Does a light bulb socket security camera require the wall switch to be on?

Question

Does the light switch have to stay on all time for the camera to work?

Where I want to place it there are 20 accent lights hooked up to 1 light switch. Are there any workarounds if I don't want to keep all 20 lights on 24/7?

Answer 1

Does a light bulb socket security camera require the wall switch to be on?

if the light bulb socket is on a wall switch, then yup

Are there any workarounds.

maybe, depends on what you have to work with and what compromises are acceptable... go manually unplug all 20 lights.

Answer 2

A screw in light bulb security camera receives its operating power from the light socket. The light socket receives its power ONLY when the switch is in the on position.

In order to allow the camera to maintain power full time, you will have to implement a break point, aka switch, between the power source of the camera and the power source of the accent lights.

I can envision a possible solution but it requires that you have other resources. The screw-in camera must screw into a Y-adapter, both sides will be energized. The non-camera side of the Y-adapter would then provide power to the accent lights, also on a full time basis, but...

That leg of the Y-adapter should then receive a remote switchable outlet into which the accent lights would connect. Leave the camera powered full time, use the remote switchable outlet to regulate the accent lights as desired.

The above product is from Amazon (photo source) and is something I use on a daily basis, for various applications. It does require local home network connectivity, but not necessarily internet access.

As requested, more information. Dual light bulb socket adapter used as search terms generates a number of candidates, this one from Amazon is typical and others are more ornate.

In the process of clarifying, I discovered what may be a more suitable adapter, also from Amazon:

As one can see in the image, the light socket is "standard" and the intermediate section contains a three prong outlet. Of course, this portion would remain hot when the camera is live, but it would also be accepting of the remote outlet switching device previously described.

One would leave the wall switch in the on position and use the app or physical button on the switching device to manage illumination of the accent lights. An additional feature of the switching device is the ability to program a schedule for on/off times, removing the "manual" aspect and placing the system into an automatic mode if desired.