How to Connect an Outdoor Floodlight to Operate from an Indoor Light Switch

Locate the spot on the wall where you wish to place the switch. Detect the location of the studs behind the wall with a studfinder and mark the studs with a pencil. Hold a surface-mount switch outlet box against a stud at a height similar to that of other switches inside your home. Align the box vertically and horizontally with a level tool, then screw the box onto the stud.

Locate a spot on the exterior wall where you wish to mount the floodlight. Hold the outlet box against the spot and draw the box outline with a pencil. Cut the box outline with a jigsaw and screw the outlet box into the opening. Open the electrical panel and turn off the main circuit breaker. Turn on lights and appliances inside your home to verify there is no more power coming from the panel.

Unscrew the panel cover and plug a 110-volt circuit breaker into a vacant slot in the panel board. Climb up to the crawl space above the ceiling and locate a conduit pipe or opening directly above the electrical panel. Drop an electrical cable down to a knockout on top of the electrical panel and slip the cable through a knockout. Pull the cable from inside the panel by about 2 feet, then strip off the cable sheathing to expose the inner wires.

Strip off 1/2 inch of insulation from the tip of the white (neutral) wire, green/bare (ground) wire and black (hot) wire, using a wire stripper. Plug the black wire to the terminal screw at the end of the 110-volt circuit breaker. Plug the white wire to a terminal screw in the neutral buss bar. Plug the green/bare wire to a terminal screw in the grounding bar. Tighten the terminal screws to secure each connection and replace the panel cover.

Run the electrical cable from the electrical panel into the switch outlet box. Run another cable from inside the switch outlet box into the floodlight outlet box, using cable staples to fasten the cables onto surfaces. Allow an extra 6 inches of cable dangling inside both outlet boxes before terminating each cable with diagonal pliers.

Remove 3 inches of cable sheathing from each end of the cable with diagonal pliers. Strip off 1/2 inch of insulation from the tip of each exposed inner wire. Hold the end of the black wire running from the electrical panel and wrap its bare tip around a terminal screw on a single-pole light switch. Strip off 1/2 inch at both ends of a 6-inch green/bare wire and wrap one end around the green grounding screw on the light switch chassis.

Hold the end of the black wire running from the switch outlet box into the floodlight outlet box and wrap its tip around a terminal screw at the base of the floodlight. Wrap the white wire around the other terminal screw on the floodlight. Wrap the green wire around the grounding screw mounted on the metal chassis of the floodlight. Tuck all the wires into the outlet box and place the floodlight on top of the outlet box. Screw the floodlight onto the wall using screws that came with the floodlight.

Hold the bare tip of the two white wires inside the switch outlet box and splice the wires, using wire nuts. Hold the three green/bare wires inside the switch outlet box side by side and splice them with wire nuts. Wrap electrical tape around the sides of the switch to cover the exposed terminals.

Tuck all wires into the switch outlet box and mount the switch onto the box. Cover the box with the switch faceplate. Turn on the main circuit breaker inside the electrical panel and turn on the 110-volt circuit breaker. Flip the floodlight switch to its "On" position to test the floodlight.