NOT score or put cuts on surface of copper wire. Doing so increases resistances on wire and creates weak point.
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Use solid copper wire
Fire inside timer caused by stranded wire
Keep enclosure door closed at all times
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Timer caught fire
General troubleshoot-
1) Check that photo eye rating matches voltage and wattage of Load. Each device has a volt and amp rating located on the device. Some are rated 120-277, other rated 240 volt etc.
2) Blink on during day ... incorrect wiring
3) blink during night .... too much local light, turn photo eye away from light. Sodium bulb near end of life. Test by covering eye with black tape.
4) never turns off: low line voltage, wrong voltage rating, excessive load (you cannot use a photoeye to control 1 Hp motor for example)
5) never turns on: lamp burned out, voltage too high, wrong voltage, too much ambient light, device defective or burned out.
6) operates normally for a while and then remains on ,,, excess load (motor, too many bulbs) and contacts are fused. Replace photo eye.
7) fails to turn off, and appears burned ...  lightning strike or surge might have burned out photoeye

Check that power line is not running under or over voltage
Check that wiring is correct using diagrams below
With large loads such as several lights or motor etc, use photoeye to turn a contactor ON-OFF and let the contactor points handle heavy amp load.

Troubleshoot photo eye manual/ pdf
Troubleshoot household electricity
Wiids 59409

Woods 59408 120 Volt photocell without wallplate

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59409 at Amazon
Fixed photo control

Manuals:
Woods 59409 manual
Sell sheet
Photoeye how-to
How to wire and troubleshoot photo-eye
Reverse photo eye so it turns ON in day
Woods 59409 photo eye

Woods 59409 120 volt photocell with wallplate

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59409 at Amazon
Fixed photo control
Photo controls at Amazon

Manuals:
Woods 59409 manual
Sell sheet
swivel photo eye

120 volt swivel photo eye

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Photo controls at Amazon

Photoeye how-to
How to wire and troubleshoot photo-eye
Reverse photo eye so it turns ON in day
Twist lock photo eye

Twist lock photo eye

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Twist lock photo control
Photo controls at Amazon
Shorting cap

Shorting cap by-passes the photeye control, and lets you control outdoor light with switch or timer or separate photoeye
How to wire photo eyes
How to wire photo eye
Another image
120 Volt photocell wiring
Photo eye control requires Neutral wire to power the internal switch.
When exposed to light, the photo eye turns off internal switch, and cuts power between black hot wire and red wire to light.
When darkness is sensed by photo eye, the switch is turned on and power flows to light through red wire.
Neutral wire completes the circuit.
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Photo eyes at Amazon

Resources:
Read about 120Volt circuit

Intermatic photo controls sell sheet with model numbers
Photo control sell sheet

Do not face photo eye toward direct sun, to avoid damage.
Face photo eye away from outdoor lights, to avoid blinking
Dual lights Add photocell to outdoor lights
Leave switch turned ON

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Buy Tork 3002 208-240V at Amazon
120Volt photo control
Add photocell to outdoor lights
Larger image
208-240 Volt photocell wiring
120Volt photo eye can control 240Volt load as long as Neutral wire is present.
Photo eye control requires Neutral wire to power the internal switch. (Or for non-code-compliant solution, connect white wire on photocell to bare ground wire)

240Volt circuit can be turned off by turning off power to either Hot1 or Hot2. This is called turning off 'one leg' in 240V circuit.

12-3 wire or 10-3 wire is needed to provide 2 hot legs and 1 neutral
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Photo eyes at Amazon
Resources:
Read about 240Volt circuit

Larger image of photocell wiring
More illustrations
Photoeye wiring
120Volt
277Volt
240Volt photoeye
208-277V
480Volt

Intermatic resources:
Photo controls at Intermatic
K4200 sell sheet 120-277V, 480V, 208-277Volt
K4100 sell sheet all voltages

Search for 208-240 Volt photo control:
K4423M 208-277 Volt photo control at Intermatic
K4423 at Amazon
Buy Tork 3002 mechanism at Amazon
Wire photo eye to pump
High amp loads/ Motor, multiple bulbs
How to control motor or pump with photo eye
Ordinary Contactor turns pump turns ON at Night.
Use Dayton 5X847 relay to reverse, and turn plump ON in Day
Use illustrated wiring to control pumps or any large amp load that exceeds timer rating.
Resources:
Example definite purpose contactors

Optional: Add 15 amp busman line fuse to black wire going to photo eye to protect device if amp load of motor exceeds photo eye maximum load rating. See illustration

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Contactor
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Read more about fuseholders
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Omron LY23 AC Model terminals/ back to front:
7-8 magnet terminals (turned opposite direction from other pins)
5-6 common terminals
3-4 NO normally open terminals (power is off when relay off)
1-2 NC normally closed terminals (power is On when relay is off)
Load rating 7.5 amps AC
900 watts incandescent @ 120V
1800 watts incandescent @ 240V
1/4 Hp motor @ 120V; 1/2 Hp @ 240V
Reverse photo-eye so Load turns ON in daylight
To reverse operation of photo-eye
So Load comes on during daylight hours
photo eye connected to DPDT relay

30 Amp relay x 80% = 24 amp max up to 2880 watt @ 120V or 5600 watt @ 240V
30 amp 10 gauge wire up to 2 Hp @ 50' or 1.5 Hp @ 100' @ 120V See load charts
Use Omron 120volt LY2-AC 8-pin relay for 7.5 amp.
    NO NC Relay
    7.5Amp Omron         30Amp DPDT
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Omron LY2 at Amazon / Choose 120Volt coil
30 Amp DPDT relay at Amazon

Resources:
Omron relay/Page 450 / pdf
How to wire photoeye so it turns off 4 hours later
1-2-3-4-5-6-8 hours later
Down to the minute, second, or hours
Add delay timer to photoeye circuit

Light turns on normally at dusk, then turns off after preset time expires.
Set the delay timer to the exact minute, second or hour.
Delay timer activates when photeye turns ON, and light turns on normally.
When delay period expires, the light turns off, and timer resets to zero,. Timer and light remain OFF until photoeye activates the circuit again next night.

Illustration shows twin timer. Also pictured below.
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Omron twin timer manual
Resource:
How to wire twin and one-shot timers

Wire sizes
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Select correct wire size
How to select and install wire connector
277 480 3-phase WYE 3-phase link
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How to install 3-phase surge protector
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