Under our patio, we have a fan and a security light. The fan and the security light are the same light switch, so they are both on, or both off. The only way to run the fan without the security light is to remove the bulbs from the security light, which is highly inconvenient.
By the door, there is a switch for the fan/light, and a three-way switch that controls the dining room light. I’d like to do one of these options:
- Replace the dining room light’s other switch by the hallway with a single pole switch and make the dining room light be controllable only from there, then have two single-pole switches by the door to control the fan and security light independently.
- Replace the security light’s switch with one of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/100356887… and have one be the fan, and one be the security light, and leave the dining room light alone.
I fished a romex cable from the security light’s box to the box by the door (about 3 feet), which I’m guessing will end up being the hardest part of this project. I can connect the fan’s cables to the other end of this cable in the security light’s box.
I suspect this is simple, but the way the three-way switch is wired confuses me a little. How would I go about wiring the switches for these options? I think I ultimately would want to go with whichever option ends up with the least number of connections in the box. I have here a picture of the setup and options, as well as a picture inside the box.
Edit: Going with option 2
So for the wiring portion, I would then do the following (just laying out the steps here):
- Get the dual switch (I have this one already: https://www.homedepot.com/p/100356887)
- In the switch box, wire the bottom of the dual switch the same as the current single switch is wired now
- In the switch box, connect the new cable's white and black wire to the the top of the dual switch
- In the switch box, connect all grounds together
- In the security light box, connect all white wires together (both the old an new cable, and the security light)
- In the security light box, connect all grounds together
- In the security light box, connect the black wire for the security light and the black wire on the old cable together
- In the security light box, connect the black wire for the cable to the fan and the black wire on the new cable together
Does that seem correct as far as the wiring?