I would like to set this up so the first on position goes through the motion sensor and the second on position would be for just turning the led strip light on and bypass the motion sensor.
When I set this up the motion doesn’t work. Both on’s create a circuit though.
It seems that it may be due to the (-) black wire may be what the PIR uses to cut the circuit.
Does anyone have an idea how to wire this?
Lighting – Wiring toggle switch (on/off/on) to PIR motion sensor and led strip
ledlighting
Related Solutions
Wiring diagram for Leviton PR180 3-Way Wall Mount Occupancy Sensor.
Reading between the lines ...
Where I live, a normal domestic lightswitch works like this
Fusebox Ceiling Switch
======= ======= live ======
Live ----------------------o------------->------o/ o-.
Earth --------------------o-------------------- |
Neutral ----------------o | o----------<--------------'
| | | switched live
| |
\/\/\
bulb
(At "ceiling" there is a junction box / rose where wires are joined)
Because there is no neutral in the switch backbox, there is no way to complete a circuit there and power any active component like a PIR motion detector.
Incandescent bulbs have a low resistance when cold and off butr develop a high resistance when hot and on.
You can exploit this feature to power a gadget in the light switch, instead of a simple switch you add a high resistance load across the switch, this allows a small current to pass through the incandescent lightbulb when the switch is off. This small current is not enough to light the bulb (the wire inside is not red hot, it might glow a tiny bit though, depends on current)
Switch
======
/
----+-o/ o--+---.
| | |
'-/\/\/\-' |
PIR |
|
-----------------'
However, any kind of LED lamp is not going to have the characteristics of an incandescent bulb which are being exploited here. Your PIR motion detector is unlikely to work if the lamp is not incandescent.
If it does work, it would be because the LED lamp's internal driver circuit can work from lower voltages and currents - so you are likely to see some unwanted visible effects. It might be that some manufacturers use a type of LED-driver circuit that would allow your PIR switch to work but you may have to buy a lot of different LED lights to find one that does. You might never find one that does. Without knowing the internal details of the specific LED lamp it is difficult to make any predictions.
I notice that the advert you link to has a link to a replacement part whose description says it does work with LEDs. It is reasonable to infer the vendor is aware that the discontinued one does not.
Note on terminology:
Your Q was hard for me to understand because you are using terms in a way that is non-standard (at least in my part of the world)
trickle charge - is a small current used to slowly charge a car battery.
active wire - is not a term I've seen used in relation to household power.
outlet - usually means a 3-pin wall socket (not a light switch back-box or patress)
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Best Answer
On the PIR, you are shorting
V- inandV- out. Are you positive the documentation says they are bridged together? If so, you can omit one wire. If not, that's half your problem.Also you are switching the inlet of the PIR, meaning you are severing power to it. PIRs often need to "get a sense of the lay of the land" which they then store and use as a reference for "unoccupied". If they also monitor day/night, it helps them to go through a couple of 24hr cycles to learn what your location's highs and lows are. These units do not have expensive NVRAM: If you sever power, it's like a factory reset.
So supply + and - to the PIR inputs at all times. Put the PIR output on one switch leg, constant power on the other, and to the LED in the middle. Whether you switch + or - should depend on what the PIR switches... check its docs. If you are not sure, get a DPDT and switch both.
If you can confirm that one of those wires is bridged inside the PIR, you can nut them all together, eliminate one of them to the PIR (redundant) and use a single-pole (SPDT) switch.