Photocell/Timer for Backyard Floodlights. Help Please.

This may be, hopefully, a fairly easy question to answer. I have two large post affixed with flood lights for a now nonexistent volleyball court. The lights are manually controlled by a Carlon toggle switch. I have dogs, which cause them and I to frequently be in the backyard, especially after dark. It's an inconvenience to walk all the way to the rear of the yard to manually turn the lights on to illuminate the rear of the yard.

My idea was to replace the Carlon toggle switch with either a photocell or timer (waterproof of course). Anyone have any ideas? Can I place a normal residential indoor timer in a waterproof housing? Please help, thanks!

 

Welcome to the forums! It will greatly depend on how power is derived. Pulling the switch with the power removed will tell if you have a neutral in the box. You will need one for most timers. Look to see if you have white wires nutted together in the box.

 

Ok. There is a white (neutral). Could a normal household timer be installed with a waterproof housing?

 

Color alone doesn't mean it is a neutral. If there is only one white wire and it is on the switch you don't have a neutral.

 

The best solution would be to just replace the floodlights on one pole with a motion detecting floodlight and leave the switch in "ON" position 24/7.

 

How about a photocell that fits in the switch box? If you have a plastic box you will need to ground the steel plate.

Image Credit: Amazon.com

 

Justin, he wants a motion sensor, not a photocell. I would change the first light to motion sensing, or add a sensor to the configuration.