Grabbing power through dusk-to-dawn light

[morango]

Hi everyone - Homeowner with some electrical experience, but not enough to solve this. I am insulating the garage and decided to add three outlets since there is currently only one. The most convenient place to grab power is at an outdoor garage light that is at the end of a circuit. The light is a normal outdoor fixture with that is activated at dusk by a photocell in the light bulb. I confirmed that three new outlets would easily fit into this circuit and wired them up. Of course (as I suspected) they only work at night when the photocell is activated.

Is there a way to wire this so that the dusk-to-dawn lights still work as intended but the outlets are always powered? They are currently all hooked up with 2-wire cable, if that matters.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[telectrix]

you need to get your feed from the input side of the sensor, not the output side. make sure the cable and it's protective device are suitable fr the intended load.

 

[pc1966]

If that light's supply comes off a socket circuit or similar that can safely deliver 13A or so that is OK for light or occasional use, but if it comes off a light circuit that has a 6A breaker you are asking for trouble (e.g. likely to trip on a lawnmower motor starting, etc). However, you should check the cable size/rating and just how it has been fed to make sure that multiple loads could not overheat things.

For example, it is not uncommon to take power from a nearby ring circuit for the sockets via a Fused Connection Unit and thay take plug-style fuses to 13A, thus protecting cable of 1mm or 1.5mm size from overload.

Also make sure it is RCD protected!

Identify which breaker isolates the power first, and if in doubt about RCD status post a photo here of your CU (consumer unit = fuse box)

 

[littlespark]

If that light's supply comes off a socket circuit or similar that can safely deliver 13A or so that is OK for light or occasional use, but if it comes off a light circuit that has a 6A breaker you are asking for trouble (e.g. likely to trip on a lawnmower motor starting, etc). However, you should check the cable size/rating and just how it has been fed to make sure that multiple loads could not overheat things.

For example, it is not uncommon to take power from a nearby ring circuit for the sockets via a Fused Connection Unit and thay take plug-style fuses to 13A, thus protecting cable of 1mm or 1.5mm size from overload.

Also make sure it is RCD protected!

Identify which breaker isolates the power first, and if in doubt about RCD status post a photo here of your CU (consumer unit = fuse box)

The OP is American, so a lot of the above advice isn’t relevant.

 

[pc1966]

The OP is American, so a lot of the above advice isn’t relevant.

Doh! I guess I should have looked, just tend to assume UK unless obviously different!

 

[Pete999]

Hi everyone - Homeowner with some electrical experience, but not enough to solve this. I am insulating the garage and decided to add three outlets since there is currently only one. The most convenient place to grab power is at an outdoor garage light that is at the end of a circuit. The light is a normal outdoor fixture with that is activated at dusk by a photocell in the light bulb. I confirmed that three new outlets would easily fit into this circuit and wired them up. Of course (as I suspected) they only work at night when the photocell is activated.

Is there a way to wire this so that the dusk-to-dawn lights still work as intended but the outlets are always powered? They are currently all hooked up with 2-wire cable, if that matters.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Might wanna get a sparks in to look at that light fitting, don'tlet him grab hold of anything it may hurt

 

[morango]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I wasn’t aware this was mainly a UK forum. I should have looked closer. ?

Since my OP I have uncovered the remaining wall that needs to be insulated and discovered what appears to be a remote photocell wired into the line about thirty feet upstream from the outdoor light.

So, if I grab power from the panel side of that junction, I should be able to run a totally separate cable over to my three outlets, correct?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I wasn’t aware this was mainly a UK forum. I should have looked closer. ?

Since my OP I have uncovered the remaining wall that needs to be insulated and discovered what appears to be a remote photocell wired into the line about thirty feet upstream from the outdoor light.

So, if I grab power from the panel side of that junction, I should be able to run a totally separate cable over to my three outlets, correct?

As above. It all depends where the power for the circuit comes from and what the size of the circuit breaker is. Over here (UK) it would be normal for the photocell to be wired from a lighting circuit which usually has a maximum current of 6amps. That won't be enough for anything other than, well, a light! Power a lawn mower from that and the breaker will trip.

 

[morango]

As above. It all depends where the power for the circuit comes from and what the size of the circuit breaker is. Over here (UK) it would be normal for the photocell to be wired from a lighting circuit which usually has a maximum current of 6amps. That won't be enough for anything other than, well, a light! Power a lawn mower from that and the breaker will trip.

This is a dedicated 15 amp garage circuit that currently runs only the two LED outdoor lights (total of 40 watts), a 25 watt LED bulb inside the garage, one outlet, and the door opener. Based on a safe load rating of 1440 watts, I don’t see any reason a few extra outlets for convenience of placement would be an issue. I currently run a table saw and shop vac (for the dust) simultaneously from the existing outlet without tripping any breakers. Ever.

I have a battery powered lawnmower btw. ?

 

[Taylortwocities]

All a bit different to how we do things here, then!

Sounds like you should be ok.

 

[Megawatt]

Hi everyone - Homeowner with some electrical experience, but not enough to solve this. I am insulating the garage and decided to add three outlets since there is currently only one. The most convenient place to grab power is at an outdoor garage light that is at the end of a circuit. The light is a normal outdoor fixture with that is activated at dusk by a photocell in the light bulb. I confirmed that three new outlets would easily fit into this circuit and wired them up. Of course (as I suspected) they only work at night when the photocell is activated.

Is there a way to wire this so that the dusk-to-dawn lights still work as intended but the outlets are always powered? They are currently all hooked up with 2-wire cable, if that matters.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Morango it sounds like you hooked up the load side of the photocell which is a red wire. You need the Constant live wire which will be black and not from the last fixture. You need to get your power from the security light or the very first light after the security light. Good luck

 

[morango]

Final follow up to my original post. I ended up grabbing power from the existing outlet instead. I avoided it at first because I did not want to cut through plaster and fish wires through the already finished interior wall, but I used a box extender and ran surface wires through metal conduit around the corner to the start of the unfinished wall and ran wire normally through the studs to the three new outlets. Much easier, and I used the existing GFCI to protect the other three outlets.

Thanks for all your help. I return you now to your original programs. ?

 

[Megawatt]

Final follow up to my original post. I ended up grabbing power from the existing outlet instead. I avoided it at first because I did not want to cut through plaster and fish wires through the already finished interior wall, but I used a box extender and ran surface wires through metal conduit around the corner to the start of the unfinished wall and ran wire normally through the studs to the three new outlets. Much easier, and I used the existing GFCI to protect the other three outlets.

Thanks for all your help. I return you now to your original programs. ?

We are proud of you, good job