Dark House? A Little Light? Your Thoughts

[King]

Skunkabilly's thread about finding clothes and other articles in the darkness reminded me of a question I've been mullling over.

In your opinion, would it be better to keep a very dark house in the wee hours of the night to make it harder for BG's to find their way around to you and your possessions?

Is it better to keep a few strategically placed light or night lights on in the house to help yourself should you have intruders?

Seems like there are merits and risks to either strategy.

What say ye?

 

[C.R.Sam]

I do not navigate in total darkness.

Sooo.... I have strategically placed tiny light sources around the house.
Gives me a cheap aritficial horizon.

And not near enough light for an intruder to move about.
Yet I can tell where he is by the lights I don't see

I think that puts me at an advantage.

Sam

 

[sm]

Sam and I are on the same page. I have and still make my abode advantageous to me, disadvantage to intruders. Not just lights either.
Small burned out bulbs shed a Big "awareness when used as inside welcome mat btw.

 

[Bob F.]

I work 3 nights a week so bedroom is dark! At nighttime very, very dark. I have a large black dog who often sleeps on the floor (if she's not comfortable on the bed). I keep one of the little LED lights on the nightstand. $10-15, last "forever", blue and red don't night blind you. My light's made by ASP, called the Sapphire wearable light. Has a little unobtrusive clip built in. $10.99 taag on the package. free light and batteries flor life??

 

[Double Naught Spy]

While total darkness makes it harder for the burglar to find your stuff, it also makes it much harder for you to locate and identify the burglar.

A dark house is more attractive to the burglar specifically because the cover of darkness is an advantage for him. Also, say you do manage to locate a burglar in your darkened home and a gunfight starts. Unless you live alone and can afford to blast away with poorly aimed shots, the burglar has the advantage here as well. You don't want to hit family and he doesn't care if he his you or anyone else in your family. He can provide his own cover fire without concern for where missed shots impact.

So, do you want to try to start a gunfight in the dark?

 

[C.R.Sam]

Yup

Sam

 

[TheeBadOne]

Most burglaries are day time, when everyone is at work and at school. Night time burglaries often occur because they think you are gone. A little lived in look may help in that case. Other night time breakins may be more sinister (or the result of drunk/stoned criminals). A dog goes a long way to home security at night. I have a few night lights left on and flashlights in 3 rooms and on/available to two weapon systems (shotgun/handgun). My German Shepard is better than ADT anyday. My house has a faint light signature visable from outside through a high window. There is a large dog house with an empty chain leading up to the front door. The back of my house has motion lights and unfriendly landscaping.

 

[sm]

So, do you want to try to start a gunfight in the dark?

I really don't want to be in gunfight period,regardless of lighting.
However, if in immediate danger, in my abode I have the advantage(s) , or so I have planned to my advantage. BG is in dark, not knowing what or where may lay in wait.
Example, remote lamp switch silhoutetts BG from the side, I'm still invisible ( in dark), he has no idea where/how/whom light came on.so call it part of O.O,D.A .loop, but I have just caused his gray matter gears to come to a halt ...to my advantage. If power cut on purpose...other tricks.

Like El Tejon said the reason lion becomes old, is because he sleeps in bamboo...without lights I'd imagine.

 

[foghornl]

Bedroom is dark, bif family room has 2 of those small photo-cell controlled night lights.

Plus, i can turn on other lights in home via X-10 controllers.

 

[10-Ring]

I like my house completely dark. I know it better than anyone else. I know where every piece of furniture, light switch, stray toy, nook or cranny is and can use it to my advantage.

 

[King]

It looks like good and bad no matter which route you go. Late night BG visitors pick the time and place for their meaness. That makes them the aggressor and Mr Homeowner the victim right from the get go. Question is, how does the victim become the aggressor when things go bump in the night?

Real dark? BG can't see, can't see you, you can't see him but you know the layout of the house. You also have to worry about mistaking a family member for a BG.

A little light? The BG can see, can possibly see you as you sleep, easier for you to see him or see into the hiding spots, less likely to mistake a family memeber for a BG. etc.

Right now, I'm keeping my bedroom very dark and leaving some minimal amounts of light on in other rooms. This way, I can see out through two bedroom doors and BG's probabably not see me. Being a light sleeper helps as well (in terms of becoming alert very quickly).

 

[USAFA]

There's a long hallway from my living room (where the door is) to my bedroom (where my shotgun is). When I go to bed the living room is reasonably well lit (one lamp stays on) so anyone comming down that hallway at night makes a really NICE silouhette, just like shooting at paper.
Just how I do things based on the geography of my house.

 

[Baba Louie]

Outdoor Circuit breaker box padlocked.
Exterior Motion sensor activated lights fore and aft.
One light left on for target identification purposes in front of house. Back part of house left in dark.
Dogs and cats sleeping all over the place.
Sleep well.

Adios

 

[olyAR73]

Lights are for the exterior of the home, in my opinion. I have one that is on a timer that lights up the drive way, motion detectors front and back, and the front entryway light is usually on. Inside is for sure-fires and tritium night sights. I do alot of shooting in low light and Im pretty comfortable with it.

I like the thought of frying a stumbling, blundering crankster/crackheads already constricted pupils with my sure-fire, right before I give him a taste of low recoil OO buck.

You too can own the night

 

[hso]

X-10 certainly is a great option that anyone can put to use foghornl! I've got lights down stairs and dark upstairs with control of the lights from 2 positions upstairs. A spot facing down the stairs that keeps the doors upstairs in the dark provides a second advantage. Anyone coming up the stairs walks into darkness untill that spot hits them in the face when I or the sensor turns it on.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

There are two scenarios where you would encounter a burglar/intruder. The first is when you come home and find a burglary in progress. This is a VERY dangerous situation, and why you should ALWAYS carry.

