Hello,

I purchased the Leviton PR180 to wire into a 3-way switch installation. My setup is exactly like the wiring diagram in the instructions, but I cannot get the #1 switch (original 3 way switch) to turn the lights on after the motion detector has timed out and turned off the lights.

I have tried to switch the wires as the installation instructions guide you to do, but to no avail.

My friend is an electrician, and he could not get it wired to work properly either. The instructions seem to be very poorly worded especially in regards to the jumper that must be installed on switch #1 (which in my opinion would create a situation in which the 3 way switch could no longer operater properly).

Any comments?

tkrussell

Someone else had a similar problem, review this post and see if it can help you:

http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/electrical-lighting/wiring-leviton-3-way-motion-sensor-switches-21225.html

Walker seems to have a real handle on wiring these sensors

4walls

Thanks for the quick reply and reference to the other thread. I did read that one over and a few other similar ones as well. I am unable to get the switch working properly however.



This is the wiring diagram that comes with the switch. My installation is virtually identical to the diagram.

The instructions state "Replace wires from the common terminal and one switch terminal with short jumpers. Connect the two jumpers 'Line Hot' and 'Traveller A' together with wire connector."

This seems a little ambiguous to me and the wiring diagram isn't clear to me either. Do I leave Traveller A connected to switch #1? Does the jumper go from Traveller A on Switch #1 to Line Hot at Switch #1? Why do they talk about two jumpers?

Here is what I have done.
- left all wires on Switch #1.
- jumper wire installed between Traveller A and Line Hot on Sw #1.
- installed PR180 at location #2 as shown above.

Troubleshooting guide with the PR180 states that when power is restored and PR180 is turned to ON position, then:
- if light turns ON when Switch #1 is in either position (as mine was), then turn PR180 to AUTO
- now when PR180 is in AUTO, Switch #1 cannot turn lights ON. So the instructions say to reverse Black and Yellow wires on the PR180.

I followed the directions to reverse the wires and then the lights would only come on if Switch #1 was in the UP or DOWN position. This prompts you to reverse the Red and Yellow wires on the PR180.

Nothing seems to make the switch operate correctly. I cannot get Switch #1 to turn the lights on. I also exchanged the PR180 at the hardware store for another unit in case my original unit was faulty, but this did not help.

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

Christopher Grant

The diagram is partially correct.

The actual wiring is correct except for the colors of the wires on the sensor.

Black should be red.

Red should be Yellow/red.

And yellow should be Black.

The three way switch acts as a remote trigger to activate the sensor from a remote location.

In other words, the sensor needs constant power on the red lead. The black lead goes to the light, and the yellow/red lead triggers the sensor to activate for the timed period when its state changes either from on to off, or off to on.

4walls

Thanks for the reply, but my electrician tried to wire it several different ways (as I had tried before I called the professional in to 'do it right'). Neither he nor I could find a wiring combination that worked.

We could not get the remote 3way switch to trigger the motion detector switch. I may have mentioned previously that we also tried another switch, thinking that the switch itself may have been faulty, but a different (same model number) switch did not rectify the problem.

I would be curious to know if anyone has ever had this switch working so that the remote 3way switch is fully operational still.

klricks

I also have same problem as 4walls. The other 3 way switch does nothing.

Note that the diagram that I have is different than the one that 4walls posted and also different then what Chis Grant said.
My diagram shows. Red to light, Yellow/red stripe to traveler B and black to full time hot (same as diagram).
I tried to connect as Chis Grant said and it made no difference.
It is as though the other switch is not there.
Could have bought the single pole model and made it function like this for $5 less....

Also Note: In order to wire as shown, you need 2 jumpers. Only one jumper came in the package.

The instructions say nothing at all about the function of the other switch.

Kevin

4walls

This is a strange one. It seems that some people have been able to get the 3way switch working, but I never did. I had an electrician work on it and he wasn't able to make it work properly either.

So now I, like klricks, spent $5 too much for the 3 way switch and installed it anyway. The other switch at the end of the hall is just for show now. Luckily for me, the motion detector is quite sensitive, so I can do without the other switch in the circuit.

klricks

OK my switch seems to be working now.
I have it wired as Chris Grant said.

