I'm going to hookup two Vaxcel wall lights , one on each side of my garage door.These lights have motion sensers and can also program when they can go on and off. There's a walk through door on the side of the garage. I will install a light above that also. All three areas are roughed in ( a wire is coiled out the siding ) and they all go to one circuit in the electrical box. My question is, should all three lights be the same with the sensors or if I use the two lights with sensors next to the garage doors would the light over the walk through go on and off with the lights with the sensors ?

 

Normally each light with a sensor will operate independently. To gang two or more you would need to modify the wiring and the single motion sensor may not be able to handle the additional load.

 

Welcome to the forums!

The sensors and programming built into any light fixture should only control that fixture - nothing upstream or downstream. Since you say each light has its own feed roughed in, that should ensure that they're isolated from each other. Interference with a photocell, from light coming from one of the other fixtures, is a slim possibility.

 

All the wires seem to be connected together. When I opened the electrical box there is one fuse or circuit for all three lights. I'm guessing that the best configuration would be to get all three lights to be the same. All having a motion senser and timer , since the light over the walk through is around the bend. Would this be the best set up ? Thanks

 

Some of the new motion detecting porch and post lights (with DualBrite sensors) have a red 'interconnect' lead similar to AC smoke detectors. They can be set up in a 'master/slave' configuration, where one motion controls all lights, or in a 'dual/triple master' where motion detected by any sensor controls all lights. They also have the capability to control up to 200w of additional lighting. These are the ones I have, so I can vouch for their operation, but I'm not familiar with Vaxcel, whether or not they use the DualBrite sensors. Interconnected operation does require 3 conductor cable though.

 

How do you want them to operate? If you want the light for the walk-through door to be controlled by a sensor and a timer, buy that fixture. If you don't, save the extra expense.

Unless your programmable fixtures have "a red 'interconnect' lead similar to AC smoke detectors," as JerseyMatt's do, they can't control any other fixture. Even if they do, you would have to wire them to be interconnected, and connect the red lead. So long as you don't do both of those things, no fixture can control any other.

That means that they are supplied by the same circuit. It does not mean that they are connected together in a way that would allow any of them to control any of the others. Many receptacles in your house share a circuit, and they may also share a circuit with some lights, but none of those receptacles or lights controls anything else on the same circuit.

Which Vaxcel light fixture are you installing? Can you post a link to the installation instructions for that fixture? How are the controls for the wiring set up? Do you have two switches - one for the light at the walk-through door and one for the garage door pair - or only one switch, or more than two total?

 

About twenty years ago I built my garage. I'm a better builder than a electricion. I drilled a hole through the particle board and siding , ran the wire out the hole and coiled it for the lights. I realize now that when I had a chance a mounting box should have been installed. There are two locations, one on each side of the garage door. Today, I uncoiled the wires and noticed that coming out of one hole is one wire and the other hole has two wires. Don't know why I did that. Here is my plan ; With the two wires, The one wire put a nut and tape over it ,not to be used, use the second wire for my light. Since there are no boxes, use a shallow box that I can screw on the face of the particle board. Is this plan feasable? What kind of box would you call it? thanks

 

The location with 2 cable is power in and power out. I doubt you will be able to abandon the one cable.

The shallow 1/2" deep pancake boxes do not have enough room for two cables. You would need deeper boxes. The boxes could be surface mounted if you use weatherproof boxes. The boxes could be flush mounted and the fixtures mounted over them. The are also siding mounted boxes.

Try aifittings.com for the siding boxes.

 

If I understand correctly, you have had NM cable (aka romex) coiled up in the weather for 20 years and now you want to use it? I think a very careful inspection is in order; possibly replacement of this part of your garage wiring.

 

There is a walk through door on the side of the garage with two wires also. These wires are white with wires inside them. When you say the second wire cannot be abandond what should I do with it? Did you think the two wires meant one white and one black? Not the case here, this is a wire that you would use to hook up to an outlet. I have two of them in the same hole.

 

Wires are the conductors inside a cable or raceway. Cables are an assembly of wires or conductors inside an overall sheath or jacket. You are saying wires but you mean cables.

You are going to need both of the cables for your wiring to work. One supplies power to the location. The second cable continues the circuit to other locations.

 

That explains why out of the three areas ,two have two cables and the third last one only has one. Now I need to give the cables a closer look. The one gentleman suggested that since it has been exposed to the weather for about twenty years that it might have to be replaced. What do I look for to determine if it is good enough to keep?

 

The sheathing on the cable and the insulation on the wires need to be pliable enough that you can make a tight bend in them without any tendency for them to crack. This is more critical for the insulation than the sheathing, and only matters in the first 6" to 8" outside, in the part that you will use to make up your splices and attach your fixtures.