External Security light woes - Need a permanent solution

[Tyson1980]

Hi guys,

need some guidance here.

A few months back my hous enearly got broken into. The security light covering my front yard has beenbust for the best part of 5 months now. I exchanged the bulb the other day but it failed to light.

I think the light is bust once again.

I am pretty miffed as i have spent a fair bit on these halogen PIR lights.

Now, I am looking for a hardwired RELIABLE solution to sort the lighting situation out.

Anyone here recommend me a unit or type of fitting which i could stick instead of these ****ty Halogens???

It must have a motion sensor too.

Ta

Edited by Tyson1980 on Tuesday 11th October 14:19

[tenohfive]

I can't recommend a specific make/model, but avoid motion sensors. Fit dawn to dusk lighting instead - that's the guidance from most police crime prevention officers these days.

[randlemarcus]

tenohfive said:

I can't recommend a specific make/model, but avoid motion sensors. Fit dawn to dusk lighting instead - that's the guidance from most police crime prevention officers these days.

Its no blooming use being on during the day, surely?

There are reasonably priced LED fed floodlights, which at least takes the halogen thing out of the equation.

[andy-xr]

There's a school of thought that says by lighting up the area you're making it easier for people to not need torches and other such things, effectively making your property easier to access

Go with a shotgun roped and pointed to the door/window

[Tyson1980]

randlemarcus said:

Its no blooming use being on during the day, surely?

There are reasonably priced LED fed floodlights, which at least takes the halogen thing out of the equation.

LED? Are these any good...

I'm leaning towards these. Gotta be more reliable than the junk i currently have...

I'm willing to pay upto £100 for piece of mind

[freecar]

Tyson1980 said:

randlemarcus said:

Its no blooming use being on during the day, surely?

There are reasonably priced LED fed floodlights, which at least takes the halogen thing out of the equation.

LED? Are these any good...

I'm leaning towards these. Gotta be more reliable than the junk i currently have...

I'm willing to pay upto £100 for piece of mind

E36GUY runs an LED shop, he might have pretty strong opinions on the entire GU10 LED market that I don't particularly agree with (neither do my non-overheated fittings!) but he does sell LED security lights and does discounts for PHers. Pop him a message!

[louismchuge]

Tyson1980 said:

for piece of mind

Surely you've got nothing to worry about?

[Flat6time]

Can't give you a link as ebay is banned from work, but look at the seller uniqueledlightingstore for a mr beams battery powered LED security light.

We have 2, one front and one back. The light is good, batteries last well and they are fairly cheap.

[FaineantFreddy]

I bought two of these last week and fitted one of them at the weekend to replace a 500W halogen floodlight.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-SMD-Floodlight-outdo...

I used the existing PIR from the old flood, but if you can't do that you'll need to get a new PIR as well, or buy a light sensing switch to make it come on at dusk and off at dawn

Good points: Good value, overall small size, no halogen lamp to change, LED should last a long time, lower electricity costs.

Bad points: If the LED or driver inside fails, you can't replace either cost-effectively so you'd be in for a new unit, but as the initial cost is low that's not really a problem IMO.
You can't compare the light output of one of these to even a 250W halogen, but maybe you don't actually need a 250W halogen's output for the area you're covering?

After a couple of nights, I've got used to the lower light output and it's fine for my needs. You can get 20W LED versions if you want to spend a bit more or you could fit two 20W LED lights if you want a bit more ooomph and still save loads on electricity and new halogen lamps.

I have also got a couple of those solar-panel-charged battery-powered PIR LED lights in places I can't easily run power to. They are fine for what they are, but the light output is pretty low, so only useful to light up a very small area or use as a deterrent.

HTH

Edited by FaineantFreddy on Tuesday 11th October 15:17

[tenohfive]

randlemarcus said:

Its no blooming use being on during the day, surely?

There are reasonably priced LED fed floodlights, which at least takes the halogen thing out of the equation.

Doh. Dusk to dawn lights.
Either way, look for crime prevention advice on most police forces websites and they'll be the ones to use over PIR's.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I've got one of the slightly cheaper 45 LED jobbies...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Floodlight-LED-PIR-F...

At 3 watts it's virtually free lighting. You could leave it on all the time and it wouldn't really affect your energy bills. The LEDs should last a lot longer than Halogen bulbs too!
Being LED, it's actually more of a 'spot' light, rather than a 'flood' light. I have mine fitted above the garage door and it produces enough light to light up the driveway, and possibly deter crims from looting my cars under the cover of complete darkness (no other lighting in the vicinity).
The light output is probably equivalent to a 60 or 100w bulb I guess. Certainly enough to see you to your door.

[Raverbaby]

28W 2D fitting with Photocell (dusk till dawn) should last you a while.
One on ebay, not the best make tbh but is reasonably priced and the light output will be the same.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamlite-NIMROD-Circular-...

I have one of these and gives off really good light, also cheap to run.

