Hi all,
I have figured out the cause of the lights NOT turning off. I fixed mine after three months, three different vt38a's, umpteen times up and down the ladder, etc. etc. I put the light up for the third time on Saturday, that night the lights came on when motion was detected and it was after dark. But they would not go out. Sunday I brought the lights down again and tested the vt38a plugged in to the wall and a detached light, it worked fine most of the time. One time when the light was pointed slightly towards the motion detector it locked on, but the rest of the time it worked fine. Back up the ladder, this time I installed the floodcam as far away as possible from the light, but still pointing in the same direction, as that is where you want the light and camera to point. Darkness, motion, light locks on again! Took a few mental pictures and thought about it today. Tonight I taped a 2"x2" piece of metal (solid dark plastic will work) to the side of the floodcam under the hood. Tonight it works fine. I can now put my ladder away.
Here is the problem; Floodcam circuitry turns OFF and ON the light only if it's dark. If the bulb is mounted so that it sheds even a small amount of light on the motion detector, the detector assumes it is daylight and then fails to turn off the lights. They are locked on. My shield keeps the light off the sensor so it doesn't think it is day.
Depending on the mount location and angle to view the lights may work fine for many people. If the view angle is in line with the three mount holes the lights would probably be ahead or behind the camera and not shine directly on the sensor. In my case the view angle was 90 degrees to the three mount holes, thusly the sensor and light(s) are beside each other and reflect onto the sensor causing the problem.
For X-10 floodcam engineers, the fix is to have motion turn on the lights if it is dark and turn off the lights when motion times out all the time, day or night.
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Topic: Floodcam Lights Won't Turn Off (Read 46568 times)