Remote Light Switch for Detached Garage

[Ragtime Kid]

Hi!

I built a detached 800 sq foot "showroom" garage about 100 feet from the house and am looking for a way to operate the exterior lighting remotely. The issue is, there are two 3-way switches that control the lighting -- one just inside the man door entrance and the other in between the 2 carriage doors. Is there a way to replace one of these switches with something I can operate with a remote control push button and not have to go out in the cold and rain just to turn the outside lights on at night?

 

[loganb]

Don't know if the range works, but a Lutron Caseta could do that....do some searching on the range side though...I've used them from 30 or 40 ft inside thru walls

 

[Ragtime Kid]

Thanks for the quick reply! I keep seeing that none of these works when you have two 3-way switches on a circuit (because if you flip one of them off, you kill the power to the remote unit apparently). Have you done it that way? Maybe I have to remove one of the two and replace it with the Caseta?

 

[jlv03]

The old Caseta method for dealing with 3 ways (4 ways, etc.) was to replace one of the switches with a Caseta switch (or dimmer) and then remove the rest of the switches and replace them with Pico remotes.

Lutron now has expanded the Caseta to the Diva line, which can use traditional 3 way switches.

 

[jmdirk]

If you're into the whole Smart Home type stuff, I've used the TP Link Kasa 3 way switches. You'll always have power into both 3-way switches via the travelers. But for most smart switches you must have a neutral available in the box.

You only need one 3way smart switch. The other one can be regular 3 way switch

 

[duneslider]

I am also using the TP link Kasa 3 way switches and they are great. It ties to the neutral so it always has power available. These do require an internet connection so you have to have wifi available in the garage. I use one on my exterior lights and have them turn on at sunset and off at sunrise.

You could also just buy a simple programmable switch and have it turn on and off at programmed times if you don't have internet available. I have used a honey well version in the past and I think it also required a neutral to work.

 

[Ragtime Kid]

Thank you all, very much! I will look into each of these options.

 

[Chickenpants]

The house we purchased in Georgia has about a dozen outdoor lights. Some are in trees, some at front gate, etc. the original switches are located in an equipment room in the basement.
As part of the remodel the electrician installed the Lutron Caseta with Pico remotes that were installed in the kitchen pantry. We also use the app which allows us to turn individual lights sets on/off and to also control them with a scheduler.
We’ve been very happy with it.

 

[Ragtime Kid]

I just purchased the Caseta "Claro" model with Pico and am planning to install today based on the advice you guys gave me!

The challenge I have is that the exterior lighting on our house is controlled by a circuit with 4 way switches (there are three spots they can be turned on/off from: The front door, back door, and an intermediate location). What I was hoping to do was somehow connect these switches with the totally separate circuit controlling exterior lighting on the new detached garage. That way, turning on/off any of those three switches in the main house (or the two three-way switches in the detached garage) would turn all exterior lighting -- main house and new garage -- on and off simultaneously. There doesn't seem to be a way to do this that I can find -- even with the Caseta system.

I was hoping that by changing one (or all?) of the 3 switches in the house with Caseta ones, it could be made to "talk with" the detached garage circuit and they would all come on/off together. Is that in fact possible?

 

[Ragtime Kid]

I just purchased the Caseta "Claro" model with Pico and am planning to install today based on the advice you guys gave me!

The challenge I have is that the exterior lighting on our house is controlled by a circuit with 4 way switches (there are three spots they can be turned on/off from: The front door, back door, and an intermediate location). What I was hoping to do was somehow connect these switches with the totally separate circuit controlling exterior lighting on the new detached garage. That way, turning on/off any of those three switches in the main house (or the two three-way switches in the detached garage) would turn all exterior lighting -- main house and new garage -- on and off simultaneously. There doesn't seem to be a way to do this that I can find -- even with the Caseta system.

I was hoping that by changing one (or all?) of the 3 switches in the house with Caseta ones, it could be made to "talk with" the detached garage circuit and they would all come on/off together. Is that in fact possible?

What I am settling for now is changing one of the 2 three-way switches in the new detached garage to a Caseta Claro switch and using the Pico to turn it on and off remotely. This is not as clean/convenient as having all the exterior lights (house + detached garage) controllable by a single switch from any of the 3 house locations or the two new garage ones. I am also concerned about the limited range of the Pico since the new garage is nearly 100 feet away from the house.

 

[dogdog]

Costco Feit WiFi switches to control everything if you have WiFi at your garage. Very decent app, but need WiFi

$30 for 2 decor style switch or 1 set of 3 way if you are using it as 3 way.

 

[jlv03]

I was hoping that by changing one (or all?) of the 3 switches in the house with Caseta ones, it could be made to "talk with" the detached garage circuit and they would all come on/off together. Is that in fact possible?

I know with the Hubitat hub talking to the Lutron Pro bridge this would be possible (via switch mirroring, or any other program rule). Whether this is possible natively to the switches themselves or via one of the Lutron hubs, I don't know.

This appears to be a new requirement. Your first post just asked for a way to turn on the garage lights remotely. You are committing the cardinal sin of home automation - scope creep!

 

[ScaldedDog]

I was hoping that by changing one (or all?) of the 3 switches in the house with Caseta ones, it could be made to "talk with" the detached garage circuit and they would all come on/off together. Is that in fact possible?

I use the Smart Life app and cheap switches from Amazon to accomplish this. Four completely different switches - a 120v light in the front yard, a 12v transformer that has lights all over the property on it, the front porch light, and the garage sconces - that are not connected in any way. I just created "an automation" - essentially a script - in Smart Life that has them come on and go off at a certain offset from sunset and sunrise, respectively. Visually, it appears they were all turned on with the same switch.

Wifi to the switches and an internet connection are necessary, as the app is cloud based.

Mark