Hey i am installing recessed lights in my bedroom and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on how you would have the main switch power all of the lights but another switch only turn on a few by the closet.
Electrical – How to control a set of lights with a switch and a subset with another switch
electrical
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Here's a quick ascii art diagram of what you need to have:
Power source First Light Second Light Switch
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| + white/neutral ----+---------+ | | |
| | | | |
| +-- red/switched -+--------+ |
| |
+------- black/hot-------------------------------+
Between the second light and the switch, you can run a 2 wire line (just replace the red line with the white and tape the ends of the white with black tape to indicate it's a switched hot). However, between the first and second light, you'll need a 3 wire line to handle the hot/neutral/switched combination.
The only product that I know of that will do what you want is the Lutron Maestro Light/Fan control. This product consists of a switch and canopy module. The switch will digitally talk to the canopy module over the single ungrounded wire and control lights/fan separately. The kits are one switch and one module but the switch can talk to 4 modules at once.
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Best Answer
Wire the main light and light switch as normal.
Wire the second (closet) light and switch as normal, but instead of using the always-on circuit as a feed, use the switched feed from the main light.
This means that when the main light is on, the closet switch will turn on and off the closet light. When the main light is off, the closet switch will do nothing and the closet light will stay off.
Edit: I might have misunderstood what you're trying to do.
If you want the two sets of lights completely separate, then it's just the same as wiring two separate lights.