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Electrical Wiring Lighting Exterior

RF controlled exterior light?

4 months ago

I’ve been thinking about how the light in my garage comes on when I pull up and push the button for the garage door…

We walk far more than we drive, so I‘d love to have this same option—minus the garage door—for our other exterior lights. Are there products / components on the market that will help do this?

I prefer not to use timers, motion sensors or smart phone based controls. And I really appreciate the range on our garage door opener (which I believe is RF based). Being able to flip a switch from half a block away is fantasic. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

We are getting ready to rewire the whole house, so this is the time to get it right!

Featured Answer

HU-867564120

4 months ago

last modified: 4 months ago

Is there a system that you could purchase and install? I doubt it. Never heard of such a thing.

Can such a system be put together from off-the-shelf parts? Sure. I've put together a boat lift control that used a garage door transmitter and receivers as the input devices feeding into a custom home-built control system. A lighting control system wouldn't be hard to do. What you need to find is a nerdy engineer that has severe DIY tendencies. ;)

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Comments (7)

A Mat
4 months ago
Yes, there are products on the market. Can you google: remote control outdoor lights. ?

I prefer and use solar motion lights.
leah8881 thanked A Mat
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PRO
HALLETT & Co.
4 months ago
Not what you are asking but all my lights are controlled by a dusk dawn sensor. My house looks well lit all the time whether we are home or not.
leah8881 thanked HALLETT & Co.
leah8881
Original Author
4 months ago
last modified: 4 months ago
@hallett I’m glad you found what works for you! I don’t like the ”well lit” look; I just want to be able to see when I need to.
leah8881
Original Author
4 months ago
@HU-867564120 I *am* a nerdy engineer with diy tendencies 🥳 But, this is not my wheel house and I don’t have the time I’d like to start from scratch.
Sigrid
4 months ago
We have some lights on a timer with switches on the wall. Very easy to program or turn on or off despite the timer. We have some motion-detection lights. They work really well. The light pops on as you need it, turns off when you leave. They also turn on when wildlife crosses the yard. We never notice it in the house, perhaps because of where the garage is, but it means our motion-controlled security cameras take good vids. We also have some phone-controlled lights.

Most of this stuff is cheap and they all tend to make it easy to program. You can also put in a simple light switch. All the motion-detection and app-based stuff makes it easy to retro-fit lights without light switches, but if you're rewiring, you don't need that.

I'd make a pitch for cameras. We got ours from Wyze and they are cheap. We had our alarm go off once while we were far away and figuring out what happened, or more precisely, what didn't happen, was very reassuring.
leah8881 thanked Sigrid
wdccruise
4 months ago
- DEWENWILS Wireless Light Switch and Receiver Kit
- Thinkbee Wireless Lights Switch Kit
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