Security lights or darkness??

[caver]

I hate dusk to dawn lights in the country. It's light pollution and energy wasting. I like that my place is in one of the lower light polluted areas of Missouri. I like to look up at stars at night. My one metal halide light, mounted on the barn, is on a switch. I don't want to help thieves and chances are they will hit my place in the daytime. .

 

[dave1949]

Camps and cabins are easy targets for thieves, vandals, squatters. Your usage patterns are so predictable that motion activated lights are not going to stop a determined person.

How long would it take for an intruder to turn off the power to motion activated security lights? Not long, which means any neighbors happening to see the lights will think it was a deer or whatever. The nature of those lights is that people become habituated to false tripping.

Dusk to dawn lights are useless unless someone is there to see whatever they may illuminate. So, the setting/visibility from a road or neighbors and the number of potential observers work together to determine their usefulness. Plus the light pollution issues to consider. Light pollution impacts the feeding and mating of nocturnal animals and insects in addition to ruining the night sky.

I'd say have insurance and don't keep high value easy to take items there. I think there are interior alarms that can place a phone call or set off an exterior horn or strobe lights, etc. Not sure who it would be useful to call. Interior triggered alarms are some deterrent to letting the intruders finish their "work" and not prone to false triggers.

 

[bucktaker]

I'd go with motion lights as well... why? Well, if the lights are always on at night and by chance, a neighbor or passing law enforcemnt officer can see the place, they'll get used to the lights being on all the time and never bother to look in that direction. If the lights only come on when there is a reason, it makes people notice because it is 'out of the norm'.

Also, as mentioned, if a burglar is about and the lights come on, they'll run. Of course, they may just run far enough, wait it out and try it again, but that would require risk.

You can get motion sensing lights that talk to each other. If, say, the front motion detector senses movement, it will turn on the lights in the front, sides and back as well. And security cameras that send to the internet are nice, too.

Any chance you have a link for these motion lights?

 

[jaotguy]

I vote for the motion triggered lights ... with a twist .....

turn on an inside light first ... then a relay to activate a noise ( recorded loop " who's there ?" ) and finally the outside lights a moment or two later .... and a fan inside to move the curtains a bit .... then turn everything off in reverse sequence.

 

[turnkey4099]

IMO, constant on lights in the country are only an assist to burglars. Case in point my neighbor - yard light on, truck full of professional electrician tools parked under it, bedroom on same side of house. Truck gone in the morning. Truck found totaled later 100 miles away taken by a couple juvies who had run out of gas in the first care they stole near the driveway. Neighbors house set back over 100 yards from highway. Had the light been on, the thieves would have never known there was a house there and even had they spotted it they would have been working in the dark trying to steal it.

A cabin in a remote location lit up all night? Theif will think you for the assist in his work.

Harry K

 

[XMS]

We bought a shack on a Gulf Coast beach, during the downturn. It is literally a "shacK", meaning we cannot even rent it out to tourists.

It is a favorite for the homeless and beach squatters. My advice is full-time lighting. Motion lights time out after a set time. The squatters would simply trip the lights, then wait to see if the Police would show up. Five minutes after the lights go dark again, they'd be sleeping on our deck and leaving syringes for my kids to find (really).

My advice is to keep the lights on, and to get someone to check the place out. I also have four cameras I can watch remotely, tied to a DVR that let's me review footage. I just this morning talked (again) to the Assistant States Attorney down there about prosecuting a recurring homeless guy with a history of drugs and violence who likes to crash at our place. I am the proverbial wheel that squeals, so they are prosecuting based on the camera footage alone.

EDIT: if you are really rural (no witnesses to see the lights), then go with cameras. PM for details on a lower-cost system that might help. Our shack is not urban, but has neighbors. It's a small town and they see things.

 

[MossRoad]

Any chance you have a link for these motion lights?

Well, crud! I got these from x-10.com. Apparently they have gone bankrupt in 2013! Too bad. Cheap stuff that worked...
Here's a link for reading purposes...
X10 Powerhouse PR511 Motion Detecting Floodlights

 

[5030]

I say move your mother-in law in full time and be done with it.....

 

[George2615]

I bought my motion sensing flood lights at HD. Still working fine going on 5 years now. Sometimes cheap does work.


Heath Zenith 240-Degree Motion-Sensing Security Light-SL-5318-WH at The Home Depot

 

[MarkF48]

I've got motion sensing lights two sides of the house (I also have a normal looking front door light wired to a motion detector), fake flashing LED security cameras (contemplating real ones), and a wired alarm system with a wicked loud siren. If we go away for extended periods I set up lamps inside the house with 24 hour timers that turn the lamps on and off at times when one might be in a particular room when home.