Outdoor Security Lighting a Good Idea?

[the iron horse]

I live in a rural area and many of my nearby neighbors have outdoor security lighting provided by out local power company. *for a fee, of course

I'm not sure this is a good idea.

When you get to my driveway, you can't see my house at all on a dark night. It's on a small hill about 150 yards from the road.
We do have motion activated lighting.


What do you think?

 

[glockman19]

Good Idea.

 

[wrs840]

Motion activated tells you something is, well, in motion. That's a good thing. "Security Lighting" on a pole doesn't do anything but add light pollution the otherwise beautiful night sky out here in the sticks. ...I hate 'em, and have convinced several neighbors to turn them off and save their $8 per month. I've even gone as far as to offer to add motions to neighbors' houses in exchange for their willingness to kill the worthless pole-lights.

If you buy good 10 degree spots for some of the motions that could benefit from long range, they reach way out there. Only ACLs (AirCraft Landing Lights) would be better. Gonna mount me some of those one of these days...

Les

 

[Hann]

I like the large overhead flood lamps myself.

Years ago I was a night watchman for a big commercial property and the main entrance to the property had a large overhead flood lamp mounted about 50 feet in the air. As long as this lamp was functioning it was extremely rare that anyone approached our gates after business hours. The chance of being seen was a huge deterrent.

Every couple months or so this lamp would take a dump and we would put in a service request with the maintenance department to replace it, which could sometimes take a week or two (that's another topic, don't get me started). During that time the number of people approaching the gates after hours was silly, at least two-three people per night, usually gang bangers and hood rats (this was in a crummy area of town a mile or so away from the county jail, same street). Once that light was replaced though, the approaches would all but stop and things went back to normal.

Bad guys don't want to be seen. If I were in a position to have large, outdoor overhead or exterior wall mounted flood lamps I would have them. The trick is positioning them so they light your property and don't keep your neighbors up at night.

 

[Old Shooter]

I had the large yard lights supplied by the power company at a house that was a bit off the beaten path for years and never had a problem with un-invited guests at night, mayby wouldn't have had any problems without them.

I currently have motion lights set up on my work shop, one aims at the front of the shop and the other aims at the house, when they are tripped my bedroom window lights up enough to let me something is going on. Usually it is just the wind setting them off or a neighbors dog, cat or a deer.

The only down side I see to them is that if they are mounted on the house a BG is going to be in close before you get the visual indication that something may be up. Hopefully the sudden light will make them go elsewhere but if they are determined they may just scout around to find the "blind spot" in coverage.

But, thats what the 870 and the Colt are for!

 

[uspJ]

to the op

having your house completely dark and unnoticeable in the dark may work to your disadvantage if your not home. motion lights can easily be knocked out with a rock or stick if they are the kind with the exposed bulbs. this would leave your house in the dark and would let burglars work unnoticed.

i had both a flood light and motion lights at the last house i rented. the flood light lit up the driveway and a portion of the front yard this left the bedrooms and back of the house in complete darkness. i had the motion lights on each corner of the house and had one set wired by the entrances of the house, these let me know if anything came into the yard at night. they worked really good untill my yard became a hangout for opposum, armadillo, raccoon and deer. i wound up getting a dog and keeping him in the house at night, the dog wasn't bothered by the wildlife but he knew if neighbors would walk past my house and alert me.

 

[wishin]

When you get to my driveway, you can't see my house at all on a dark night. It's on a small hill about 150 yards from the road.
We do have motion activated lighting.
What do you think?

I'm with you on this. Motion activated lights over constant lighting.

 

[oneounceload]

Nightguards, as the power company calls them, work well for area lighting and security purposes. They do a good job for their main purpose.

 

[JoeSlomo]

We do have motion activated lighting.

That's the way to go imo.

 

[Pyzon]

Motion activated tells you something is, well, in motion. That's a good thing. "Security Lighting" on a pole doesn't do anything but add light pollution the otherwise beautiful night sky

I used to live on the outskirts of a town of 15,000 (30 years ago) and we had impressive night skies when the weather cooperated. Now I live on the outskirts of a town of 35,000(same town, 30 years later) and see little of the night beauty. A lot of folks have the "security lights" that the power companies promote that light up the yard like daylight non stop, but those folks don't understand that wide area lighting removes all their night vision capabilities when they look out the windows towards such light intensity. These "security" fixtures, when added to the insane lighting around car lots and shopping malls have made it really tough on the local college observatory to also find the beauty in the night sky.

Put me down for motion detection lighting pointed out from the house.

 

[M2 Carbine]

I want the ground around the house lighted at night.
I bought my own lights (like the power companies use), a lot cheaper in the long run.
I also use a motion detector on the front door.

If I were a criminal I would rather walk up to a house in the dark, rather than have to walk through a lighted area around the house.

BTW, that is a Crimson Trace laser dot across my back yard, about 35 yards away.

 

[Sheldon J]

Outside lights attract bugs, and do not deter theft.... but they do let you see what is going on outside at night.... so what is wrong with you just buying a motion detector light and hanging it ouitside.....

 

[Averageman]

Motion detector light, but..AIM IT.
When someone pulls in the drive it should be right in their eyes.

 

[3:00hold]

IMHO, motion lights outside, pitch black inside. Motion lights draw attention to things. If the motion light is on, a neighbor (or you) may look to see why. If it's always on, there's no reason for your neighbor to look.

I think always on lights are better in situations where someone is looking anyway and simply needs to see, as in the corporate security example above.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I like both.