Red to Traveler A & hot wire.
Yellow/Red to Traveler B
Black to light.
(This is NOT liike the printed instructions say and NOT like the image found on the Leviton web page).

Now when the other switch is changed the green LED will come on for a few seconds and the light will come on IF the room is dark enough (depending on the setting of the sensitivity control).

Note: When I turn the other switch one way, the light comes on immediately, turn it the other way and there is a 2 or 3 second delay before the light comes on.

I wish that throwing the other 3 way switch would override the daylight control but keep the time delay.
My setup is in a laundry room/ garage entry. With the switches only 6' apart.
When I am just passing through, I don't want the light to come on in daylight. When I am unloading the dryer or something, I may want the light on. In this case I have to either cup my hand over the sensor window or turn the slider switch to ON and hopefully for my sake not forget to turn it off..... Not as easy as fliping the other 3 way switch would be.

Another possibility for your problem. The PR180 must be at the switch location which has the cable that goes to the light.
The original 3 way switch must remain at the box with the full time hot wire.

I think it will work for situations where the hot feed is at the light box instead of one of the switch boxes. The PR180 still has to be at the correct location but, you could easily change the wiring inside the light box to have the PR180 at the other switch location.

In my case I would like the PR180 facing the garage door instead of facing the kitchen so the liight does not come on from motions detected in the kitchen area. I can't do that because of the way the wiring was done.


Kevin

klricks

Here I am again making a reply to my own message....
I got an email from the tech support at Leviton.
Evedently there are 2 revisions of the PR180.

The older one has Red, Black and a (solid) Yellow wire.
The newer one has Red, Black and a Yellow/Red striped wire.
The wiring of these are different depending on which rev. you have.

Also I was wrong about having to have the PR180 in the box that goes to the light. These will work at either the box with the hot wire or at the box with the wire leading to the light box. The tech sent me 4 pictures that show how to wire the PR180.

I don't think even a real electrician would be able to figure these out without the diagrams. At least the user would not want to have to pay for the time it would take to figure things out. Without knowing, I wouldn't have just tried every combination for fear of destroying the device. It's a wonder why the proper documentation is not in the box or even on the Leviton web site.

Here are the 4 diagrams:



[SIZE="5"]Old version with PR180 at box with hot wire:[/SIZE]






[SIZE="5"]Old version with PR180 at the box with wires going to light box:[/SIZE]





[SIZE="5"]New version with PR180 at box with hot wire:[/SIZE]





[SIZE="5"]New version with RP180 at box with wire going to light:[/SIZE]



Hope this helps
Kevin

dfbishop

I have had the same problem as 4walls and klricks – namely, the sensor works fine but the remote 3-way switch has no effect. The hot wire is in the box with the 3-way PR180 and the load wire is in the box with the remote 3-way switch. I wired it according to the above diagram from klricks:

New version with PR180 at box with hot wire

This is my third PR180 from Home Depot. The first had been opened previously and was dead in the water on installation. The second and third sensed fine, but the remote switch had no effect. I spoke at length with a Leviton technician who said the above wiring diagram was correct. Strangely, he said that shorting the black and yellow wires at the sensor would not work, even though as I understand it, that is exactly what the standard 3-way switch is doing (a single pole, double throw switch, right?). Anyway, even though “it goes against 100 years of policy”, the supervisor at Leviton agreed to send me one that works and I will try it out. Does anyone understand the circuit inside the PR180? It seems to need to be able to handle having 110 coming in on the yellow/red line if someone throws the remote switch while the light is on, and also turn on 110 to the black wire when the remote switch connects the two brass terminals when the light if off. The technician also said it didn’t matter which position the remote switch was in when the light times out, it would trigger the sensor when it was switched. This suggests there is some printed circuit in the sensor handling the situation. The technician also said that one needed to wait for at least 30 seconds after the light went out before the remote switch would work. Oh for the good old days when you could get a schematic diagram of the internal electronics and really understand how things work.