Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Where do you guys live that you have to have prison yard lighting and security cameras?
Where I live (Northern New England), we have fewer violent crimes than Canada, more guns than Syria, and very slow police response time. My local police department literally shuts down at 4:30PM, so they encourage "self help".
So I don't have to have prison yard lighting and security cameras, but I like the advance warning when I know that I could wait a solid half hour for a cop. This is actually low for my state; I have friends in the "north country" where response time exceeds an hour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlelou
Recently, I've noticed houses without outside lights on. I wondered am I weird?
I have my outside lights integrated with home automation and motion sensors -- if somebody approaches the house, the lights come on (with a random delay so "visitors" can't easily learn the limits of the sensors). Home automation controls can turn them on when I am going to be using the driveway, but otherwise I like them off.
While I otherwise often use LED lights, one advantage of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs is they work much better with dimmers. I can have them slowly come up for ambience, and then jump to "prison yard" brightness after motion is sensed. With even expensive dimmable LED bulbs, there's a minimum brightness below which they just won't dim.
I have led bulbs in almost every lamp/fixture in my house including the porch lights. I have a 60 watt for the porch i leave on. I have two fixtures by the door but i took the bulb out of one because it was too much light. I also leave the two lamps on all night downstairs in the living room for security.
I could leave all 3 on for 2 days straight and it will only draw about 1kwh
Exactly. And for those who are afraid of the dark, studies have shown that, guess what, bad guys need to see, too. Considerate of you to light things up for them! Turns out, if the lights are on all the time, nobody much pays any attention. If the thieves have to use flashlights, that's something different and moving that draws attention. Likewise, motion activated lights draw attention when they come on.
Little town in England decided for financial reasons to turn off the streetlights. Big panic - even the police chief said crime would skyrocket! But they did it anyway. Crime dropped. Now other towns are doing the same thing because it turns out they were spending money on street lighting that increased crime.
Check out the International Dark Sky Association for information on how to have security lighting without being a jerk and contributing to light pollution both in your neighbor's bedroom and in general. There's also information there and elsewhere on the harm that light pollution causes not just to wildlife but to our own health. Turns out LED lights, once thought to be the perfect solution, may make the problem worse depending on color.
That is why I switched from the SmartTimered system to motion detector lights. The lights that had been controlled by the SmartTimers are still there but now work the old-fashioned way, by flipping standard switches on and off, when desired. I keep them off almost all the time. Meanwhile, the MD lights come on and go off automatically, for a short time, so anybody who sees them turn on knows someone is near the house. It is enough to startle an intruder but not enough for them to get much done, because their night vision gets screwed every time it goes on.
Even fairly dim outdoor lights become annoying when they are on all night.
Where I live (Northern New England), we have fewer violent crimes than Canada, more guns than Syria, and very slow police response time. My local police department literally shuts down at 4:30PM, so they encourage "self help".
So I don't have to have prison yard lighting and security cameras, but I like the advance warning when I know that I could wait a solid half hour for a cop. This is actually low for my state; I have friends in the "north country" where response time exceeds an hour......
OK, you make sort of sense, plus you have them tied into motion sensors. Unless I misread it, the OP, as well as some other participants, keeps his outside lights on all night for "safety" reasons. That was the genesis of my question about location.
I still say that any outdoor light, like the new streetlight in front of my house, that enables you to read a newspaper while you're sitting on your porch is too bright. But they make the rural pioneers happy and feel safer in my very small and very safe small town. You know, the type of town where some of the new people call 911 if they see two teenagers walking together holding hands. That's a sign of drug dealing. And a true story.
I'm with you, OP.... I'm quite rural, but I like a lot of light outside. And I don't really like the on/off/on/off of motion lights. I like to look out and see what's there, or not there.
I've been hassled by the dark lovers here before.... But I say, give me light... The more the better.
again! Thank you for pointing this out! To those that just freaked the **** out when they saw 5000k
I wasn't commenting based on the "5000K", but rather that the light is so bright that it shines into your neighbor's bedroom, prompting her to say something to you.
And yeah, I can tell what type of neighbor you are. A considerate neighbor wouldn't be shinning a light into his neighbor's bedroom at all hours of the night.
I wasn't commenting based on the "5000K", but rather that the light is so bright that it shines into your neighbor's bedroom, prompting her to say something to you.
And yeah, I can tell what type of neighbor you are. A considerate neighbor wouldn't be shinning a light into his neighbor's bedroom at all hours of the night.
you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about! You do not live here nor do you know what other things I might do that put me above and beyond what would be a considerate neighbor. Go ahaed and make a conclusion about my character based on a forum post and a few little facts about the situation. Just like the other poster who bashed me based off her dark sky agenda using insulting language thus making her no different than the one she was critical off.
There's a church next door to my house and they installed one of those super bright metal halide fixtures that shined right against my house all night, even though there's over 100' between us. Luckily something went wrong with the light sensor causing it to stay on 24/7, and the bulb burned out within two months.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
