Outside Lighting / PIR / On manual switch too

[mattkindon]

Hi everyone,

I am installing 2 x floodlights onto the wall of my house, overlooking the garden. I'd like to run these of the upstairs lighting, which currently runs through the loft- the floodlight wires will run from the loft.

Is it possible for me to have a PIR sensor AND a manual switch for these lights?

I would like the PIR sensor to turn the lights on when we park the car up the drive, and if anyone was trying to break in, but at the same time be able to turn on the floodlights manually from downstairs, for partys/BBQs etc- to be permenantly on as opposed to having to wave in front of the PIR sensor everytime they go out!

Is this possible?
Would I be best getting floodlights with a built in PIR sensor or a separate one?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated... I'm no expert in electrics but am learning!

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

i believe PIR lights can come with a manual override facility.
However, i think you're missing an opportunity here. When at the BBQ, get ample chested females drunk and innocently ask them to jump up and down in front of the light. Should be good fun

 

[mattkindon]

Thanks for the tip. I'll look in to that

Now as for the wiring... Do you know if it's possible to use the manual over ride from a switch downstairs, or is it a built in feature whereby you need to turn a switch on the actual light fitting?!

Matt

 

[Click-Sure]

Look for a fitting (the last one i fitted was a British General 500w fitting with an integrated PIR).

It has a 'double-knock' feature that means you can turn it on and off in quick succession and it stays on till it gets light

Many stand-alone PIRS and integrated fittings have this feature now.

 

[securespark]

I would not run two floods off the lighting circuit, though.

Are they to share the same supply? (I have omitted the cpc's in the above example).

In that case, I would fit a fused spur to the RF circuit, the outgoing supply would go to the override switch.

The live would go to the common of the O/R switch, along with the brown of a three core. The other insulated cores are the switchwire and neutral. The switchwire goes to L1, the neutral of the three core to the neutral of the supply from the spur.

This is your feed cable which goes outside. I would use a stand-alone PIR & fittings withour PIR's built-in. The cable drops off at each accessory, either fitting or passive and you connect up to it as required. IE at a fitting you connect to switched live & neutral. At a passive you connect all three.

Thus, your fittings illuminate when triggered by the passive (with the switch in the up position) or stay manually on with the switch in the down position.

 

[huw169]

I am just fitting one.
Send a live feed to a double pole switch (can be located anywhere in the house), then send the switch cable to the lights.
15 quid at B&Q gets a pir equiped light that will take 2 rapid flicks of the switch to turn it on for 6hrs. Can be reset at the switch and turned back to pir mode.

 

[huw169]

I am just fitting one.
Send a live feed to a double pole switch (can be located anywhere in the house), then send the switch cable to the lights.
15 quid at B&Q gets a pir equiped light that will take 2 rapid flicks of the switch to turn it on for 6hrs. Can be reset at the switch and turned back to pir mode.