Light on or off?

[ZeSpectre]

Buy those new LED bulbs and leave 'em on forever!

Seriously though, I know a lot of people that have a few fairly dim "point" lights around their property and another set of burn the retenia floodlights hooked up to motion sensors.

 

[Bob F.]

You can rig the motion lights to a door bell or similar, also, so you'll know when they come on without looking. Take the time to adjust range and sensitivity though so neighbors dogs, cats, etc, don't keep you up all night.

One end of my house has almost no visibility from inside, the garage end, no less. I really need a camera there.

Bob

 

[gezzer]

IMHO it is light polution.

 

[ctdonath]

Leave 'em on. My front & back porches ALWAYS have lights on. Forget the stats, but the deputy sheriff involved in bringing our community up to "Neighborhood Watch" standards observed that lighting SIGNIFICANTLY decreases crime rates, as it makes the perp more visible - exactly not what he wants. It's just too easy for him to move right on to the next house that is not well lit.

Always-on lights are also trivial to check if they're working. Just glance and you know. This in contrast with motion sensors, which when off don't tell you if they'll be on when you expect 'em to be on. I've been a bit surprised at what motions _don't_ set off the motion sensor by the garage, and also have been surprised at how often lights burn out (and, being always on, I promptly know when they're not working).

 

[obxned]

I leave a light on. I hate eating in a restaurant that is so dark I can't see my food, and assume my dogs feel the same way.

 

[07Lway]

I have motion lights that work well, a dog that isn't as good, and a 12 gauge by the bed (and I can go from dead asleep to full awake in less then five minutes ... working on that )

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Wife

I have a wife who's a feather-light sleeper.

The good: she wakes up at the slightest noise that's out of place.
The bad: she wakes me up if the noise seems to need attention.
The ugly: she won't let me go back to sleep until I've checked it out.

There have been nights where neither of us got much sleep.

*Thump*
What was that? Did you hear that noise?
Uhh? Meh? Noise? What?
That noise! What was that??
'Snothing. G'backta sleep.
ARFIN! Go see what that was!
Oh, S#i7! Dammit! Furgin riffle nabish bogrish nukz!
. . . shuffle . . . shuffle . . . Stoopid kat! Get offa dat!
Well? What was it??
Fargin rimple daffin CAT! Murkish duffid peefered punphis blasted CAT!
Oh. Okay. Good night. Get some sleep.
DammCat. GonnaFarginDrownit. Whumpffus! ShooditWiddaBleedinRaffle. Felis Idiotus. *Snore* . . .​

Oddly, I come fully awake when a noise is wrong.

*Snore*
<daughter brings friends over at O'Dark-Thirty>
*Snore*
*Thump* *Clunk* *Slam* *Stomp, stomp*
*Snore*
*Klick* *Shunk* -- someone who is not family has closed a door
*Snurp?* <dad on feet, bathrobe, snag manhood compensator>
<dad pads softly to front door>
Hi. Help you?
OhMyGodYouScaredMe! I'm with Autumn.
Well, come in; close the door. Hey, Autumn? Ashley's here. Don't stay out too late. You gotta sleep for work.
<pad softly back to bedroom, park hardware, climb into bed>
Honey? Whutz going on?
Nuthin'; g'backta sleep.​

Oh, she leaves the lights on.

 

[skinnyguy]

A guy I knew some years ago had a motion sensor light. He put it in his storage room, upstairs on the street side. The motion sensor was outside and aimed at the sidewalk along the front of the house. He'd turn the light on when he went to bed, so anybody walking around his house would trip the sensor and an INSIDE light went on. He had NO problems as long as I knew him.

Took some wiring and he didn't tell me how much it was, but did say it wasn't free.

 

[KD5NRH]

The trick with motion sensors it setting and aiming them right; you should be able to adjust sensitivity, aim, and possibly shield parts of the sensor so that it only comes on for something taller than 2-3ft, within about half the effective range of the lights. That way, there's less falsing, and no warning; when the lights come on, the BG is fully illuminated, and can't set them off from out-of-range to find unlighted areas. (Eliminating and/or protecting those areas by other means - think holly, bull nettle or similar unfriendly stuff - is a good idea, too, of course.)

Consider shielding the lights themselves too, to reduce glare on neighboring properties, and to concentrate all the light on the area of interest.

 

[NavyLCDR]

You can get motion sensing/dusk-to-dawn auto dimming porch lights at Home Depot/Lowes/maybe Wal-Mart. They are great! Regular porch light shaped. I put in a clear 100 watt incadescent bulb and had one on back porch, front porch and over garage doors. They come on at dusk at like 60 watts. When motion is sensed they go bright to 100 watts and stay bright for 4-10 minutes (you pick), then dim again. Turn off at dawn. Just install them, take out the porch light switches in the house and never worry about them again until the bulb burns out.

