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One switch: On/On for two circuits?

clex2

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Messages
51
Location
Walnut Creek
I am in the process of finishing up my garage build and there are a few details that have come up. One of them is the outer lights for the man door and lights just outside the garage door. I want these lights controlled in two ways.
1) By a hardwired motion sensor
2) By a switch.

So my question is this:

Can a two way switch be used to turn the lights on and then when you switch to the other position, turn the lights off and at the same time turn on the motion sensor which will then control the lights?

Thanks in advance for any help on this issue.
 
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BigJohn20

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2011
Messages
168
Most motion sensors will have a built in override when they are controlled by a switch.

Starting with the switch in the off position:
Turn switch on, light is controlled by sensor.

Quickly turn the switch off, then on again:
Motion sensor is now overridden and the light will stay on until you turn it off.

Unless the switch is in an inconvenient location, this should solve your problems.
 
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Provincial

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 21, 2011
Messages
6,883
Location
Near Salem, OR
You can wire a 3-way switch to accomplish what you want to do. Power comes in on the common (black) terminal. One of the output terminals goes to the light directly, and the other goes through the motion detector. If you want to turn the system off completely, you will need to add a simple on-off switch before the 3-way switch.

Some motion detector light units don't work well if you bypass the detector. You will have to experiment with this.
 
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