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Electrical switch for outdoor security light(motion activated)

Home Improvement Asked by Deron on July 12, 2021

I would like to have the switch work to give power to outdoor lights when we are active on the patio, then hit the switch and turn off outdoor lights and send power to motion activated light. This way the motion activated light won’t keep on activating while family is on the patio. Then we hit switch to go to bed and motion activated light turns on and outdoor lights turn off. Was hoping to do it with one switch instead of two

3 Answers

What you are looking for is a 120v double pole switch (search google, amazon, etc for more info and circuit examples). That will allow you to use one switch to control 2 circuits. You would wire the regular light to be on in the on position and the motion controlled light to be on is the off position.

Answered by jonathan on July 12, 2021

If both sets of lights are on the same circuit at the same location, a 3-way switch is all you'll need. Since neutrals will be tied together, connect the feed to the dark screw (common terminal) and the load, usually black or red, from each set of lights to the two remaining terminals on the switch.

Answered by JACK on July 12, 2021

If your motion sensitive lights do not come on during the day when you walk by, then they also have a built in light sensor and are designed to not come on if there's enough light.

Simply re-aim one of your existing outdoor lights to shine more directly on the motion sensor and the sensor's light detector should automatically disable the motion sensing action.

If it's not possible to get enough light shining on the motion sensor, install some decorative string lights that you can turn on when you're on the porch. Have one bulb hanging as close as reasonably possible to the motion detector and that should do the trick.

Answered by FreeMan on July 12, 2021

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