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I am lucky enough to have a pretty bright street lamp right in front of my house, but we still keep our porch light on. We have motion detectors in the backyard. I would really like to put motion detectors on both sides of the house since it gets pretty dark between the houses.
I have my front lights on from 6pm to Midnight. I bought the light switch timer at lowes for 20 bucks. Works great and the lights turn on and off if we are home or not. I also have Motion spots in the back. I did splurge on all LED for these lights and it looks great with minimal cost.
Ani is your up lighting solar or do you use a chord?
I love that look.
Felt, I fell in love with that look, too! We have configured two ways. In the front yard, the uplighting is all on cords (wired, or whatever you call it) and is low voltage. We got the main box and lights from Lowes, and it has interchangeable types of lights, i.e. some are more like little mini spotlights and some are "wider angle" lights (if that makes any sense at all! )
The ones on the side of the house (for uplighting) are solar lights that have one central solar gathering panel (okay, have no idea what that is called! but it is the solar panel that powers all the lights in one string of lights). Each set of lights has maybe about 15 ft or so of cord to one end of the string of lights that goes to that panel, and there is probably 6 or 8 feet of cord between each light, and there are 6 lights to a set. I have used this method on the east side of the house b/c we have the least trees there and the panel stays charged up really well, all year round.
I wish we could use solar sets like that one in the front for uplighting on the trees, but the trees are so thick in that area - it blocks the sun nearly 9 months out of the year. I have it all naturalized in that area (trees, various types of shrubs, bulbs, flowers, mulch) so it is low maintenance! Very little front lawn to mow - and nothing to water! We had to dig the lines into the ground but it was no work - the ground was soft, we put them only 2 inches down, covered back with dirt and mulch.
I have this thing about looking out at night - it looks magical and inviting with the low volt lamps and solar lights . . . and I feel safe b/c I can see what is moving around (a lot of deer! almost every night!). And if we come home after dark, it is easy to see our walkway to the house . . . it feels very welcoming.
I bought all our lights on sale and purchased them from ALDI (yes! a special they had!), Lowes, and the one solar light w/ panel for the BBQ deck came from Wal-Mart (ordered it online). The oldest still functioning solar lights are almost 8 years old. Some of the others did not last but 3 years and some had replaceable cells.
I installed outdoor-grade CFL bulbs in the outdoor light fixtures the day I moved in to my home about 4 years ago. They’ve been on continuously except during a couple of power outages. I was the only one in my small neighborhood doing this for quite a while. Then, a couple other homes started doing this. Last summer, thieves broke into several sheds and stole thousands of dollars worth of tools and power equipment. None of the well-lit homes were bothered – not one. Now, there are lots of lights on in my neighborhood!
We have street lights that light up the front and a neighbor with a big yard light that lights up our back yard..I have motion sensor lights that come on only if an intruder is present and that is to help me see where Im going to shoot.People should never use a strong open bulb placed at eye level that will shin into other peoples yards. It makes it hard for them to see when they go outside.
We have street lights that were put up after we got all homeowners to sign an application. The City has a fund that covered installation, but there is a back log and waiting time. We also use CFL in two front fixtures and one on the side of our house that we turn on at night. We have a motion sensor flood lights fixture that comes on to light the side of the house where we park our vehicles.
Where there is light, there is less criminal activity. Look into getting street lights installed. Get motion sensor lights installed on your house. They can be installed where your porch lights are currently installed and are reasonably priced considering the value of the added security. Let the criminals target the houses where there is no light.
Last night one of my neighbors left their lights on! Maybe I'm starting a trend.
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