They also have wiring to extend the auto on/off/dimming function to other lights such as "gas" lights in the middle of the yard.

 

[combatantr2]

I vote Leave it On!

Leaving lights on is a clear deterrent. Lights off, builds and promotes confidence to a would be perp. However, nothing would almost stop a criminally inclined person, lights on or off. On another note, lights on is almost comparable to open carry. Others may not advocate but I believe half of the ccw population would vote for open carry.

 

[Darth Muffin]

I bought these light switch timers from Home Depot that replace your light switch. They're programmable so you can have your porch lights turn on and off at different times each day of the week if you want, but I have mine set to sundown/sunup +/- a random amount up to 15 minutes. You set the time and your latitude on them and they automatically calculate sunup and sundown times too. Really cool. You could use them inside to make your house look lived in too.

I combined with some compact flourescent bulbs and now my porch lights turn themselves on and off and use very little power and more importantly I'll never have to mess with them again.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I have motion-heat sensors in 4 spots. 3 of them are double-floodlights. Anything that moves around my house triggers at least one of them. I'm also a light sleeper, so the lights generally wake me up. Neighbors have them too. I have had exactly one incident since they were installed. I heard the fences rattling all the way down the block as the creep hopped over them. The lights must have scared the crap out of him. Hop over the wrong fence around here, also, and you may wind up some doggie's lunch.

I also have low-voltage lighting around my shrubs out front and on the deck in back. My flag is always lit at night from a dusk to dawn photo switch. Lighting is a good thing to have around your house as long as you don't go Chevy Chase crazy.

 

[Titan6]

A few years ago we were taking issue with kids hanging out on the other side of our gate on the end of our driveway late at night. Still our property just the other side of the gate. So I put some solar powered LED light posts out there. About a month later they stole the light posts.

Not to be out done I then mounted lights on the fence above the gate this time with a wireless NOD camera ($99 from Sam's Club). They never came back. People that are where they are not supposed to be hate lights. Won't stop a real pro but will keep out most unwanteds.

 

[ID_shooting]

I say leave the darn light off till you need it, motion sensor or some such. I say this cuz I HATE the friggin light polution. My nieghbor bought the next door house to run a business out of. They leave about 4pm and will not show up till 8am the next day. Well he thought he needed some security and mounted the $%^&#$ STADIUM LIGHTS in the back yard and LEFT THEM ON ALL NIGHT!

You ever try to sleep with > 1,000,000 candle power aimed at your bedroom window? I litterally could sit in bed a read to it. It took two very long weeks of me constantly complaining to him to finally put it on a timmer.

Lights are fine, just don't impeed on your neighbors rights to not have lights if they choose not to.

 

[merkaba]

...

I vote Motion Sensor.

If you see the light turn on outside you know something is out there. Maybe just some nice wildlife to look at, but nonetheless you know something has shown up and triggered your sensor. I'm getting one next week. My neighbor (electrician) said he would install any lights I get for free. He said the access the wiring is easy and it would not be a hassle. Though I would pay to get it installed because it is an important piece of a home security combination.
Lights, Dogs, Trip Wires that shoot up flares , a gun or two, etc..

My wife came home one day with a little 1/2 Shar Pei 1/2 Terrier mutt from the pound. It has turned out to be the best for alerting me of anything. Maybe just a bit on the "barks too much" side, but just barely.

 

[PRazz]

Good posts and lots to think about. You all have me paranoid now, thanks alot. I tried two nights this weekend to leave the front and back lights on all night. I slept through the night and didn't feel any safer in the light. I usually like everything dark except the doorbell. I know the layout of my house best and doubt anyone could make it around in the dark as quietly as me without bumping into everything. If it has a flashlight, well that's cheating, penalty box. Running all these lights all night has to be expensive and I can afford little ammo as it is.

Thanks for the idea Darth Muffin, I'll try and find some of these: "I bought these light switch timers from Home Depot that replace your light switch. They're programmable so you can have your porch lights turn on and off at different times each day of the week if you want, but I have mine set to sundown/sunup +/- a random amount up to 15 minutes. You set the time and your latitude on them and they automatically calculate sunup and sundown times too. Really cool. You could use them inside to make your house look lived in too."

I'm gonna set these to come on randomly and from 4-6am steadily. That's when we sleep the hardest and I believe when a break-in would be attempted.

 

[Big Calhoun]

Depends how you want to look at it. To some, a light on could mean the occupant is home and awaiting another occupant. To others, it could mean the occupant is clumsy and out and left the light on. I'd say it depends on your nieghbors, nieghborhood, and other circumstances.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

smarthome .com has a ton of light options i have some motion senored ones but also have lights on the perimeter aimed in i kight em up i've highligted anyone between me and them. generally anyone is coyotes after my chickens but it doesn't take many halogen lights to make 3 acres shootable