Optical Sensor Output Overload

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This is from a previous post, and I'm including the "Electrical" part of the query into this forum:

Hey everyone! I'm having a few problems with the EDURobot, and I was hoping I could get a little help here.

Banner Sensors (QS18VN6LV) - We learned that the first sensor we worked with was bad (after a week or so), and after getting our second one to work it also went bad. We have a third sensor working, but in summary it's been a pain. After looking through the manuals for the sensors, we learned that the sensors were not working due to an "output overload" (blinking green light). One sensor blinked when it detected dark, the other blinked only when it detected light. How do we circumvent this error?

Thanks!