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.

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 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.
Item | 3 pin photocell | |
---|---|---|
Model # | JL-203C | |
Rated voltage | 120-277VAC | |
Applicable voltage range | 105-305VAC | |
Frequency | 50/60HZ | |
Rated loading | 1000W Tungsten, 1800VA Ballast | |
Power Consumption | 1.0VA | |
Turn-On Level / Time-Delay | 10 lux / 15~120s | |
Turn-Off Level / Time-Delay | 60 lux / 2~15s | |
Ambient Temp. | -40℃ ~ +70℃ | |
Related Humidity | 99% | |
Waterproof rated | IP65/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.

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.
Item | 7 pin photocell | |
---|---|---|
Model # | JL-240XA | |
Rated voltage | 0-480VAC | |
Frequency | 50/60HZ | |
Power Consumption | AWG#14: 15Amp max. / AWG#16: 10Amp max. | |
Optional Signal Loading | AWG#18: 30VDC, 0.25Amp max | |
Ambient Temp. | -40℃ ~ +70℃ | |
Compliant | cUL UL RoHS ANSI C136.41-2014 ,ANSI C136.10-2010 |
