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I have a single switch that controls two outdoor lights:

  1. Lamp by my front door.
  2. Lamp by my garage door.

I’d like to have #2 always be on so I can install a motion controlled flood light while keeping #1 controlled by the switch. How can I go about this? Thanks!

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  • how are the two lights and the switch wired?
    – jsotola
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 23:41
  • Does the line power enter at the box with the switch or does it enter at one of the light boxes? First look in the switch box and see if the line cable from the electric panel enters there. The indicators for that are a cable with both an always hot (black) and a neutral (white). The line hot will be connected to one side of the switch, but the line neutral will NOT be connected to the other side of the switch, but to the white of another cable (going to one of the lights). The other side of the switch will probably have a black wire which is the switched hot to one of the lights.
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 23:57
  • If on the other hand, when looking in the switch box all you see is ONE cable with the black connected to one side of the switch and the white to the other side of the switch, this would indicate that the line power enters at one of the boxes for the lights. Which do you have?
    – Jim Stewart
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 0:04
  • Most motion sensors need a switch to turn them off if they get energised by a line transient. The light thinks the transient is the stay on signal so you will need to go to the breaker panel to clear the error, something to think about.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 0:21
  • Hello, and welcome to Stack Exchange. We'd like to help you, but we'll need more information (as those above have commented).
    – Daniel Griscom
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 0:35

1 Answer 1

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To answer your specific question requires you remove the cover plate from the switch, take a photo of the wiring, and post it here.

If your wiring is unfavorable, consider a wireless switch. Newer versions of these use the kinetic energy of flipping the switch to power the switch, so no batteries and no restrictions on placement.

You could also put the "switch controlled" light on a timer, so it goes off automatically after a few minutes. This lets you use the switch as originally desired, and also gives you a chance to control the motion light (many of which take a quick flip of the switch to mean 'stay on forever').

In general for anyone wiring an outdoor switch and light, strongly consider running 12/3 or 14/3 wire, even if the light is supposed to be switched. This means running an extra "hot" wire for future use.

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