Hallway lights with switch at either end of hallway and PIR

Thread Starter

kez1

Joined Oct 21, 2012
1
Hi,

I have a hallway with lights that switch on/ off at either end of hallway.
A PIR with timer I recently fitted bypasses the switches and operates the lights.
This works really well.

Circuit Diagram:


If either hall switch is flicked the lights stay on permanently until either wall switch is moved to break the circuit.

However there is no easy way to know whether the circuit is active because of the PIR or the wall switches.

What I want is a LED ( or other small light ) light on one of the wall switches that shows that the wall switches circuit is active.

Anyone know how to do this ?


Thanks

Ke z
 

BSomer

Joined Dec 28, 2011
434
Depending upon what wiring is in your switch boxes, something like this could be the easiest "fix". However, if you do not have a neutral in either of the switch boxes it will not work. I think that any plausible solution would require a neutral at the switch box.
 

ifixit

Joined Nov 20, 2008
652
Hi kez1,

If you can stand at either switch location and see the other switch, then you can tell if the switch circuit is overriding the PIR. Wire the switches so that if they are both up, or both down then the switch circuit must be closed, otherwise it is open.

Regards,
Ifixit
 

RBell

Joined Oct 21, 2012
1
Hi there,
from what I can see from your drawing, you've got the PIR in parallel with both switches--making them unnecessary. In other words, the PIR is always enabled, regardless of what the switches are doing. This is fine if that is what you want(it makes having an indicator light unnecessary too).

If you want the switches to operate(be able to disable PIR), then move the PIR to interrupt the switch leg from SW2 heading to the lights. An indicator light can be added between the PIR (on the SW2 side)and the neutral returning from the lights.
 
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