Wiring a contactor for photocell and twist timer control

[Bloc1030]

I have a contactor that I will be using to control various exterior lights. I want them to come on and night and go off during the day so I will be using a photocell for that control. I also want to be able to test these lights without actually having to go out and put tape over the photocell thus making the lights come on. So do do that I will also be using a simple 120 twist timer. My voltage on my contactor is 120 volts so my question is how to I wire this contactor to be controlled either by the photocell or the twist timer? Also it would need to be done in a way that if for some reason the contacts inside the photocell was closed and the twist timer was also supplying power to the contactor but nothing bad would happen.

 

[Mikegh]

I think it's usually photocell wired before timer contact then contactor.
Stops the lights going on and off with timer switching the photocell.

Testing the lights , i presume that will just be a manual override of the controls ? Whatever way you want to set that up ?

Don't expect anything bad to happen bypassing the photocell



Might have misread post slightly , you might not be using a timer with photocell for control

 

[Dseelye]

I have a contactor that I will be using to control various exterior lights. I want them to come on and night and go off during the day so I will be using a photocell for that control. I also want to be able to test these lights without actually having to go out and put tape over the photocell thus making the lights come on. So do do that I will also be using a simple 120 twist timer. My voltage on my contactor is 120 volts so my question is how to I wire this contactor to be controlled either by the photocell or the twist timer? Also it would need to be done in a way that if for some reason the contacts inside the photocell was closed and the twist timer was also supplying power to the contactor but nothing bad would happen.

I think what your looking to do is parallel two switches. Line black goes in both switches and the switch side of both switches hook up to load(contactor). This can easily be done by wiring up the contactor with the timer switch, and simply adding the photocell switch with a 2 wire one wire to each side of the timer. Keep in mind that the photocell as well as the timer would need to be able to switch 120v.