I have 1 outdoor light on the front of my house and 2 on either side of my garage that are on the same switch as the light above the front door. How can I keep power to the three lights without them being on the switch? The three lights all have photocells and I want to make the switch control just the front door light so that can be turned on when needed but not burning all night?
Aren't the wires from all of these lights meeting in a junction box somewhere and then to the switch?
Thanks for any help!
Lighting – Outside garage lights
exteriorlighting
Related Solutions
I believe this is what you are requesting: the new light must always be off when the original light is off but can optionally be turned on while the original light is on.
To accomplish this you can connect the new light in parallel with the original light, but with a switch on the hot leg, like this:
Or use a new light that has a built-in pull-chain, which is a switch that will accomplish the same thing.
Yes.
The photocell is placed in series with the feed from the panel ahead of the switches. The white is the neutral, the black is the hot feed, and the red is the switched hot. Of course, this makes the circuit inoperable during the light of day and there will be no manual override.
I would install an astronomical timer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AP92N2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This also goes in series with the switches in the circuit but it has a manual override and does not need to be placed outdoors. The built-in computer calculates the times for dawn and dusk for your lattitude and longitude. Those default start and stop times can be adjusted to your preferences.
Good luck and stay safe!
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Best Answer
Without opening up the boxes and looking at how they are wired, it's impossible to answer with 100% accuracy. However, even without seeing the wiring, I can say it's doubtful that the wiring for all the lights meets in a single junction box. More likely, the lights are "daisy chained" together.
To do what you want, you're likely going to have to modify some of the wiring. This could include pulling new cable through walls/floors/ceilings. There's no way to know for sure what's involved, without actually seeing how the circuit is wired.