Updated January 2024
Motion sensor lights are among the most practical and convenient home additions you can make. Whether installing them indoors or out, you can look forward to better visibility, lower energy use, and enhanced safety and security. Much like their name suggests, these lights automatically activate when motion is detected. Best of all, after a timed duration, they turn themselves back off. Read on to explore the top seven benefits of having motion-sensing lights installed in or around your Ellisville, MO home.
1. Deter Animals and Would-be Intruders
Motion sensor lights have long been part of commercial security plans. Commercial building owners know that brightly lit hallways, parking lots, and garages are less likely to attract ill-intentioned parties than dark, dimly lit spaces. They also know that with motion detection, they can limit their energy use and only illuminate key areas as needed.
Picking up on these savvy practices, many homeowners are using motion-sensing lights to brighten up their driveways and side yards, keep their detached garages visible, and improve their home security. When motion sensor lights turn on, unwanted guests often leave.
As far as safety goes, motion sensor lights can also make the wild animals that you encounter in the dark less aggressive. If you regularly see rodents, raccoons, skunks, snakes, or possum in your yard, brightening things up could make these animals scatter. Even if they don’t, you’ll feel a lot more comfortable walking from your door to your vehicle if all of your paths are brightly lit.
2. Enhanced Visibility
The greatest benefit of having motion sensor lights put in is being able to clearly see your surroundings without having to fumble with your cellphone or manually flip a light switch. Whether your hands are filled with groceries or you’re balancing a baby on your hip, as soon as your motions are detected, you’ll be bathed in enough light to maintain your footing and find your way around. Motion sensor lights minimize the likelihood of trip and fall and slip and fall accidents. They’re especially helpful in this respect when the ground is slick and ice-coated and when people are roaming their hallways during the late-night hours.
3. Fulfill Your Duty of Care and Avoid Premises Liability Claims
Premises liability claims ensure that people who are injured by negligent property owners aren’t left financially devastated. While the laws protecting victims of personal injury work well to this end, they also leave homeowners vulnerable to both frivolous and legitimate lawsuits. The best way to keep yourself and your guests duly protected is by fulfilling your duty of care. This means taking all reasonable measures to prevent trip and fall and slip and fall accidents, limit the risk of falling objects like tree branches and loose shingles, and ensure ease of navigation.
Although keeping your walkways and front steps free of snow and ice is a good start, you should also keep them well-lit. Motion-sensing lights eliminate the need to keep your porch light on all of the time while ensuring that it reliably kicks into action when visitors need it. Not only can these installations limit the risk of premises liability, but they can also make it easier for homeowners to defend themselves against frivolous claims.
4. Light up Areas That Are Difficult to Reach
At the interior of your home, you can use motion-sensing lights to illuminate rooms with light switches that are too difficult to reach. In indoor applications, motion-sensing lights prevent stubbed toes and other injuries. They light up when small children make nighttime trips to the bathroom and when aging adults make their way to refrigerators for midnight snacks.
Outdoors, motion detecting lights are perfect for large yards with dark, remote areas that aren’t brightened by walkway lighting or mounted light fixtures. If any person or animal wanders into these spaces, your motion lights will instantly turn on to reveal them.
5. Diversify Your Lighting Plan
Multi-layer lighting plans work well for larger properties, bustling households, and consumers who want levels of light but modest energy bills. Outdoors, people often pair floodlights with softer and more muted lighting such as hanging lanterns, lampposts, and patio lights. Adding motion sensor lights to this mix allows for adaptable ambiance and the perfect level of illumination for each occasion. It also provides the benefit of bright, direct lights when necessary for safety and security. This way, you can enjoy a warm, rosy glow while entertaining in your outdoor kitchen but can brighten everything up in a second if motion is detected in dark, remote areas.
6. Enjoy Hands-Free Functionality
Fumbling around with your mobile phone to turn its flashlight on could leave you with a cracked screen or other damage. Moreover, if you’re nervous or in a hurry, you probably won’t get the lighting you need in a timely fashion. To compare, motion detecting lights kick into action without requiring any input from you. Getting your lights to turn on is as easy as entering the area.
7. Save Energy and Money
The fact that motion sensor lights automatically turn themselves off makes them among the most efficient lighting choices available. They eliminate the greatest and most common causes of energy waste: human oversight and error. As soon as motion stops within a motion-sensing light’s range, its timer starts, and it prepares to shut down.
Are There Drawbacks to Having Motion-Sensing Lights Installed?
As with all lighting products, motion-sensing lights aren’t perfect. There are some motion detecting lights that are exceedingly sensitive. With these, you’ll have to contend with the occasional false activation when they pick up on small, swift-moving animals or passing cars. However, there are also products with adjustable levels of sensitivity. You can set these to only respond to larger bodies or larger movements, or you can shorten their range.
How Motion Sensor Lights Work
Many motion sensor lights use passive infrared technology to pick up changes in local movement and heat. These lights wait passively for signs of motion before responding by turning on.
There are also active infrared lights that constantly send out signals. These detect disturbances in transmission waves and use them as cues to activate. This same active infrared technology is frequently found in automatic garage door openers and residential security systems.
The Best Applications and Locations for Motion Sensor Lights
For security purposes and improved visibility, you can install motion sensing lights just under your home’s eaves and above your garage door. If you have a larger property and want floodlights to deter intruders, you can choose motion-sensing options so that your grounds aren’t constantly bathed in bright, white light. Floodlights with motion sensing capabilities are most effective and least disruptive when they come with an adjustable range and adaptable settings for motion detection.
At the interior of your home, you can install these lights in your basement, attic, and walk-in closets. They also work well in dark hallways and stairways, and in oversized pantries and wine cellars. Although light is the enemy of aged and aging wine, having muted lights on a motion detector will help you maintain your footing while studying, collecting, or showing your bottles off.
We’re always looking for ways to help homeowners in Ellisville, MO enhance the safety, security, and comfort of their properties. We offer EV charging stations, motion sensing lights, generators, and smart home upgrades. We also provide wiring and electrical panel installation, maintenance, and repair services.
