Light on or off?

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4ME&MYHOUSE

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Hello all,

I live in a very quite neighborhood, for years now I have been leaving the front porch light on all night. It is a cul-de-sac, with no street lighting.

Any reccomendations? On or off?

Thanks
 
Thought about that, but it seems like they are everywhere (motion sensors) most people are accustomed to doors etc openinng automatically, to me it seems like it instantly says " resting on my lsurels ".

Not picking on you. Just my observations.

Thanks for the reply, btw I am 90% sure I will go motion sensor. ;)
 
In a quiet cul-de-sac, an always-on or motion-on light probably won't be much of a deterrence. I know in my neighborhood every stray cat, dog, raccoon, skunk, possum....will activate a motion-on light.

Chances are you only have a few neighbors close by and lower chances they'll be awake at 3 a.m. to see your light click on and call 911 in time to be of any real assistance.

I would recommend an alarm system...even the stickers or signs are a better deterrent. Or one of those little shaky dogs that have ears bigger than they are. Sure they'll yap at a lot of stuff and pester the crap out of you until the night they hear something you don't and you wished you had.

Everyone gets those great big dogs...I call them "watch" dogs...they'll watch someone go right into your window and right back out. You want a nervous and paranoid chihuahua.

Just my take.
 
My wife and I have a chihuahua. I wouldn't call him nervous and paranoid cause we taught him as a pup not to be a yip dog.

But he does let us know if he hears or sees anything he doesn't like. Which could only be the meter reader or the squirrel on the patio. He hates that squirrel. Drives him crazy.
 
But he does let us know if he hears or sees anything he doesn't like. Which could only be the meter reader or the squirrel on the patio. He hates that squirrel. Drives him crazy.
Click to expand...

That's because the squirrel is bigger, can climb trees, and can grab things. Your poor little willard dog can't. :)
 
That's because the squirrel is bigger, can climb trees, and can grab things
Click to expand...

hahaha! But seriously, I need to get a Motion light for my driveway/porch too, preferably a halogen one.
 
If you don't want a motion light, then I say leave it on with low wattage bulbs to save on the power bill.
 
I leave mine all all night, front and back.

I don't know if it works, but I can see if anyone is there and it makes it harder to see inside the house when the outside light it on.
 
I leave the front porch and a side yard light on all night they are on sensors not motion the dusk to dawn type.

I think having some lights on makes the area less attractive. In the fenced in backyard I have motion lights - they go on all the darn time! and theres never anything there - well, no people maybe squirrels and fruit rats and the wind blowing...my dogs never bark when the kight goes on but if someone walks 100 yards from my fence they let me know about it.

Oh i use the flouescent bulbs that hardly use any energy.
 
Motion lights are also good because the burglars realize they can be seen, and most don't care for that.

We had an incident around 9pm last October when the wife had our lights off "to save electricity". Our teenage son was watching TV with those lights off too, and heard the dogs barking. He said it was the serious bark - but unthinkingly opened the window and shushed them. At this, someone took off running from within 3 feet of the window. The intruder ran out of the yard and down the street, where a truck that had pulled out of our drive picked him up.
I looked around when I got home from work. The dual rear wheel pickup had obviously backed up to the garage and the passenger went to try the ground level windows. They apparently intended to carry our possessions out through the garage and load them onto the truck. If they'd gotten into the vacant looking house. Now we have lights on.

We live out in the country, on a street you pretty much have to be going to to get there. But nowhere's absolutely safe.

We called the Sherrif's Office to report it and warned the neighbors. It's been quiet since.
 
Everyone gets those great big dogs...I call them "watch" dogs...they'll watch someone go right into your window and right back out. You want a nervous and paranoid chihuahua.
Click to expand...

My 110lb Doberman would disagree with your characterization. I would not recommend anyone try and go in one of his windows. :evil:
 
I have floodlights on the corners of my home. I keep the porch light off because invariably if I forget and leave it on people I don't know take that as an invitation to knock on the door at any hour. I have a motion detector light that covers the porch so I'll know if someone comes up. I'm pretty comfortable with my setup. I also have an alarm system.
 
Chances are you only have a few neighbors close by and lower chances they'll be awake at 3 a.m. to see your light click on and call 911 in time to be of any real assistance.
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No matter how many people might not actually see a Bad Guy trying to jimmy his way in, lighting strips away the anonymity of the act and is very unattractive to most casual thieves.

Put in an outdoor florescent bulb in the porch fixture and keep it burning.
 
Aren't most burglaries during the daylight hours?

of course, you COULD go with the motion sensing pepper spray.
 
Two years ago punks broke into my truck. The back porch light was on...didn't slow them down. I got home about 11:eek:o pm and even though I had that "funny gut feeling" I went to bed. :fire: Maybe it was best...things would have gotten ugly.

Mark.

tihs doesn't mean turn off the lights...just be more alert than I was.
 
Oh, I'm not arguing against having a well lit exterior...I'm just saying lights alone won't always scare the determined ones off. If you can afford it then light the place up like the Bellagio in Las Vegas. :neener:
 
I have a porch light, 2 garage lights and a side door light. The only place that isn't lit all of the time is the back yard, but my two 100+ lb dogs can see in the dark just fine.:evil:

I leave my lights on 24/7 for two reasons. First is so that I don't forget to turn them on, coming home late, etc. The second is so that people can't tell if I'm home or not as nothing changes.

I use Compact Fluorescent lights. This may help to offset the 350 watt halogen floodlight I have lighting up my US Flag. :D

LoveMyCountry
 
Motion detector lights are good, but be sure to adjust the sensitivity.

Some of them have IR LED lamps and an IR/visible light camera mounted under the motion detector. Very handy if you have it connected to a TV and can keep an eye on the exterior of your house.
 
Makes no difference to me, because I have dogs. At night, they don't bark unless they need to. Even then, it is occasionally just a raccoon or similar. I send them out to investigate, they have never chased off any bipeds, only quadrapeds.

However, on the motion detector angle, I tried that with fluorescent bulbs and it did not work so well. It made it flicker horribly and burned out the bulb.
 
don't ever put one of those flourescent tube *socket type* bulbs on a 'sunlight sensor' socket.

They burn out within minutes because the "sunlight sensor" thing is intermittent at dusk and flourescents don't last long when they are being cycled on/off for even 15 minutes.
 
You're all missing the point. What we need is a lift on the restrictions governing the sale and possession of motion-sensing Drone guns. Park a few in the yard and maybe one on the front porch (adequate warning signs on the lawn to help out the Fed-Ex guy) and your house is safe. :evil:
 
I also live in a very dark neighborhood. I have light-sensor flood lights in the back that are on all night and illuminate the sides of the house as well. I have a motion-sensor light in the front in addition to my neighbors gas light in his front yard.
 
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