Exterior security sensor light with slave function?

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markdr

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#295942 7-May-2022 11:33

We currently have an old Securimax LHT0091 outdoor sensor light, unfortunately it got knocked during a house repaint and the mounting panel is poked, lights are still working fine.

Securimax has become Simix and the closest equivalent fitting plate looks to be a LH0332 but they are no longer doing the slave light function (turn on separate light at the same time) so I would rather not spend $200+ just to get a new fitting plate (they don't sell them separately) and not use the new lights.

None of the usual retail outlets seem to have anything, anyone know of an outdoor security sensor light that also offers slave light function or where to get a hold of a mounting plate?

Delphinus

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#2911268 7-May-2022 12:06

Can you just get a PIR sensor and then slave as many lights as you want behind that?

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SomeoneSomewhere

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#2911270 7-May-2022 12:30

Yeah, separate sensor is an option.

Anything with replaceable PAR38 bulbs is also going to be switching mains so can have slave lights connected, but be moderately cautious of how much load can be switched. E.g. this or this.

shk292

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#2911274 7-May-2022 12:43

You can wire the standard double-spot sensor flood lights to drive a slave, provided they have a three-core cable going to them. Just need to change the connections in the base slightly

gregmcc

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#2911278 7-May-2022 12:53

shk292:

You can wire the standard double-spot sensor flood lights to drive a slave, provided they have a three-core cable going to them. Just need to change the connections in the base slightly

The newer simx ones don't have provision for that, I'm guessing because they are LED with colour switchable, so the output from the sensor is extra low voltage (24V?) and directly drives the LED's, so no external 230V to switch other lights.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2911282 7-May-2022 13:04

gregmcc:

shk292:

You can wire the standard double-spot sensor flood lights to drive a slave, provided they have a three-core cable going to them. Just need to change the connections in the base slightly

The newer simx ones don't have provision for that, I'm guessing because they are LED with colour switchable, so the output from the sensor is extra low voltage (24V?) and directly drives the LED's, so no external 230V to switch other lights.

Yeah, but anything with conventional PAR38 sockets has to be switching the 230V because that's what feeds the bulbs.

gregmcc

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#2911283 7-May-2022 13:10

SomeoneSomewhere:

Yeah, but anything with conventional PAR38 sockets has to be switching the 230V because that's what feeds the bulbs.

This was the case in the past, but pretty much all new security light fittings are LED and the cause of not been able to drive any extra lights

markdr

26 posts

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#2911302 7-May-2022 14:15

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I did look at the separate sensor/light option but that is not as wife friendly as an all in one solution.

And the not available anymore makes more sense when thinking about the lower voltage of the newer led offerings.

I have a ton of glue on the broken fitting in the hope I can make it work in the mean time.

richms

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#2911304 7-May-2022 14:21

Anything with lamp holders on the round plate will have a switched output from the sensor available in a joiner. But on a couple of recent ones I got (the cheap ones only last a few years) that came with LED lamps they had a fuse in the wire on the input to the sensor head. Not sure what the rating was because it was under heatshrink. That may be a problem as they have changed the labels on them to say 2x20w max so it might be a really low fuse to stop people doing this.

A separate sensor is very cheap at the hardware chains and you can then put whatever light you like beside it.

Otherwise deta have a wifi controlled one which is how I have other lights operate off the sensors, just set an automation up in the app that when the sensor light is on, then other lights turn on, when sensor light is off, other lights turn off (well for the carport ones go back to dim warm white) Comes with horrible daylight low CRI lamps in it so I swapped those out. BTW anyone want a whole lot of aweful PAR38 LEDs?

Richard rich.ms

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2911314 7-May-2022 15:33

gregmcc:

SomeoneSomewhere:

Yeah, but anything with conventional PAR38 sockets has to be switching the 230V because that's what feeds the bulbs.

This was the case in the past, but pretty much all new security light fittings are LED and the cause of not been able to drive any extra lights

I linked two different fittings in my previous post, and there are others available.

CokemonZ

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#2911932 9-May-2022 15:31

@ richms

richms:

Anything with lamp holders on the round plate will have a switched output from the sensor available in a joiner. But on a couple of recent ones I got (the cheap ones only last a few years) that came with LED lamps they had a fuse in the wire on the input to the sensor head. Not sure what the rating was because it was under heatshrink. That may be a problem as they have changed the labels on them to say 2x20w max so it might be a really low fuse to stop people doing this.

A separate sensor is very cheap at the hardware chains and you can then put whatever light you like beside it.

Otherwise deta have a wifi controlled one which is how I have other lights operate off the sensors, just set an automation up in the app that when the sensor light is on, then other lights turn on, when sensor light is off, other lights turn off (well for the carport ones go back to dim warm white) Comes with horrible daylight low CRI lamps in it so I swapped those out. BTW anyone want a whole lot of aweful PAR38 LEDs?

What deta unit are you using? a PIR sensor? or is there a sensor light?

This sounds exactly like what I want, but the arlec wifi sensor light I got was dumb - you couldn't use the sensor to trigger other things.

richms

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#2911946 9-May-2022 16:19

CokemonZ:

What deta unit are you using? a PIR sensor? or is there a sensor light?

This sounds exactly like what I want, but the arlec wifi sensor light I got was dumb - you couldn't use the sensor to trigger other things.

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/arlec-20w-grid-connect-smart-security-light-with-movement-activated-sensor_p0223575

And then using some tuya based led lamps I got off aliexpress to be controlled by it. Will do another post showing what the app looks like.

The first gen of the sensor was a dumb piece of junk that just had a module interupting the power to a normal sensor to trigger the manual mode, and still had 3 potentiometers on the sensor like a 1990s one to control the time/lux/sensitivity. Second gen fixed all that.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#2911948 9-May-2022 16:24

I also have automations to turn them off at sunrise in the tuya app. This means they're on dim warm white when idle (about 0.5w on top of the stand by power) and go to bright nice white when the sensor is triggered.

Richard rich.ms

CokemonZ

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#2911963 9-May-2022 17:47

Awesome!

That's next weekends project booked.

MartinGZ

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#2933978 24-Jun-2022 17:31

Was considering the Arlec as my outdoor light fittings are failing. Installed Grid Connect app on the phone and the first thing I noticed was the app pasted from my clipboard as soon as it started. Sorry, but that's a no no, and I uninstalled the app. No need for that. I'll probably stick with dumb light fittings.

BTW, Bunnings and elsewhere is full of pretty negative recent (1-3 mths) feedback on that Arlec fitting and the Grid app. No way of knowing if it applies to the new or old version of the fitting.