Battery powered security lights..??

[CluelessDIYer1]

Was wandering through B&Q today having a gander & they had out a load of small motion detector LED security lights for £10 ..... BATTERY POWERED.

For the rear of the house i will be getting a mains wired LED one, but for the front all I really need is a light that comes on so you can see your keys & the lock on the door to put your key in. I don't need to light up the entire street. We have a light on the front of the house at the moment but it's powered by a switch on the inside. A little useless when you come on to the drive in the dark wanting to get in the house.

It claims the battery can last for 6 months which isn't bad either.


Has anyone encountered these things? Are they a pile of crap, especially the cheap ones or are they actually quite suitable?

 

[deadshort]

Hi, not very bright (the light i mean)

Change the outside light for a pir led flood try a Time Guard/Guardsman.
there not cheap but are very bright and compact.

Regards,

DS

 

[333rocky333]

http://ledlights.ledhut.co.uk/ledhut/Pir

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Hi, not very bright (the light i mean)

Change the outside light for a pir led flood try a Time Guard/Guardsman.
there not cheap but are very bright and compact.

Regards,

DS

I'll be getting one of them out the rear but for the front i don't want anything that's like a football stadium floodlight. All i want is for it to light up in front of the door enough so i can see whether i'm picking the right key off the keyring for the door & to see the lock when i'm trying to open the door. I don't need the front flooding.

http://ledlights.ledhut.co.uk/ledhut/Pir

Thanks.

I can find them. Battery powered. Solar powered.

Question is finding someone who's had experience of them so they can say what they think of them. How bright it is, how far out the light spans, how reliable it is (whether it went duff after 5 weeks) etc.

 

[333rocky333]

http://ledlights.ledhut.co.uk/ledhut/Pir

Thanks.

I can find them. Battery powered. Solar powered.

Question is finding someone who's had experience of them so they can say what they think of them. How bright it is, how far out the light spans, how reliable it is (whether it went duff after 5 weeks) etc.

Theres 190 reveiws

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

http://ledlights.ledhut.co.uk/ledhut/Pir

Thanks.

I can find them. Battery powered. Solar powered.

Question is finding someone who's had experience of them so they can say what they think of them. How bright it is, how far out the light spans, how reliable it is (whether it went duff after 5 weeks) etc.

Theres 190 reveiws

I knew that one was coming

You trust these reviews? You've never seen the TV shows which go into the reviews on these sorts of websites?

I personally take them with a pinch of salt. I pay attention to them yes but i don't take them as gospel.

Also, reviews wont show me photos, but if you guys have this model then you could You could also tell me how bright it is rather than just reading some lumens figure.

For example - i said i don't want to light up the entire street from the front of my house but deadshort suggested a "very bright" light. I'm not wanting a "very bright" light for the reason i gave.

 

[deadshort]

Hi, was in B&Q today and saw the light i think you are referring to, and i have to say it looked OK for the money and have just been taking to my brother who has installed one and he was happy with the light output. He fitted it about 3 months ago.

Kind Regards,

DS

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Superb.

We were back in there actually today & i thought what the hell, for £10 i will buy it, stick some batteries in it & see how well it illuminates. If it's too bright (doubt it for the size) or no good for whatever reason i can take it back since i wont have fitted it.

Also has the added bonus of not having to trail a solar panel off somewhere (i'm not keen on heights plus we don't have a big ladder). I like the idea of solar powered but we'll see how we get on with this one.

 

[JohnD]

We have a light on the front of the house at the moment but it's powered by a switch on the inside.

so get a switch with a light-sensor.

http://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/61565-security-wall-switch

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_In...y_Lighting_Index/Lighting_Controls/index.html

"Low energy lighting can also be controlled by ZV210"

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

If i've got the jist of that then it brings the light on & off at set times of the day.
That'd be no good since we only want the light on when someone is stood at the door, not for the hours when someone isn't. Someone up the street seems to have their outside light on whenever it's dark & it's not something i'd want really.

 

[333rocky333]

You trust these reviews? You've never seen the TV shows which go into the reviews on these sorts of websites?

Actually I havent
I was just not sure you had noticed them

I for one would be interested how you get on with the one from B+Q

Although this is a DIY site I feel most of the people here that reply to posts would favour the hard wired option.
So theres a slim chance anyones tried one.

But as in your case there is a demand for an alternative to mains.

When mains pirs first came out there was plenty of problems, which seemed to finally get resolved.
However the new breed of mains led lights ive had have similar pir problems
No doubt these wire less ones could be hit and miss too
So look forward to your findings

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We have a light on the front of the house at the moment but it's powered by a switch on the inside. A little useless when you come on to the drive in the dark wanting to get in the house.

You have a mains powered light outside already - why on earth would you want to **** about with battery powered ones?

we only want the light on when someone is stood at the door

So get a PIR or put a switch on the outside.

I feel most of the people here that reply to posts would favour the hard wired option.

 

[CluelessDIYer1]

Is it just the mains powered LED motion sensors that have issues these days?

My mum has a (halogen?) one on her house & it works perfectly fine through all weather. I prefer LED lighting myself though. I'd have thought the sensors used would've been the same as non LED so would've therefore been as reliable or unreliable as those.

Typical though - got home & my AAs are dead-dead. I'm 1 short in good batteries lol.

 

[RF Lighting]

Led floods are fine with relay based PIRs.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Other than all the traditional problems of false triggering, and non-triggering when it should.

Clueless - if you don't need the light to come on until you get to the door (unclear - as you said both "all I really need is a light that comes on so you can see your keys & the lock on the door to put your key in" and "when you come on to the drive in the dark wanting to get in the house"), then in your shoes I'd install a switch like this outside: