ᐅ Outdoor Lighting Planning with a Focus on Burglary Prevention
Created on: 12 Sep 2023 23:09
R
Rhyem86
Hello everyone,
I would like to discuss the exterior lighting for our property/single-family home with you.
Attached are views of our house:
Street front with the main entrance (power outlet above the front door)
Terrace and garden (power outlet at the back of the house)
Side entrance and garage (garage to be installed) (power outlet at the side entrance to supply the garage)
Our plan
We want to install spotlights in the eaves boxes at the front and back (number still to be determined), as well as wall lights on the terrace wall (number to be determined), and a floodlight at the side entrance covering the entire driveway. Power outlets are already installed in the eaves boxes and at the side entrance (for the garage) outside. Security and burglary prevention are especially important for us. Therefore, we want the entrances on the ground floor to be illuminated as well as possible. We have decided to use motion sensors. Inside the house, we have two switches for manually turning the eaves spotlights on and off.
How many spotlights do we need in the eaves boxes?
How many wall-mounted floodlights do we need on the terrace? Should the floodlights illuminate upward, downward, or both?
Where is the best place to position the motion sensors? Which light sources should be connected to which sensors?
Or should we use dusk-to-dawn sensors, even though that would mean the lights stay on all night, which we want to avoid unless there are good reasons for it?
The garage also has an exit to the garden. Should we plan for an additional light source there?
Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions regarding exterior lighting for us?
Best regards
I would like to discuss the exterior lighting for our property/single-family home with you.
Attached are views of our house:
Street front with the main entrance (power outlet above the front door)
Terrace and garden (power outlet at the back of the house)
Side entrance and garage (garage to be installed) (power outlet at the side entrance to supply the garage)
Our plan
We want to install spotlights in the eaves boxes at the front and back (number still to be determined), as well as wall lights on the terrace wall (number to be determined), and a floodlight at the side entrance covering the entire driveway. Power outlets are already installed in the eaves boxes and at the side entrance (for the garage) outside. Security and burglary prevention are especially important for us. Therefore, we want the entrances on the ground floor to be illuminated as well as possible. We have decided to use motion sensors. Inside the house, we have two switches for manually turning the eaves spotlights on and off.
How many spotlights do we need in the eaves boxes?
How many wall-mounted floodlights do we need on the terrace? Should the floodlights illuminate upward, downward, or both?
Where is the best place to position the motion sensors? Which light sources should be connected to which sensors?
Or should we use dusk-to-dawn sensors, even though that would mean the lights stay on all night, which we want to avoid unless there are good reasons for it?
The garage also has an exit to the garden. Should we plan for an additional light source there?
Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions regarding exterior lighting for us?
Best regards
X
xMisterDx18 Sep 2023 23:44Hold a fairly strong flashlight at an angle against an interior wall in the dark. Usually, the interior plaster won’t look perfect anymore, unless you’ve ordered Q3 finish or higher and paid accordingly.
But this doesn’t bother anyone in everyday life... as the door specialist said, "You’re not going to keep your ear against the wall all day..."
But this doesn’t bother anyone in everyday life... as the door specialist said, "You’re not going to keep your ear against the wall all day..."
Araknis schrieb:
No. Or they are not suitable for other lighting if they are not dimmable. That’s why accent lighting is usually separated from alarm lighting. These are two completely different things.
Unfortunately, they have nothing to do with each other.We want to completely avoid accent lighting. We want brightness where needed, even when we go to the trash bin, garden shed, or compost bin in winter.
X
xMisterDx20 Sep 2023 04:26However, there is a difference between lighting that helps you take out the trash or find your door after a night out, and lighting designed to deter a burglar who is about to drill open your door because they suspect there are diamonds inside... otherwise, they wouldn’t bother, as it’s easier to get the TV from a neighbor without security windows.
So, if you don’t want to carry your trash out wearing welding goggles despite the darkness, you will need to install two lighting systems or use dimmable LEDs. Normal lighting for the trash bin, floodlights for burglary prevention.
That said, you also need to be careful with settings… if the mail carrier almost goes blind at 7:00 AM in winter because your system mistakes them for a bad guy and switches to “UV grill level extra,” they will probably start throwing your mail into the garden and avoid coming near your property altogether.
Motion sensors also need to be adjusted so that pedestrians on the sidewalk or the neighbor’s cat don’t constantly trigger the floodlights, and local birds don’t get confused in winter and start building nests because they think it’s a bright spring morning.
Your neighbors will also appreciate it if, every few days at 3:00 AM, your motion sensor malfunctions and convinces everyone it’s already daylight and time to get up 😉
So, if you don’t want to carry your trash out wearing welding goggles despite the darkness, you will need to install two lighting systems or use dimmable LEDs. Normal lighting for the trash bin, floodlights for burglary prevention.
That said, you also need to be careful with settings… if the mail carrier almost goes blind at 7:00 AM in winter because your system mistakes them for a bad guy and switches to “UV grill level extra,” they will probably start throwing your mail into the garden and avoid coming near your property altogether.
Motion sensors also need to be adjusted so that pedestrians on the sidewalk or the neighbor’s cat don’t constantly trigger the floodlights, and local birds don’t get confused in winter and start building nests because they think it’s a bright spring morning.
Your neighbors will also appreciate it if, every few days at 3:00 AM, your motion sensor malfunctions and convinces everyone it’s already daylight and time to get up 😉
xMisterDx schrieb:
So if you don’t want to take out your trash wearing welding goggles, even in the dark, you’ll need to use two systems or go with dimmable LEDs.But then we would have to dim them manually? How does the light know when to illuminate the walkway or when to shine on an unwanted guest?
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