Wiring diagram

3 Pin vs 7 Pin Photocell

Today we are going to compare the differences among 5 pin vs 3 pin vs 7 pin photocell, and show you their wiring diagram, so you would know which one you should to take for your application.

3 Pin vs 5 pin vs 7 Pin Photocell for NEMA Street Light Socket

NEMA is abbreviation of “National Electrical Manufacturers Association”, which is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developing Organization made up of industry leader, engineer, electrical experts, technicians and scientists.

Therefore, a NEMA street light socket refers to the standard socket patterns that is quite common in United States.

First, let’s take a look at one picture to tell the difference betwen the 3 pin photocell, 5 pin photocell and 7 pin photocell, you will get a quick undersanding by its appearance.

3 pin vs 5 pin vs 7 pin NEMA Photocell Receptacle

1. What’s 3 pin photocell ?

3 pin photocell has 3 prong outside that can be inserted into the three NEMA socket’s slots(picture 1 above),  where hot wire, neutral wire and ground wire comes from the fixture.

  • “L”- hot cable: black wire
  • “N” – neutral cable: red wire
  • “G” – ground cable: white wire

When you twist lock 3-pin photocell onto the 3 pin photocell receptacle, the light is connected completely. It can detect the brightness to automatically control on/off based on its default factory setting.

3 pin photocell wiring diagram

3 pins photocell sensor is quite commonly used for LED lighting dusk to dawn control, because it saves more energy than non-photocell version, and more convenient for automatic operation without people’s additional attention to switch it on/off.

Item3 pin photocell
Model #JL-203C
Rated voltage120-277VAC
Applicable voltage range105-305VAC
Frequency50/60HZ
Rated loading1000W Tungsten, 1800VA Ballast
Power Consumption1.0VA
Turn-On Level / Time-Delay10 lux / 15~120s
Turn-Off Level / Time-Delay60 lux / 2~15s
Ambient Temp.-40℃ ~ +70℃
Related Humidity99%
Waterproof ratedIP65/IP54

2. What is 5 pin photocell ?

5 pin photocell has 3 prong as well, but has two extra copper contact, as you can see clearly from picture 2 above, there are also two corresponding contact pads on the 5 pin photocell receptacle, where at its reverse side the dimming wire(dim+ wire & dim- wire) is added.

  • “L” – hot cable: black
  • “N” – neutral cable: red wire
  • “G” – ground cable: white wire
  • “dim+” – dim hot wire: green wire
  • “dim-” – dim neutral wire: blue wire

If  your street light or parking lot light has 0-10V or 1-10V dimmable driver, where there is  dimming output wire come out, then with the 5 pins photocell,  you can have more complicated light control than 3 pin photocell.

5 pin photocell sensor wiring diagram

3. What is 7 pin photocell ?

7 pin NEMA photocell sensor also have 3 long prong but has 4 copper dimming contacts from picture 3 above.  It supports more dimming/ two signal channels protocols at a time. e.g. low voltage 1-10vdc signal and DALI dimming / motion sensing input signal etc.

As we can see from the 7 pin photocell socket, it has 7 wires coming out.

  • “L” – hot cable: black wire
  • “N” – neutral cable: red wire
  • “G” – ground cable: white wire
  • “dim+” – dimming hot cable: violet wire
  • “dim-” – dimming neutral cable: gray wire
  • additional control cable 1: Orange wire
  • additional control cable 2:Brown wire

The 2 additional control wires should be capped off or insulated if you don’t use it.

Item7 pin photocell
Model #JL-240XA
Rated voltage0-480VAC
Frequency50/60HZ
Power ConsumptionAWG#14: 15Amp max. / AWG#16: 10Amp max.
Optional Signal LoadingAWG#18: 30VDC, 0.25Amp max
Ambient Temp.-40℃ ~ +70℃
CompliantcUL UL RoHS ANSI C136.41-2014 ,ANSI C136.10-2010
7 pin photocell sensor wiring diagram