In his situation, the burglar saw the lighting on the front of the house, determined it was too risky and looked for a new entry spot, which happened to be this homeowner’s pitch black backyard. While his intentions were noble, he left himself open to exploit by not installing his system on each side of the property. Lo and behold, not even a few months later he was burglarized from a rear-facing window. We recently heard a story of a gentleman who thought he only needed lighting on the front of his house, as that’s where he experienced the most traffic. What does that include? It varies forĮach property and customer, but it’s a good rule of thumb to place lighting on each side of your house. Image Source Where Should I Install Outdoor Security Lighting?Īt Haas and Sons, we recommend that all outdoor security lighting be placed in all the high-risk areas of your home. This shouldn’t be an issue for you, as a lot of manufacturers sell their units based on this same philosophy, we just wanted to make sure you knew to avoid the lower range of the scale. The reason you want to avoid lower Kelvin bulbs is simply because they don’t provide enough exposure or detail, particularly the further away you venture from the bulb, as they’re too warm. As you can see in the image below, the Kelvin Scale goes up to 10,000, but after 4,000 it just becomes more blue. 4,000 Kelvin is the equivalent to a full moon, which is optimal for our eyes to focus and assess their surroundings at night. For outdoor and nighttime needs, you need to begin at 4,000 Kelvin. In a previous post we discussed the Kelvin Scale and I’ll reiterate it here. That said, we do want to recommend something specific and that is the Kelvin scale for outdoor use.

If the manufacturer does not have replaceable bulbs then it’s good to know what their warranty is and what their claim process is like.Īdditionally, you’ll be presented with other options, such as selecting what lumen output or the style of bulb, which are relatively benign and matter of personal preference. Conversely, hardwired LEDs should last you quite a long time, but be certain to ask about whether their bulbs are replaceable if you need to swap them out. Plus, when they begin to lose their charge their output will suffer. Overcast, snow, rain, and a variety of other factors can make them intermittent at best. Solar lights, while great in concept, rarely ever perform as sold. We recommend using motion sensor outdoor wall lights with replaceable LED flood light bulbs that are hardwired into your home. When installing outdoor security lighting, the specifics for each homeowner to choose from are quite large and expanding. In this month’s blog post we wanted to give you the rundown on all of the things you need to know before selecting an outdoor security lighting system. A dark home (or yard) is vulnerable to criminal activity, so by keeping your property well lit, you will be hedging your bets in your favor. The reason homeowners need to consider adding outdoor security lighting to their property is because of the elevated risk for criminals to take advantage of your dark shadows on the exterior of your home. According to a 2018 study by the University of Colorado at Boulder, violent crime rates rise in the winter months, particularly when we have mild winters like this one. Like our friends in nature, humans kind of get into hibernation mode ourselves, but there’s an exception to that rule and it can be a costly one - crime. People in our community tend to stay in more and are less observant about the comings and goings on your block.

As many of us experience, the winter months can be quite a shock from our warm and bright summers, primarily due to the extended hours of darkness and the inclement weather we receive.

Outdoor motion lights with camera