I've had a rule that left all my exterior lights on from dusk to dawn for many years- 2 at the front door, 2 in the back, and 3 over the garage doors. Each one is a 5000k 100w equivalent led. I am in a faily rural area.
I was thinking of getting some 100w equivalent Hue or Lifx rgb lights out there, a couple of high mounted floods, and some strategically placed motion sensors. My thought is to save some electricity and some bulb lumen degradation from leaving them on 8-12 hours/day by automating them. Ok ok, it's mostly just to play with more automations and buy some cool rgb bulbs.
I was thinking of dimming them to maybe a 60w equivalent warm white from dusk to 11pm, and have them come on full brightness if a car comes down the driveway or motion around a particular light is sensed. Then from 11pm to dawn, have them turn on and go full brightness cool white at any motion sensed or driveway sensor is triggered.
Thoughts? I would like to hear what others are doing with their outside lights and automations, and what kind of lights are being used.
I installed 100ft (72 LED Pucks) of the Govee Permanent LEDs in November. Now that Christmas has passed, I turn on all of them to white at Sunset. Then, about 11 pm, I change to leave the 10-12 over the garage and 3 each over front door and two ground-level windows on front of house on. The 36 pucks under 2nd floor eave are turned off. I love the look; I saw someone on YouTube leaving a few pucks on over every ground-level window of his house for security.
I got a set of the Govee Pathway Lights for Christmas and am going to install along driveway; just haven't done it yet.
On until around 11pm IIRC, and then off unless motion in front driveway/front yard. On motion after 11 I turn on the porch light, and my Ring camera lights on the driveway and both sides of the house, and keep them on until the motion stops. Works well in case I need to see what's going on, of if I'm in the front yard at night doing something.
I don't leave lights on all the time...father was a "lights off if you're not in the room!" guy and I absorbed his mania about this, so I just can't take it if the lights on on outside and there is nothing happening (no motion). Also, triggering on motion makes it simple to see that something happened...
Porch light is on under the carport and two floods light the backyard from dusk to dawn. If motion is sensed during the night then 64ft of LEDs light up white on the carport, the garden spots turn on white and I turn on the front screen room porch light. If someone is messing around the house they will be lit up. We occasionally have kids look for unlocked cars and I've never had any issues, knock on wood.
Driveway lights stay on all night so my truck and security cams are illuminated. No one has messed with my stuff, cars parked on dark street 40ft away not so lucky.
Single-bulb street-facing front door downlight on all night (basically a dusk-to-dawn setting).
Side-door downlight on w/ motion (~30 seconds), otherwise off.
Detached garage (house facing) service door / patio area Hue downlight on SS - SR at 25%/2000K, illuminates to 80%/2700K via a Hue outdoor sensor placed between house & garage. Garage door area and driveway apron are illuminated well enough by a city-maintained streetlight in our alley.
I used to volunteer with the Local Police Department Crime Prevention program. We would tell people to leave their lights on all night for crime prevention. Not necessarily blinding lights, just regular garage/ door lights.
Mine are from sunset to sunrise. They are Inovelli RGB bulbs, at Christmas and other holidays I use @mbishop 's Holiday lights app for color effects. They are set to return to 3000K when certain sensor are open or locks unlocked. It has an option for motion too, but I don't have a motion sensor out front yet. I've been looking for a better option than an PIR sensor. I have a hue outdoor motion sensor, but it gets (and stays) hot out there in the summer, so I don't think that would be very effective.
I could dim them overnight, but the way my house sits, they aren't shining in anybody's windows.
I think that might have been me. I even use it to run those lights in non-holiday periods too! I know i was the one the requested using a lock to switch to white and back. Works rather nicely!
I can't even imagine leaving outside lights on all night. Heresy! I don't even turn them on when I walk from the house, across the dooryard, to the sauna (or back). I can look up and see an amazing view of the stars because it's nearly pitch black here. You folks live near way too many other humans.
I'm sure the wisdom of keeping exterior lights on all night is a function of where you live, security considerations, neighbors, etc. I used to keep my exterior lights on all night at about 40% until we had an issue with bats getting into the attic. We were advised by the bat exclusion people to try to keep the exterior light usage to a minimum as they attract bugs which attract bats. I don't that anymore. Noticeably fewer bugs as well in the summer.
I have two post lights with RGBW LED bulbs that change color according to the holiday. No holiday, they are blue because my younger son is a cop (tech sergeant) in the Air Force. The front porch light is the same. All are set to 50% brightness because we have a strong street light in front of the house, and one on each side. They are more for looks than function.
There are 3 soffit lights that follow the same schedule. These are controlled by a TreatLife WiFi dimmer (I was unable to find a Zigbee or Z-Wave outdoor dimmer). Plenty of switches but no dimmers.
These are also sunset to sunrise. Level at 20% because they are blinding at 50% and higher and shine in the bedroom windows.
The gazebo lights in the back yard are controlled by another TreatLife outdoor dimmer. They are on from sunset to 10pm. These are also very bright, so I set them to 20%. More for mood.
On the back of the house there is a Wyze video camera with a floodlight. Also have one under the deck.
Well everyone can't move their family to the outback...
But I agree with:
I just can't leave lights on that aren't "doing something." IMHO having them turn on and stay on w/motion is as effective as leaving them on all the time in terms of any hoped for prevention effect. And if you watch enough Ring and other security camera videos on the interweb you'll constantly see people walking right up to and looking up at on/recording cameras and just ignoring them as they pilfer. To me lights coming on feels more disruptive ("Uh oh - they noticed me!") than having them on all the time. Anyone who cares about being lit up are going to move on to the next dark home or just ignore lights regarless if they are unfazed. Just my (sort of) humble opinion...
I leave my porch light on all night. I have motion sensors that turn on lights in the background. Lights are a much better crime deterrent than cameras.
Now they stay at 1% and go to 100% with motion.
