While your home may be your castle, we don’t live behind moats and battlements any more. So how do you keep you, your family and your castle safe in these uncertain and turbulent times without the security measures of ole?
Keeping Your Castle Safe
If you don’t have a drawbridge to pull up, have you consider the following:
- Belonging to a neighborhood watch?
- Closing and locking your windows and doors at night and when you go out?
- Installing a home security system?
- Installing solar power outdoor LED security lights?
Outdoor motion sensored security lighting has proven to be one of the most effective and economical ways of deterring home invasion. But how do you choose the right outdoor lighting? Here are some things to be aware of:
Brightness and Lumens
When choosing any kind of lighting, brightness is an important factor. To determine how much light you will be getting from the bulb, look at the lumens.
Lumens measure the brightness of the emitted light and one lumen is equal to a light of a candle from one foot away. Therefore 200 lumens will provide 200 candles’ worth of light.
Power And Efficiency
Wattage determines how much power the light source is using. With LED lights consuming up to 90% less energy than standard incandescent lights, wattage measurements are stated in a double format – for instance, “100 Watt equal – 16 Watts”. This means that the LED bulb would only use 16 Watts of energy to produce the equal amount of light as a standard bulb using 100 Watts. To learn more about LED lighting check out our blog The Skinny On LED Lighting.
Solar Power reduces the cost of lighting to zero. Equipped with solar panels, solar outdoor lights collect sunlight during the day and use it to generate electricity. It is then stored in the built-in rechargeable batteries and used to power the LED lights when it gets dark.
Battery Capacity is an important factor to consider, particularly when you live in a place where sunlight comes and goes. With a bigger battery, your security light will be able to store more energy when sunlight is scarce. A backup battery may be a reasonable option to keep in mind.
Sensors And Controls
A sensor determines when the light is turned on. Outdoor lights come with a variety of sensors, which one would be right for you?
Motion Sensor – these sensors react to movement and activate the lights upon its detection. Most motion detectors are PIR-based. PIR (passive infrared sensor) is an electronic sensor that detects heat and is used to sense movement of people, animals or other objects.
Light Sensor – a photocell reacts to the presence or absence of light and the bulb is turned on or off accordingly. Your outdoor light will then be automatically off during the day and switch on after sunset.
Sound Sensor – lights equipped with a sound sensor will switch on when they “hear” a noise, like footsteps or knocking and can also be quickly switched on with a clap, if you need help finding those keys.
Weatherproof Rating
Where you intend to to mount your lights have everything to do with how weatherproof they must be. If they’re going under the roof to light up the porch and doorway they don’t have to be weatherproof. But if these locations tend to be damp, to be on the safe side, it would be wise to go with a humidity/water-resistant device.
If the security lights are going outside, they must be able to withstand all sorts of weather changes and should have a significant weatherproof rating, including being dust-tight and resistant to water splashes.
Tashman Home Center
Tashman Home Center’s Hardware Store can provide you a variety of home security products including solar powered outdoor LED security lights. And, if we don’t have what you’re looking for in stock, we’ll be happy to order it and have it delivered to the store for you to pick up.
For more home security ideas and products stop by Tashman Home Center where we have a wonderful staff of knowledgeable employees dedicated to providing you with the best possible service and advice.