I had a motion triggered light in my garage installed in around late 2007, early 2008. It has worked fine all these years until about a week ago at which time it stopped turning off, it just stayed on all the time, so i had to just use the manual switch.
I had an electrician replace it, along with some other small jobs, last week.
My old motion sensor unit was made by STONCO in Union NJ (made in China), and i think that company was owned by Philips who closed it in 2011 according to a google search. The model no. was MD-501.
The electrician installed a new unit which was a Home Depot brand. The brand is Defiant Model DF-5716-BK-A. It looks similar in size and design to the previous one. Both were wired to the light bulb which is overhead in the garage.
I discussed what i want with the electrician which is that i want the light to come on when i enter the garage through the walk through door and when i drive into the garage through the car entry door. These doors are on opposite walls and the previous sensor was pointed at the walk through door, or that general area. It was able to sense the car every time the front of the car got even with the sensor.
The new sensor usually works well when i walk through the door but when i drive into the garage, the light does not turn on. I tried repositioning the direction of the sensor and it didn't make any difference. Then i noticed that every time i drove in and the car reached the area even with the sensor unit, the red light on the unit would flash, that is the light that indicates that the motion detector does detect motion. So, it's telling me that it detects the car but the light doesn't go on.
Usually when i come through the walk through door, the light comes on, but then, other times, it doesn't come on at all, though the red light flashes as if to say it detects my motion. Today, i walked into the garage and the light came right on. I backed the car out of the garage and went to the store. i came back and drove into the garage. The light was off and it stayed off even though i walked right past the sensor. i tried going in and out of the door, and when i would walk in front of the sensor the red light would flash but the light would not turn on.
I don't know anything about these things. I would like to find out if there is something i'm not doing right in operating this new device, or does it sound like it's defective?
I texted the electrician and he suggested i try turning the sensitivity up to maximum, but it was already on maximum. I called Home Depot and the representative consulted with the technical department and they told her to tell me that the motion detector only detects human body heat, it does not detect cars. I did not get an explanation of why the red light comes on to tell me it detects motion when the car is in range of it, yet the light doesn't go on.
anyway, my previous motion detector never failed to turn the light on, whether when i walked into the garage or when i drove into it, and i want one that works like that.
I would like to know if anyone knows how i would find a unit that is guaranteed to do this. After i adjusted the sensitivity to maximum, i texted the electrician back to tell him it was already at maximum and still not working with the car. That was about 3 days ago and i haven't heard back from him. I'm going to contact him again but was hoping to have information about where a unit that does detect cars can be found so that i can tell him where to get one, or get it myself for him to install, but when i google it or search on Amazon, i don't know what search terms to use. The ones i have used don't bring up anything that mentions motion lights for garages that detect the movement of cars.
Thanks
I had an electrician replace it, along with some other small jobs, last week.
My old motion sensor unit was made by STONCO in Union NJ (made in China), and i think that company was owned by Philips who closed it in 2011 according to a google search. The model no. was MD-501.
The electrician installed a new unit which was a Home Depot brand. The brand is Defiant Model DF-5716-BK-A. It looks similar in size and design to the previous one. Both were wired to the light bulb which is overhead in the garage.
I discussed what i want with the electrician which is that i want the light to come on when i enter the garage through the walk through door and when i drive into the garage through the car entry door. These doors are on opposite walls and the previous sensor was pointed at the walk through door, or that general area. It was able to sense the car every time the front of the car got even with the sensor.
The new sensor usually works well when i walk through the door but when i drive into the garage, the light does not turn on. I tried repositioning the direction of the sensor and it didn't make any difference. Then i noticed that every time i drove in and the car reached the area even with the sensor unit, the red light on the unit would flash, that is the light that indicates that the motion detector does detect motion. So, it's telling me that it detects the car but the light doesn't go on.
Usually when i come through the walk through door, the light comes on, but then, other times, it doesn't come on at all, though the red light flashes as if to say it detects my motion. Today, i walked into the garage and the light came right on. I backed the car out of the garage and went to the store. i came back and drove into the garage. The light was off and it stayed off even though i walked right past the sensor. i tried going in and out of the door, and when i would walk in front of the sensor the red light would flash but the light would not turn on.
I don't know anything about these things. I would like to find out if there is something i'm not doing right in operating this new device, or does it sound like it's defective?
I texted the electrician and he suggested i try turning the sensitivity up to maximum, but it was already on maximum. I called Home Depot and the representative consulted with the technical department and they told her to tell me that the motion detector only detects human body heat, it does not detect cars. I did not get an explanation of why the red light comes on to tell me it detects motion when the car is in range of it, yet the light doesn't go on.
anyway, my previous motion detector never failed to turn the light on, whether when i walked into the garage or when i drove into it, and i want one that works like that.
I would like to know if anyone knows how i would find a unit that is guaranteed to do this. After i adjusted the sensitivity to maximum, i texted the electrician back to tell him it was already at maximum and still not working with the car. That was about 3 days ago and i haven't heard back from him. I'm going to contact him again but was hoping to have information about where a unit that does detect cars can be found so that i can tell him where to get one, or get it myself for him to install, but when i google it or search on Amazon, i don't know what search terms to use. The ones i have used don't bring up anything that mentions motion lights for garages that detect the movement of cars.
Thanks
Last edited:
