outside security light!

[akcorbin]

I'm wishing to fix an outside motion sensor security light to the back of my house, with a switch controlling it from the living room, all i really want to know is how do you wire the light to the switch so i can have it:

A - On all the time
B - Off all the time
C - automatically come on and off

i know you need 3 core for this but not sure how its wired at switch and light! Any help would be much appreciated?

 

[FourFootMedia]

Check the instructions for the fitting, as most allow you to use a standard switch as follows:
Switch off = light off
Switch on = light on "auto"
Switch off then back on within a few seconds = light always on

 

[ban-all-sheds]

i know you need 3 core for this but not sure how its wired at switch and light! Any help would be much appreciated?

Is there a neutral available at the switch you want to use?

 

[akcorbin]

there is no switch yet, what i plan on doing is breaking into the current lighting circuit and taking the wire to the light and then down to the new switch.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Twin & earth will be OK for that.

 

[1john]

you can do it with a 2 gang switch, using three core and CPC. take your permanant feed (brown wire) to common on the 1st switch and then link from L1 on that switch to common on the next switch, then connect the black wire to L1 (this will be permanantly on) and the grey wire to L2 (this will be for the sensor only) the first switch will leave the light off. Connect the CPC to the earth terminal of the back box, or if a dry lining box is used then terminate it into a connector block. Dont forget to sleeve the CPc with green and yellow sleeving and to flag the black and grey wires with brown sleeving / brown tape if you have no sleeving.

At the light fitting you need to connect your twin and CPC cable as follows -
blue to the neutral terminal

brown wire to the brown wire of the 3 core and CPC with a seperate connector block

connect BOTH cpc's together in the earth terminal (use green and yellow sleeving)

the remaining two cables from the 3 core should be connected to the permanent feed terminal and the switch feed terminal as described above (use brown sleeving or tape to flag them)

the purpose of the brown sleeving / tape it to identify the cable as being a line / phase conductor.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

John - would you please draw a diagram of that?

I've tried to do one on the basis of your description, and it looks like a load of b****cks, so either I'm getting it wrong, or .........

 

[xAlex]

John - would you please draw a diagram of that?

I've tried to do one on the basis of your description, and it looks like a load of b****cks, so either I'm getting it wrong, or .........

BAS - It's great that you take the time to do things like that. I'm laughing.

 

[1john]

rough pic added to my profile i think, not great with drawing on computers and only had paint to do it with. If you are struggling to understand, basically, in laymans terms, the first switch will isolate any live conductors from the connections to the light, the grey wire will send power to the terminal which feeds the PIR and the black cable will send power to the terminal which houses the return from the PIR.

so if the first switch is off then the light will do nothing
if you turn that switch on it energised the other two way switch and depending on which position it is set to it will either feed the PIR, which will make the light work on the sensor or it will feed to the return from the sensor which will have the light on all the time.

i have done this many many times. the majority of PIR floodlights have the wiring terminals in them to do this. what may have confused you is that some fittings will only have a live neutral and earth/CPC connection.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

 

[electronicsuk]

To expand, assuming Mr. Sheds isn't laughing at the paint diagram or the 'laymans terms' comment, although your solution will work, it seems wasteful. You would need T+E permenant L/N feed at the fitting PLUS 3C+E back to the switch. We all know how little termination space is provided in outdoor lights, so it seems silly to go through all that when you can do most of the work at the switch and only need a single 3C+E to the security light.

 

[1john]

i dont disagree with you, the OP wanted to wire it that way and it is often the case that people retrospectivly want some control from a floodlight that is just wired to function by the PIR. Pleanty of fittings have a minimum of two cable entries, granted they are tight to work on but it is do-able.