Need a good security light

markyboy.1967

markyboy.1967

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Mark Molloy
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Im having trouble finding a decent security light for my back garden. Im looking for a mains powered light that i can switch on and leave on when i want but also have it on a sensor so any movement will switch it on for 20-30 secs etc. It needs to be able to light up my garden which isnt large( aprox 20m x20m.

I have saw one in the past but cant seem to find it now and its the being able to switch it on or have it on the movement sensor is the part which i cant find anywhere. Any ideas?
 
I think (but check!) that one of the Toolstation ones has that feature. From memory, a double switch-on switches it on (as in on-off-on) and a single puts it in sensor mode.
 
Most of the PIR sensored lights will remain on if switched off (from being in sensor mode) and turned straight back on. the ones i have used require the power to be off for 20seconds to reset them to sensor mode
 
You can wire up a security light with a PIR sensor with an extra live feed which bypasses the PIR. You would need 2 switches though.
 
Thanks folks. I have decided to go the full way and have an electrician coming to supply and fit soffit lights all round, 2 up/down lights on dusk to dawn sensors at the garage and a big movement sensor security light for my back garden. This light can by adjusted from 10 secs to 30 mins so i will just adjust for several minutes at a time to give me what i need. Cheers
 
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Just another thing to think about.

Years ago someone pinched the security light off our garage. Just unscrewed it and cut the live wire blowing the fuse. So when I fitted a new one I used one of those pre mixed concrete type concoctions in a tub to cover the mounting screws.

Yes, it'll be a bit of a pain to remove it if I ever want to but at least it can't be as easily stolen.

Some sort of funny head mounting screw would be a better idea, just something that'll make it difficult to pinch.
 
woof woof said:
Some sort of funny head mounting screw would be a better idea, just something that'll make it difficult to pinch.
Click to expand...

You could just use ordinary pozidrive screws and drill the centre cross bit out once they’re tightened up.
 
Yes. Getting them out again for whatever reason would be a pain but possibly drilling them out wouldn't be as much hassle as buying a new one and mounting it to replace a stolen one.
 
You can buy "security" screws (Google them) with a fancy drive head and an insert for a screwdriver or 1/4" drive socket. Most of the opportunist thieves wouldn't have a clue what they were.
 
I remember my parents’ house had a security flood light after being burgled. The next time they were burgled, the burglars had used the washing line pole to tilt the floodlight upwards so they couldn’t be spotted.

We’ve got ours high enough that it can’t easily be reached. It’s LED so it’s bright IMO doesn’t light up the garden in the same way as the older fashioned halogen ones did.
 
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omens said:
I remember my parents’ house had a security flood light after being burgled. The next time they were burgled, the burglars had used the washing line pole to tilt the floodlight upwards so they couldn’t be spotted.

We’ve got ours high enough that it can’t easily be reached. It’s LED so it’s bright IMO doesn’t light up the garden in the same way as the older fashioned halogen ones did.
Click to expand...

You need to be sure that you are making a fair comparison.
Are the lumens produced by the new LED light of a similar order to the old halogen. (The lumens produced should be on the label/insts.)
A 30W LED will produce about the same light output as a 300W halogen.
The design of the reflector could be factor. Different reflectors provide different coverage.
The power consumption costs of LED's is hugely better than halogens so go for something that is really powerfull.
 
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