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Timer with manual overide?

1784 Views 8 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Troy32
I have my outside lights connected to a digital timer to come on and off each night. I have them go off everyday at 11pm. I would like to also be able to turn them on manually with a regular switch after 11pm in case I have company leaving later then 11pm. Can I just run a switch that will jump the timer?
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Possibly. Which timer do you have? The timer doesn't have a manual override switch? The mechanical timers made by intermatic are very simple and have a manual on switch.
It is a little digital timer that fits in switchplate. I am not sure of the brand. It does have a manual overide but I have it in the basement. I would like to be able to use the switch by the front door to overide it.
Are the outside lights you want to control line voltage or low voltage?

What does the switch by the front door control now?
The lights are regular 110v lights. The switch did control the lights but now I ran the lights to the timer. The switch currently does nothing. I just wanted to jump the timer with the switch so I can still turn on the lights when the timer goes off rather then run down into the basement to use the timers over ride.
You can run a switch leg with the switch that you have. Do you have to pull a new cable to the switch that you want to use?
If the lights are still on the same circuit (breaker) as the switch, just connect the switched hot from the switch to the output switched hot of the timer.

How you do that will depend on how your specific wiring is run.

I assume you know how you reconfigured the wiring to add the timer.
Yes, I already snaked a wire throught the wall into the basement for the switch.

I was just about to run the two switch wires from the hot input on the timer to the hot output to over ride it but just wanted to make sure this would be safe.
cureently the switch is not connected to anything
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