I counted 42 houses in one street and 29 of them had some form of security light or light on the front of the property. Can you believe it?
I’m two weeks into my new morning routine, which involves going for a minimum of a 25 minute walk at 05:30 every weekday morning, and the very first thing that I start concentrating on as I walk by the unlit houses is…. Security lights!
Being an Electrician in Bristol, I quickly picked up on the fact that there are a lot of security lights that activate as I walk by the property each morning.
The purpose of my walk was not to start thinking about work, especially not at this hour, but every morning now, regardless of the route I take, I find more and more security lights to set off.
What started off as a 25 minute walk has quickly escalated to between 35-45 minutes and the basic loop that I created using my Strava App (Disclaimer - others are available) now looks more like the flow left behind by one of those tiny little dogs that likes to do its business whilst walking on its two front legs.
Through experience, I am aware that some PIR (Passive Infra Red) sensored security lights can be problematic to set up. The sensitivity can be hugely affected by the height in which the light is installed at. Some brands of light are particularly better than others and the price is often a key indication of this. Those towards the middle to higher end of the price range often have 3 sensors whereas some of the cheap ones only have two. Some brands have fixed sensors and others swivel left and right as well as up and down.
There are various factors to consider when selecting the correct type of security light for your property. 1-5 are some that tend to get overlooked:
- Neighbouring properties. Will your source of light cause a nuisance to neighbours? This is a real issue that the Council will act upon if they receive complaints of your light intruding into someone else’s property.
- Triggers. Cats, foxes and trees or shrubs will easily set off a poorly set up security light.When your light goes off, you want it to cause someone to take notice. If it's constantly triggering then it will again cause a nuisance or get ignored.
- Direction. Does the sensor need to rotate or move up and down for optimal performance?
- Height. If this is a new installation then be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions before drilling holes into your property. If it’s an existing installation and you’re just renewing a unit then check that the height specified in the manufacturer's instructions is compatible for the unit you have your mind set on.
- Gradient. This can catch people out. Remember to take into consideration the rise or fall of your driveway or entrance to your property as this will likely cause the light to respond in a different way to the manufacturer's suggested height states.
- SENSITIVITY. This is the setting that has most likely been overlooked at the properties I pass in the mornings. You can often dial this back to decrease the range that the PIR will detect movement.
- LUX - I’ve put this one before time but you’ll need to return to it. I’ll explain more in the next point. LUX is the setting you use to determine at what point your light will start to operate. You probably won’t want to wait until it’s pitch black outside. The setting I often start with is, a full turn clockwise and then a quarter turn anti-clockwise.
- TIME - This is the duration you want the light to operate for. The reason I suggested doing this setup last is because through each part of the setup process, you’ll want the light to shine for as little time as possible. Why wait 20 minutes for the light to go off when it can be set to 2 minutes? Something to remember with TIME is, the duration you have in your mind regarding how long the light will shine for will differ to actual time it will run for. Sometimes it’s worth doing a dummy run that would simulate you getting out of the car, going to your boot to grab some bags, before making your way to the door. You’ll want to make sure the light will remain on for long enough for you to find your keys and put the right key into the door.
Seeing lights on during the daytime is a real bugbear of mine. I just see it as electricity being wasted for absolutely no reason and right now, I think most people would prefer not to be handing over huge amounts of their income to the Energy companies?
There is one house in particular that comes to mind when I think about security lights. It’s not where I live in Bedminster Down, it’s actually in Long Ashton, one of my favorite villages to serve.
Everytime I get called for a revisit by my client, who I have worked with for over eleven years, I trigger a neighbours security light on my approach. It doesn’t matter if it’s full daytime on a bright sunny day, that thing without fail, decides that I need just a touch more light to see where I am going.
I’ve often considered knocking on the door on my return journey but I don’t know how welcomed my observation would be. They’re clearly aware of it because they will see it every time they drive up the road, directly towards their house.
A few years back, I did a video on ‘How to setup a PIR outside light (Security Light/PIR Sensor). If you need assistance with the setting up or fine tuning of a censored security light, then feel free to watch the video on my dedicated video section HERE:
