I'm looking for suggestions on controlling outdoor lighting to limit a friend of mine wasting money.
My 80 something friend is registered blind and lives alone with her guide dog. She has an eye condition that means she needs huge amounts of light to be able to barely see what she is doing. Consequently she has inordinately high electricity bills.
Guide dogs are trained to do their business in a special pen, my friends pen is a short walk from her back door. To light the path she has two 500w halogen security lights. Unfortunately, from her back door she cannot see well enough to know if the lights are on or not. Consequently the two lights are often left on from close of "business" at around 8pm through to mid morning the following day when a visitor notices them. I've calculated that these mishaps are costing in the region of £25 a month if not more.
I'm trying to find a solution for her. Her switches are on grids, so changing the switch to some sort of timer is out of the question as she knows the tactile nature of the various switches and what they control.
LED is out of the question too. She is extremely reluctant to change light types as she knows she can see well enough to keep her independence with the current lights.
However, the switched live, earth and neutral exit the wall behind the first light and there is enough slack to divert it through some sort of timer. Then I can run a short length to the first light and the second light is already daisy chained off the first.
What I would like is peoples recommendations/suggestions for timers. I am keen to time the light for 4-5 hours as what I don't want to happen is for my friend to go out when she first puts the light on and then go out a second time and the light go out whilst she's in the middle of the path.
Is there a straightforward outdoor rated in-line timer? This would mean if she puts the light on at 4pm for pre-tea "business" and it was set for 5 hours the light would go off after the last call. The only downside I can see to this is that when the light goes on at 7am, it may stay on during daylight hours. Although the potential 10 hours is less than the time the light often gets left on.
I've seen outdoor photocell timers which seem like they would deal with the downside I've noted above. However, my friend needs the lights on before you or I probably would and the only experience I have with photocells is on my PIR lights. Both my PIR lights are set to the sunshine symbol, I.e they come on at the earliest time - but this is darker than I would like and nowhere near sunshine brightness. So I need a photocell that is truly adjustable from midday sun to pitch black so as not to restrict her.
Suggestions are greatly appreciated.
p.s. I have every respect for the people on here, but please don't start telling my about 500w lights needing planning permission and light nuisance etc. I've read lots of posts wheres it's been mentioned, but the type of lights are not my doing and not for me to change. Without these two lights my friend would lose her independence!
My 80 something friend is registered blind and lives alone with her guide dog. She has an eye condition that means she needs huge amounts of light to be able to barely see what she is doing. Consequently she has inordinately high electricity bills.
Guide dogs are trained to do their business in a special pen, my friends pen is a short walk from her back door. To light the path she has two 500w halogen security lights. Unfortunately, from her back door she cannot see well enough to know if the lights are on or not. Consequently the two lights are often left on from close of "business" at around 8pm through to mid morning the following day when a visitor notices them. I've calculated that these mishaps are costing in the region of £25 a month if not more.
I'm trying to find a solution for her. Her switches are on grids, so changing the switch to some sort of timer is out of the question as she knows the tactile nature of the various switches and what they control.
LED is out of the question too. She is extremely reluctant to change light types as she knows she can see well enough to keep her independence with the current lights.
However, the switched live, earth and neutral exit the wall behind the first light and there is enough slack to divert it through some sort of timer. Then I can run a short length to the first light and the second light is already daisy chained off the first.
What I would like is peoples recommendations/suggestions for timers. I am keen to time the light for 4-5 hours as what I don't want to happen is for my friend to go out when she first puts the light on and then go out a second time and the light go out whilst she's in the middle of the path.
Is there a straightforward outdoor rated in-line timer? This would mean if she puts the light on at 4pm for pre-tea "business" and it was set for 5 hours the light would go off after the last call. The only downside I can see to this is that when the light goes on at 7am, it may stay on during daylight hours. Although the potential 10 hours is less than the time the light often gets left on.
I've seen outdoor photocell timers which seem like they would deal with the downside I've noted above. However, my friend needs the lights on before you or I probably would and the only experience I have with photocells is on my PIR lights. Both my PIR lights are set to the sunshine symbol, I.e they come on at the earliest time - but this is darker than I would like and nowhere near sunshine brightness. So I need a photocell that is truly adjustable from midday sun to pitch black so as not to restrict her.
Suggestions are greatly appreciated.
p.s. I have every respect for the people on here, but please don't start telling my about 500w lights needing planning permission and light nuisance etc. I've read lots of posts wheres it's been mentioned, but the type of lights are not my doing and not for me to change. Without these two lights my friend would lose her independence!
