# Motion Sensor w/Dual Outlets – One On, One Off?



## GKling (Jun 25, 2013)

I'm sure many of you used those cheapo motion detector floodlamp kits in your haunts and hope I can find some tips for an implementation I want to do. The ones I want to work with are the sensor and two socket jobs, where you screw socket-to outlet adapters where the floods would go to trigger your gag.
What I want to do is make one of the sockets Normally Open and the other Normally Closed. What I'm trying to achieve is a room where there is a light on, but once the motion detector kicks in the light goes out and a strobe light starts. After the timeout on the detector expires the strobe switches off and the light comes back on. If anyone could point me towards some instructions it would be greatly appreciated.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

Don't know of anything off the shelf that would do what you want, but you could wire the regular light through the normally closed contacts of a SPDT relay to constant power, and wire both the strobe light and the coil of the relay to the motion sensor outlet. That would turn off the regular light when the relay is triggered.
I did something like this years ago with my "evil" welcome sign. You can see it at about 15 sec. in this video. (Can't read the sign because of the glare - it says "welcome")


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: I am sorry, I will totally be no help with what you are trying to do, and this is just a random comment, but when I read the thread's title I kept thinking....'Wax on, Wax off"....sorry.....I'm a nerd.


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## DreadKnightswife (Oct 16, 2011)

I have seen someone use a motion sensor light with two outlets do something like you want but they used the extension cord for their on lamp, plugged their motion sensor into it and then triggered their prop and music with the motion sensor. Not sure if that helped.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol: I am sorry, I will totally be no help with what you are trying to do, and this is just a random comment, but when I ready the thread's title I kept thinking....'Wax on, Wax off"....sorry.....I'm a nerd.


Aah Pumpkin-son, your random nerdish comment rings true. I thought the same thing when I first read it.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

It could certainly be done by adding a double throw relay, that would give you a normally open contact and a normally closed. Though this would require some wiring/hacking, etc.

The easiest way I see to do it with simple off the shelf components would be to make up adapters and cords as you need and to have a dawn-to-dusk socket included in the mix. Given a small light, the DTD socket would hold it's output off while the other circuit is on.

It sounds like you'd want your motion sensor to trigger the strobe light and also have it trigger a small bulb shining on the DTD sensor. The sensor/small light can be hidden out of sight, but while the light/strobe light are on, they would keep the DTD sensor circuit off, then when the motion sensor shuts the strobe off, the DTD sensor would see the dark and come on.


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## GKling (Jun 25, 2013)

Scare on, scare off, Daniel-san. 
I'm still looking at options, and will update here when I come up with a fix. I'll probably end up buying a controller, but if I come up with a cheaper option I will certainly share.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

corey872 said:


> It could certainly be done by adding a double throw relay, that would give you a normally open contact and a normally closed. Though this would require some wiring/hacking, etc.
> 
> The easiest way I see to do it with simple off the shelf components would be to make up adapters and cords as you need and to have a dawn-to-dusk socket included in the mix. Given a small light, the DTD socket would hold it's output off while the other circuit is on.
> 
> It sounds like you'd want your motion sensor to trigger the strobe light and also have it trigger a small bulb shining on the DTD sensor. The sensor/small light can be hidden out of sight, but while the light/strobe light are on, they would keep the DTD sensor circuit off, then when the motion sensor shuts the strobe off, the DTD sensor would see the dark and come on.


Never thought of using a dusk/dawn that way - good idea.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

all good ideas but the controller will give you a level of control (such as the amount of time that the lights will stay on, how long of a delay before it can be triggered again, etc..)that the other options just can not do. If you can solder and know some electronics then I recommend the picaxe microcontroller if not then an off the shelf controller (button programmable type) will work also.


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## bert1913 (Oct 27, 2011)

i use a 12 volt adapter and 2 12 volt relays. pin 87a is nc, pin 87 is no. (nc=normally closed, no=normally open)

you could run the 12 volt adapter through a controller if you want to regulate the level of control.


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

GKling said:


> I'm sure many of you used those cheapo motion detector floodlamp kits in your haunts and hope I can find some tips for an implementation I want to do. The ones I want to work with are the sensor and two socket jobs, where you screw socket-to outlet adapters where the floods would go to trigger your gag.
> What I want to do is make one of the sockets Normally Open and the other Normally Closed. What I'm trying to achieve is a room where there is a light on, but once the motion detector kicks in the light goes out and a strobe light starts. After the timeout on the detector expires the strobe switches off and the light comes back on. If anyone could point me towards some instructions it would be greatly appreciated.


Heres a basic hookup for a PIR Light Sensor toggle.
I'd use either some heat shrink on the connections or insulated blade crimp connectors at the relay to prevent any shorting or shocking experiences.

















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