We are in the finishing stages of wiring our new house and we came across an interesting wiring question.

We have a bank of can lights outside in our soffit that we want to be able to turn on with a switch inside, for instance if we are expecting company, etc. We would also like to have a motion sensor outside that would turn that same bank of lights on when it detects motion outside. Is there any way to wire it that way?

Wouldn't it have to be some sort of 3 way manual switch and a 3 way motion sensor of some type? Do they make such a thing?

Our electrician is saying that we could hook up the motion sensor to the manual switch, then if you have the switch on, then the motion sensor takes affect and the lights will turn on with motion. And i know it is possible if you flip the switch up and down a couple times or something you can have the lights on permanently. I was curious if there was a way to not have to mess with all that, and have it act basically as 2-3 way switches.

Any thoughts?