How to Choose Porch Lights with Motion Sensor

Porch lights with motion sensor are fast becoming a popular choice among home and business owners. Motion sensors may control most types of domestic lighting and can be used for security purposes as they will scare off intruders as well as for convenience  when you arrive home late in the evening. You don’t have to worry about switching the lights off and you will automatically save on the electricity bill each month.

Some of the most popular and sought after brands are EML, Leviton, Heath Zenith and Night Guardian. Motion sensor lights often have an auto on and auto off mechanism and are excellent for the outdoors as well as indoors. A manual override is useful especially if you are eating and don’t want the lights to switch on every time you walk past.

Most porch lights with motion sensor can be adjusted to be on from one to ten minutes and the indoor sensor can be adjusted to around thirty to sixty minutes to prevent constant on/off cycles. Remote motion detectors are usually battery powered and can be used a fair distance from any light switch. These sensors are wireless and only radio waves are used to communicate with the switch.

The detection angels can range from ninety to three hundred and sixty degrees. To avoid a false trigger some motion sensors have adjustable blinds which reduces the detection angle and if need be you can also cover part of the sensor with black tape. The maximum detection range is thirty to seventy feet.

Most porch lights with motion sensor come with standard sockets for ordinary bulbs, incandescent and quarts halogen lights. Some of the features included in most lights are adjustable sensor ranges which avoid false triggers as well as a photocell which avoids the light switching on during the day. There are often two levels of brightness, time based medium brightness which is used from dusk to dawn and high brightness when motion is detected in the night. 

The main advantage of porch light with a motion sensor is that it saves you around 60 to 70% of the normal energy usage. The lights will additionally detect any movement, so if anyone enters your property or an animal passes by, the sensor will pick this up and immediately light up the area. This type of lighting gives you peace of mind as well as added security. The minute you detect these sensor lights going on you can check, and should you have an intruder you have time to call the police.