Heath Zenith HZ-5412-WH 180 Degree Motion Activated Security Light, White

This….”outdoor” light lasted about a week outdoors. Worked great until it rained….and the fixture was installed in a covered area that isn’t directly exposed to the elements. Five days after installation it was dead. When I looked at this fixture to find out why it stopped working I discovered the sensor was full of water. The cheaper unit it replaced lasted for several years in the same place BEFORE this location became covered. I’d give this fixture zero stars if I could.

Update:
I upgraded the review to 3 stars from one star. After draining the sensor and letting it dry I tried it again. Unfortunately all the bulbs I tried were apparently bad so I came away with the impression it still wasn’t working. I left it in place for several months because I hadn’t decided what I was going to replace it with. Thinking all the bulbs I had tried couldn’t all be bad I tried them all again and none worked. But this time to make absolutely sure I tried a regular 60W incandescent bulb and it worked, so after drying out the sensor it is working again.

The PIR stopped working on an old 2-light security fixture of mine (not this unit). Because of the prevalence of LED-equipped security lights, it turns out there aren’t many PAR38 security light fixtures out there anymore. However, I already made the investment in some 30W LED PAR38s (super bright, btw), so I decided to buy one of these.

As other reviewers have noted, the materials aren’t exactly of the highest grade. Considering the price point, I think that the fixture is nice enough. Mine is mounted about 25 feet high on the side of my house, with the eave about 2 feet above it. The gasketing is fine, so I’m not expecting any long-term problems. The build quality (despite the materials) appears to be good.

Since my use case may not be typical (with the 25 foot mounting height), my only incoming concern was the PIR performance. I needn’t have worried, as the PIR has excellent range, and is exactly the sensitivity I wanted. I didn’t know the position of the photosensor, so I wasn’t sure if my eave was going to interfere. Upon unboxing, I saw that the photosensor was mounted to the bottom of the PIR. I didn’t really like that mounting location because I am pointing the PIR down at a fairly extreme angle. This was another case of me worrying about a non-issue, as the photosensor works as intended.

It’s my hope that I don’t need to purchase another security fixture of this type, however I COMPLETELY RECOMMEND it to anyone in the market for one.

SPECIAL SAFETY NOTE:
Use electrical tape on the crimped wires in the fixture! Since this is a 2-light, the wires for each light are crimped into the output of the PIR/photosensor and neutral. While that’s the proper circuit design, there’s a problem that someone out there will inevitably run into. The problem is that the single mount screw (to attach the fixture to the crossbar) is much longer than necessary. The screw must be advanced quite a bit to properly seal the fixture with the gasket, and in the process may short either your hot or your neutral to ground, since the screw can make contact with the crimp. The crimp is jacketed, but not in a way that would effectively keep the screw out if it was lined up properly. To be fair, I think that this could be a 1/1000 thing, but I would imagine that these sell by the thousands. A little electrical tape is enough to make sure that the unlikely possibility is eliminated

I recently purchased this unit and had my husband install it. His comments follow: Typical of Chinese-made products, there were problems. As other reviewers described, the bulb cover shells may not fit properly, and if you try to force-fit them, they can be easily deformed as they are made of thin gauge metal. Do yourself a favor and try-fit them first and make needed adjustments while you have the unit on the ground. The other more significant problem was when I tried numerous times to screw the long mounting bolt into the mounting strap/bracket prior to installing it onto the junction box. Surprise! The threads on the mounting bracket wouldn’t permit hand threading the bolt into the strap/bracket. This is inexcusable. I was then forced to freshen the threads of the mounting bracket using a 10X32 NF tap. I haven’t yet tested the unit as described in the owner’s manual as I decided to wait until dark. If the unit doesn’t work, and I can’t make it work, I’ll post another review. Just be sure to try-fit the bulb cover shells and mounting bolt while you have the unit on the ground. And don’t try forcing the mounting bolt into the mounting strap/bracket as you run the risk of cross-threading the threads on the strap/bracket, and you may then be unable to secure the unit to the junction box. Good luck.