[Wings]

andy-xr said:

There's a school of thought that says by lighting up the area you're making it easier for people to not need torches and other such things, effectively making your property easier to access

Go with a shotgun roped and pointed to the door/window

This I agree, pointless at 3 am in the morning unless the light is linked to an inside buzzer, that activates when the light comes on.

So buy an exterior light, with an inside buzzer/alarm, also a better quality light that allows for the heat to disperse, and to assist the same lower wattage bulb/tube, and position the light facing down.

[DanGPR]

I would recommend fitting a stand alone PIR unit (or multiple), preferably of a decent make.

Use this to control light fittings placed in your choice of location.

[E36GUY]

Raverbaby said:

28W 2D fitting with Photocell (dusk till dawn) should last you a while.
One on ebay, not the best make tbh but is reasonably priced and the light output will be the same.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamlite-NIMROD-Circular-...

I have one of these and gives off really good light, also cheap to run.

Advert says:

Energy Saver Only 3 Watt Power Consumption, 2400 Lumens Output



What enormous lies. Utterly impossible.

[Raverbaby]

E36GUY said:

Raverbaby said:

28W 2D fitting with Photocell (dusk till dawn) should last you a while.
One on ebay, not the best make tbh but is reasonably priced and the light output will be the same.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamlite-NIMROD-Circular-...

I have one of these and gives off really good light, also cheap to run.

Advert says:

Energy Saver Only 3 Watt Power Consumption, 2400 Lumens Output



What enormous lies. Utterly impossible.

I'm only seeing 28W 2D

ETA : Ah this is the link your looking at :-

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

I've got one of the slightly cheaper 45 LED jobbies...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Floodlight-LED-PIR-F...

At 3 watts it's virtually free lighting. You could leave it on all the time and it wouldn't really affect your energy bills. The LEDs should last a lot longer than Halogen bulbs too!
Being LED, it's actually more of a 'spot' light, rather than a 'flood' light. I have mine fitted above the garage door and it produces enough light to light up the driveway, and possibly deter crims from looting my cars under the cover of complete darkness (no other lighting in the vicinity).
The light output is probably equivalent to a 60 or 100w bulb I guess. Certainly enough to see you to your door.

Edited by Raverbaby on Wednesday 12th October 14:30

[tenohfive]

Wings said:

This I agree, pointless at 3 am in the morning unless the light is linked to an inside buzzer, that activates when the light comes on.

So buy an exterior light, with an inside buzzer/alarm, also a better quality light that allows for the heat to disperse, and to assist the same lower wattage bulb/tube, and position the light facing down.

I disagree. Speaking as someone who gets called when someone is seen creeping gardens at 3am, it's very very rare for the description to include the offenders using a torch. Less than 1 in 10 calls if I had to hazard a guess. Bear in mind that if your eyes are adjusted to the dark there should be enough ambient light anyway - be it moonlight, starlight or street lighting. And breaking into a house isn't keyhole surgery (no pun intended.)

A large part of crime prevention advice comes from interviewing burglars who've decided to call it a day and getting them to go through what puts them off. Being in the public view is a deterrent - so good lighting and low front boundaries are the approach I'm happy sticking to. Yes, it doesn't stop all burglars - but nothing does. Crime prevention is all about making someone else an easier target than you are.

[nomisesor]

Broken security lights / blown bulbs - a common PH issue - some blame it on cats.

[Wings]

tenohfive said:

I disagree. Speaking as someone who gets called when someone is seen creeping gardens at 3am, it's very very rare for the description to include the offenders using a torch. Less than 1 in 10 calls if I had to hazard a guess. Bear in mind that if your eyes are adjusted to the dark there should be enough ambient light anyway - be it moonlight, starlight or street lighting. And breaking into a house isn't keyhole surgery (no pun intended.)

A large part of crime prevention advice comes from interviewing burglars who've decided to call it a day and getting them to go through what puts them off. Being in the public view is a deterrent - so good lighting and low front boundaries are the approach I'm happy sticking to. Yes, it doesn't stop all burglars - but nothing does. Crime prevention is all about making someone else an easier target than you are.

Although I agree with much of what you say, surely the added addition of an inside buzzer, alarm linked to the ignition of the outside security light/s, can only help to increase/assist the householder, occupants of a property in their security measures.

Your reply did remind me of me departing at 4ish in the morning in my car from my home, which happens to be in a very rural location, security lights flooding the drive. Then out of no where, a police patrol car arrived on the scene, with two officers inside blocked my exit. I explained I was leaving for London, and pointed both to my wife in her dressing gown, and to the CCTV cameras. One officer’s reply being that determined criminals are not put off by CCTV and security lights.

Although I suppose from your posting it is possible that the activation of my home’s outside lights, alerted the above police officers.

[anonymous-user]

http://cpc.farnell.com/defender-security/df00026/e...

Got this, been up two years, no issues. As bright as the old halogen but much cheaper to run.