# Outdoor lighting solution



## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

We have a switch that controls three exterior lights on the front of our house - two near the garage, and one above the main door. I like to have these on in the evening, but during the summer the light above the door attracts too many bugs, which forces us to leave it off unless we for sure won't be using the door.

I thought a solution might be to change the bulbs to inexpensive smart bulbs so I could control them independently. However, I realized that the one above the door is a flush mount light, so it's more of a pain and higher cost to change. Also, we would have to leave the switch physically turned on all the time to get full functionality of the smart bulbs, or change out the switch to a smart switch, but this just adds to the cost.

Does anyone have any ideas for other ideas for potential solutions?


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

You can use a smart bulb over the main door and the switch will control all three. Many smart bulbs will remember whatever state they were last in if the switch is turned off and turned back on. So in Winter with the switch on, turn on the smart bulb with the app and the switch will from then on turn on and off all three. In Summer with the switch on turn off the smart bulb with the app and from then on it will stay off even using the switch to turn on and off the garage lights. If you want the light over the main door on one night in the Summer, with switch on, just use the app or whatever you use to turn it on.

Another approach I've seen in a similar instance is use smart bulbs in all three fixtures and use a piece of clear tape to prevent switch from being turned off or messed with. Could also remove the switch, connect the switch wires with a wire nut and install a blank cover plate but you'd likely have to undo that if you ever sold the house.

Just occurred to me that maybe I'm not understanding what you mean by flush mount light. Flush mount light means fixture mounts flush to the surface (usually ceiling) but still has light bulbs that can be swapped to smart bulbs. Do you have something different there?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant + Z-Wave dongle + Wall smart switch. You can program to turn on after sunset. Randomly turn on and off during vacations. Turn off 5 hours after turning on.


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

Delmarva Keith said:


> Just occurred to me that maybe I'm not understanding what you mean by flush mount light. Flush mount light means fixture mounts flush to the surface (usually ceiling) but still has light bulbs that can be swapped to smart bulbs. Do you have something different there?


The lights by the garage are standard bulbs, so I was able to replace them with a standard $5 smart bulb. The front door is within a recessed entrance and the flush mount light is installed in the ceiling of the outside entryway. I can change it out as well and put in a smart light, but I'll have to order it online and the cost will be closer to $30-$40. As you mention, leaving the interior light switch "on" is an option, but taping it like that seems like a temporary solution. A 3-gang light switch might be my only option, which would be another $30-$40, but it would let me turn lights on/off on a schedule and control them independently so the garage lights are on while keeping the front entry light off in the summer.

If this is the easiest solution then I'll probably end up doing it. 


g-man said:


> Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant + Z-Wave dongle + Wall smart switch. You can program to turn on after sunset. Randomly turn on and off during vacations. Turn off 5 hours after turning on.


I hadn't heard of Home Assistant before but it looks like something I'd gravitate toward as I prefer to use open source solutions when possible. Thanks for the share.


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