Hi,
I’m after a bit of electrical wiring guidance here.
I’m looking to control 17 outdoor drive lights which are controlled via a switch in our kitchen. I’ve used Aeon’s Smart Micro Switch in numerous places where a neutral wire has been available, however, these requirements are slightly different.
The light switch is a dual gang one, the switch to the right does nothing and I suspect from the pictures below is because it isn’t connected up. The switch box does not contain a neutral wire and its probably not possible to feed one in. However, there is a junction box on our external wall where neutral wires appear.
The left switch controls power to the 17 lights, the right switch ( I suspect) controls power to my garage which has been future proofed by the previous owners. This is something I want to do in the future but at present isn’t an immediate requirement. There is armored cabling appearing from the concrete base of the garage.
The junction box contains 3 inputs, which I assume are :
Wiring from the switch
Wiring to the lights
Wiring to the garage
I want to control the turning on and off of the lights via a micro switch so I can integrate it into Smartthings.
The wires are :
Top
Green
Blue
Brown
Black (brown sleeve)
Middle
Green
Red (brown sleeve)
Blue
Bottom
Green
Red (brown sleeve)
Blue
How do I wire this so I can use an Aeon relay?
Additionally, if I wanted to future proof this switch to be able control the garage electricity, do I need a dual relay switch and how could I wire that?
If you want to use a relay, you must have a neutral. There isn’t really any way around that.
It really looks like your solution is to use the external box to house the relay, although I’m not sure I like the look of what’s going on in there! You could cut the existing live/switched live wires going back to the switch and use them as switch wires for the module, connecting the actual live/switched live back to the module in their respective positions. Make sure you stay safe. - Edited to add, unfortunately doing this would mess up the garage switch, as the box only has a single live.
The Aeon (I’m not familiar with it) may take a switch signal on the live wire, in which case it might be possible to rig this up outside. Someone with more experience of that relay might be able to help.
An alternative, for the lights at least, would be to use a lighting module. An example, the Fibaro Dimmer 2 which doesn’t require a neutral on the inside box. You’ll need to look at the total power consumption of your 17 lights though, as there may be an issue there.
For the garage, a shutter relay might be best when the time comes. This will require a neutral, and might be best placed in the outside box.
I’m not a qualified electrician, and it might be a good idea to get one involved here.
Is this in Britain or somewhere non-US? The wiring sure looks it. If so - anything may vary.
UK wiring, perhaps I should have put this in the UK topic section
I want to avoid a lighting module as the back box doesn’t have enough space.
Which ones are live and switched live? My understanding is switched live cables are usually sleeved with brown but in the picture the black cable (sleeved with brown) connects to the red (brown sleeved). Where is the live cable? I’d have thought the brown from the top wire is live but this doesn’t appear to be powering anything.
Well, it’s pretty clear behind the switch.
Brown is a single live jumped to both switches. The other two are switched lives for their respective devices.
Switched lives should always have a brown sleeve, or be brown, as they are potentially a live wire.
As for the box, I wouldn’t know where to start. It looks like the grey switched live coming from the box has a blue sleeve on it (should be brown imo) for starters, so who knows what else is going on there beside the dirt and rust marks suggesting water ingress. You really should get a professional in on this. I think you’re going to have to run at least one more wire between the box and switch to achieve your goal.
Hi,
Picking this back up now.
Ok I get that the brown behind the switch is jumped on both switches.
In the outside box, which one is the live? Are the blue wires the neutrals?
