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How wrong is this wiring idea? (self.electricians)

submitted 8 months ago by lettruthout to c/electricians

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Can I put an additional load before switches on a dedicated circuit?

The example circuit goes from the service panel to a two-way (SPDT) switch at the house back door. From there the circuit goes to another two-way switch out in the garage. The circuit then powers the garage lights.

The goal is to add additional lights on this circuit near the service panel so that the same switches would also control the new lights.

How wrong would it be to add this new load between the service panel and the first two-way switch? This would save the (huge) effort to run wire from the garage back to the house.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I'm not an electrician so I don't know if it would be up to code (very likely is not) but you might be able to use a current sensing relay to trigger the lights. For safety I would add a local disconnect as well.

[–] lettruthout 1 points 8 months ago

Great ideas! This sounds like a much better approach. Thanks!