The second is a night-time intrusion, either by someone bent on stealing, or on something more sinister.

My formula is:

1. Early warning. An alarm or a dog is needed. In my case, I live so far back in the woods that I can hear (and am waked by) a motor on my road, so that helps, too.

2. A well thought-out and rehearsed plan. Include a standardized positioning of those things you will need (gun, flashlight, etc.) and practice locating them in the dark.

3. Weapons readily avaliable. I keep guns in various places (my children are all grown, so a loaded sixgun in a nightstand drawer or hanging on the newel post is no problem.) While you need a handgun ready to hand, the weapon of choice is a short-barreled shotgun if you have time to reach it.

4. Sleeping area well away from the point of entry (my wife and I sleep in an upstairs bedroom, at the end of the hall.)

5. Communications -- a phone in the bedroom of the safe room or bedroom.

6. Backlight your enemy, not yourself. Put a nightlight at the end of the hall, so your opponent is silhouetted as he approaches your safe room.

 

[Ryder]

When I sleep nights. I do dark. I know every squeak and creak by heart. Never needed a light to navigate even in the woods at night.

I have do like trijicons.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I would have to see it to believe it. I think it is great that some of y'all can identify specifically where a bad guy is in the dark and then throw a remote light switch so as to back or side light him. If you knew where he was already, why not shoot him? He will shoot you.

Sure enough, you know your home best and you know where all the furniture is and all the light switches and then the burglar does exactly what you don't expect and that is to move a major piece of furniture into your way. That was the MO used by a couple of guys here in north Texas. They usually blocked the hallway from the bedrooms to the rest of the house with a large piece of furniture like a big chair or couch. The trip and fall factor was more than sufficient for them to either subdue to homeowner or to escape. The homeowners lost because they knew every nook and cranny of their homes in the dark, until furniture got moved around on them. The burglars used the confidence of the homeowners to their advantage and it worked for a while.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

First of all, you don't throw a remote switch -- you just hve a gently glowing nightlight at the end of the hall.

Secondly, if you set up right -- and I built my house with this in mind, the intruder has difficulty reaching you. In my case, he has to come up the stairs, with his back to me, then make a U-turn at the head of the stairs -- and he's backlighted both on the stairway and in the hall.

Third, again if you set it up right -- you can shoot as soon as he leaves cover (in my case, when he reaches about the third step on the stairway.

Finally, again if you set it up right, you can shoot from an unexpected direction.

 

[Ryder]

They usually blocked the hallway from the bedrooms

Perfectly fine with me. I am not going on any search and destroy mission anyway. They'd have to come seeking their fate. Curiosity does kill the cat ya know.

I haven't got one inanimate object in my house is worth risking death for. Just can't envision myself defending an old toaster oven or a computer that I'd be glad to upgrade anyway.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

Radio Shack has a system called Plug-N-Power that I have installed in my house. It consists of a control panel in the bedroom and remotely activated switches throughout the house. If I hear a noise that I want to investigate, I turn on the lights in the area, inside or outside, where the noise originated, and I remain the the shadows.

Of course, if I have reason to believe there's somebody in my home who shouldn't be there, I ain't gonna go seek him/her out. My plan is to remain in a secure area and use verbal challenges to determine the seriousness of the threat.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Amen!

Don't go looking for an intruder. Let him come to you.

It doesn't cost a dime to sit tight, be quiet, and wait. Wandering around playing "room clearing" could cost you your life.

 

[Bob F.]

I posted way early and mentioned an LED light. It's great but not for S&D. I use it only in routine situations. If my 75# lab/shep mix thinks there's aBG in the neighborhood, it's dark! Glock in hand (no Shotty,yet). Difficult to imagine anyone inside before the dog goes ballistic! Most of the house has enough ambient light (we're rural) to see all I need to see. In a recent (my first) tactical class, we all shot better in darkness w/ trijicons than in daylight!

 

[curt]

I think having a totally dark house may not be that grreat an idea. I mean statistically you're probably more likely to injure yourself while getting a drink of water in a blacked-out house than you are are to being subjected to a burglary while you're home.

The X10s and stuff are great, if you practice with them, otherwise if something goes bad your going to be fumbling with switches with trembling fingers instead of getting ready to fight. How many times do you have to practice your presentation before you start to get good with a draw? You'd probably need at least that many reps to automatically do it in the middle of the night. If your serious about using a strategy like that you may want to set your alarm to some random time at say 3am or so and when it goes off go through your mission control stuff while calling (pretend) 911 and getting your weapon ready, now repeat.. many times.

 

[Boats]

I took my cue from the emergency lighting systems aboard my ship in the Navy. I have three battery backed up double lens halogen floodlamps attached to my electrical system. Two of them are motion sensitive on entry points at the front and back doors, the third is mounted to cast light down the hallway leading to the master suite and not motion equipped.

If the power is cut they all snap on. The one in the hallway has an audible alarm to indicate that power has been lost. That one is also connected to a flat "slap switch" by the master bedroom's main light switch. If the burglar alarm panel goes off, I can slap the light on or off and what it does is effectively blind the hallway from the approach perspective, allowing me to ID a target without giving myself away in the deep shadow behind its mounting. Since the hallway is all the further I would clear my own home, this system seems as if it will work, though thankfully, I have not had to use it in anything more than a blackout.

When my dog passes on, I might go with CC cameras using the dog chow and vet bills I save.