The floodlight instinct
The standard response to feeling exposed at night is a floodlight bolted to the corner of the house. It feels like the right answer. It usually is not. A single harsh source carves the yard into a bright patch and a black rim, and the shadows it makes are darker than the darkness it replaced.Taken together, it points somewhere other than brightness. It is several modest sources rather than one strong one, aimed at the places that need it. It costs about what people were going to spend anyway, and it works.
Coverage, rather than wattage
What you want is coverage, not output. Several modest fixtures do more than a single floodlight can. Even coverage takes away the dark edges, which is the entire point of security lighting.
The overlap with the house
A permanent roofline system left on a low warm white lights the perimeter of the house every night. It puts a consistent wash down the walls and across the approaches, coming from above rather than into people's eyes. Automatic beats intentional, because lighting you have to remember does not get used.
Where the gaps actually are
The dark spots
https://alexisehhr246.quillnesty.com/posts/custom-lighting-design-how-to-tell-a-plan-from-a-package-is-your-lighting-quote-actually-a-design-four-questions-that-settle-it-custom-lighting-design-explained-a-buyer-s-guide are rarely the obvious ones. Do one lap of the property in the dark and look. Look at the sides, the back corners, the gate and anywhere a structure blocks a light. Ten minutes outside makes the plan obvious.
The motion question
Sensors are worth having in one or two places. Used well, they cover a service area or a back gate that does not need constant light. Used badly, they fire so often that the household stops noticing. The reliable base is consistent illumination, with motion as a supplement rather than the whole plan.
Your neighbors can see your lights too
Poorly aimed fixtures do not stop at the property line. A floodlight aimed across a fence reaches a neighbor's house, and it was not doing much for you anyway. Shielding and aim keep the light where you paid to put it. It is a design question, not a compromise. Light that stays where it was aimed works harder, because none of it is spilling into a yard nobody paid to illuminate.
Cameras need light too
A camera records what it can see, and in the dark that is not much. Even coverage gives a camera something to work with. A single bright floodlight gives it a blown out patch and black everywhere else. Good security lighting and good camera lighting are the same thing.One more note: light that never turns off is not automatically better. Run it at a useful level when people are up, dimmer after.
Getting a proper plan
Security lighting depends entirely on the shape of your property. EverCrest Lighting does security lighting as part of a full outdoor lighting plan for residential and commercial properties throughout Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, from Greenville. Consultations are free. Call (864) 252-1732 or email
[email protected].