RF 3-way Light Switch for Garage Door Opener
daen
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I am getting ready to install garage door openers in my workshop. One of the options availabe from the manufacturer is a replacement light switch that will turn on the overhead lights when the garage door is activated. However, this replacement switch specifically states it is not for 3/4 way installations. Of course that affects me – I have a 3-way switch configuration.
I can’t be the first person to run into this. Is there a straight-forward fix? I could not find a 3-way compatible switch on the Liftmaster websight. Are there switch manufacturers that make a remote unit compatible with the Garage Door Opener system?
Thanks, DC
Replies
Just rely on the light on the unit. It should remain on for 60 seconds or so -- long enough to get out and turn on the overhead light.
Hook that switch up on the load side of your 3 way switch system. It willl be a logical "or". You may need to run an extra wire tho, depending on how the switch loop is wired. Do you have a diagram of it?
Greg,
If I recall, the feed from the circuit breaker travels to the first 3-way switch, the two wires from that switch to the second, then to the fixtures.
What you'd have to do is find the "load" wires (the wires feeding the lights themselves) and connect another wire that goes Hot -> GDO connection -> Black wire of "load". Unfortuneately, given how 3/4-way switches work there are lots of ways to get it wrong (read smoke and sparks), so you'd really need to know what you're doing.
Really Dan...
That's a pretty useless reply, other than telling him he really needs to know what he's doing.
Which was the point -- it's not simple.
I couldn't figure out what a GDO was, for quite a long while. ACRONYMS SUCK for me!
So I need an independent circuit that bypasses (in parallel with) the two three-way switches. This circuit would feed from the breaker to the lights and be switched by the RF switch.
No, I'm not an electrician by trade or training. But I am an engineer that managed to design and build this entire workshop including the wiring. I may not know the "trade lingo" but with a little guidance I can usually "git r dun".
Thanks, DC
If that is the way it is wired, you need another wire. The only other choice would be if they make a 3 way replacement RF switch