Home Security - Using Motion Activated Outdoor Lights

Motion activated outdoor lights have become an increasingly common choice for home security strategies. In this article, I will discuss how to best use them so as to improve your home's security, but also to provide your home with some safe night lighting at the same time.

The primary trick to using motion activated outdoor lights in your home security strategy is to ensure that your house is covered from every angle. One of the most common mistakes that people make is to only have one or two home security lights around their front and perhaps their back doors. This is only effective at deterring burglars if they decide to enter your house from the front door. If they decide to enter through a side window, for example, the outdoor lights won't deter them in any way.

Instead, have sensors on each wall of your home that has a window or door. Then ensure that the motion detectors cover the area in front of those windows or doors. Provided that your house is a relatively standard shape, you should not need more than four sets of sensors to do this correctly. This way, when a criminal tries to enter your home from any angle, he will be startled by the lights and hopefully frightened off.

However, even though the primary purpose of these outdoor lights is for frightening burglars, this doesn't mean that you can't use them for other purposes as well. At the end of the day, were the lights shine when a burglar comes doesn't matter, as anything will scare him off. Instead, have the actual lights that are actually triggered by the motion detectors light your pathways. This way, the lights will serve the secondary purpose of making it easier for you to get around the home.

There is one exception to this, though. Don't put any direct light on your back or side doors that can be triggered by motion detectors. You could actually make it easier for the brazen burglar who ignored your lights to break your lock.

Lorne Hallett has been a prolific internet article writer since 1997. His current project is the site cheap floor lamps, with a page on contemporary floor lamps.