Dave Miller wrote:
I have a light out back of my house on a detached garage that lights
up the parking area. I would like to run it off of a mechanical timer
so it goes on at 5 p.m. and off at 10 p.m. I would also like to put a
photocell on the light so that if it isn't dark at 5 p.m. the light
won't come on. Now, I would also like to put a motion detector on the
light so that after 10 p.m. when the timer shuts off the light will
come back on in case I get home after 10 or someone trying to get in
my garage would set it off.

If I feed the light from two different sources (same circuit) one
through the timer and photocell and one through the motion detector,
would I achieve my goal? Will there be a problem with each source
backfeeding through the other. I can't imagine the mechanical timer
will be bothered by the load side being hot but I'm not so sure about
the photocell or the motion detector. Could I (should I) put diodes
in to keep them from backfeeding each other? I won't be putting more
than a 100-watt bulb in the fixture.

Thanks for any help,
Dave

Too much work. Check out www.smarthome.com or other supplies and find
one fixture that will do it all for you. Don't limit yourself to mechanical
timers, they tend to be less reliable anyway.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit