The Wall Switch Motion Sensor How-to
    
    
NOTE: The information on this page is for informational purposes only. I can not be held liable for any damages to anyone, or any property that may be damaged by the use of this information. If you are not comfortable with electrical work then make friends with an electrician or someone who knows what they are doing.  
    
    
In this section you are going to learn how to hack a motion sensor wall switch also known as an occupancy sensor it comes with two adjustment wheels. One to control the amount of ambient light that the switch will activate the other wheel adjustment controls the length of time that the unit will stay once motion is no longer detected. It is adjustable from 15 seconds to 15 minutes.
    
    
The items that you will need:

1) The motion sensor
2) An electrical box
3) A sacrificial extension cord
4) Wire Nuts
5) Black Tape

NOTE: The electrical box pictured was later changed to a deeper plastic box because it did not fit in the metal electrical box. The strain reliefs in the picture therefore were no longer needed.



Take your extension cord and cut it half or wherever you want the sensor to be along the cord. Identify the ground (green), the neutral (white), and the Hot (black or red) wires from the cord halves strip the wirers so they can be connected with wire nuts and tape. The grounds (green) and the neutral (white) wires were connected together from the cord halves. The Hot wire was then split among the remaining two switch wires. Follow the instructions to see which one goes where.




In the picture below you can see the new electrical box. This box had more room to fit the sensor and the wire connections. The box only has one input hole for the wires. Both halves of the extension cords were fed through hole and then taped together with enough tape so that they could no longer fit back out through the hole. This became the strain relief for this box. All the wire connections were connected with wire nuts and tape. And then the box was closed up.




The extension cord is the type that has 3 plugs that can be plugged into it. Also note the box has four nail tabs so that this box can be screwed to a board if needed.