For further convenience, use them on patios, decks and any potentially hazardous locations such as around stairways and swimming pools. They’ll also light up the walks and front steps for visitors. Where Are The Best Places To Put Motion Detectors?įor convenience, position motion detectors to cover the walks leading to your front and back doors and the driveway, so the lights will come on when you come home at night (Fig. Usually, the more expensive ones with longer guarantees will better withstand the rigors of weather. Prices vary, depending on the number of extra electronic features, the quality of the electronics and the number and types of light fixtures included (Fig. You can buy motion detector/light units at any hardware store or home center. In addition, motion detectors sense daylight and automatically shut themselves off, so they won’t switch on lights when you don’t need them. Yet you can still operate the lights in the normal way the manufacturer’s instructions tell you how to shut off the detector when you don’t want it to operate. You can conveniently replace an existing outdoor light fixture with one of these, as our photo series demonstrates. Most often, the detector is connected to a waterproof cover plate along with one or two light bulb sockets (Fig. Floodlights are the most versatile and cast the most light. Position detectors and lights to cover approaches to your house, commonly used areas and dark, shadowy pans of your yard. Manufacturers connect motion detectors to lights in a variety of ways, as we illustrate in Fig. However, you can solve most unwanted switching by adjusting the detector’s sensitivity and aiming it accurately (as you’ll see the demonstration later). In fact, many homeowners won’t install a motion detector, believing it to be uncontrollable and too much hassle. Nuisance “trips” like these that fool the detector and cause lights to come on when you don’t want them can be irritating to both you and your neighbors. In fact, a detector will sometimes react to wind-blown leaves on a bush or to a passing car. away, as readily as to the approach of an adult some 45 ft. So you have to aim it right at the zone you want to cover.Īnd since the detector senses the motion of animals as well as people, it’ll react to the movement of the family dog standing about 15 ft. Its field of view is limited to a wedge-shaped area about 100 degrees wide and not much beyond 50 ft. Then it automatically shuts the lights off unless the detector continues to sense movement.Īs you can see in the illustration above, a motion detector has tunnel vision. The lights remain on anywhere from 1 to 20 minutes, depending on how you preset the timer. When the detector sees an object move across its field of view, especially warmer objects such as people, animals, and cars (see the illustration above), it electronically flips a switch that turns on the lights. Motion detectors are small electronic eyes that detect infrared waves, that is, the heat waves that objects radiate, even at night. Adjust the sensor sensitivity, swivel the mount to focus your desired detection angle, and you are done. You can choose a different chime for each receiver. Install the sensors up to 0.5 mile away from the receiver. (You can also use a 5V power source for indoors use.) The kit is easy to install and accepts 4 sensors and unlimited receivers to cover your perimeter against large animals, cars, and humans. There is no need to replace batteries, they recharge even in cloudy days. The eMacros Outdoors Motion Sensor and Detector is an alarm kit with one indoors receiver and one outdoors solar-powered sensor. In this article, you’ll read about how motion detectors work, see the best places to put them, and learn how to make a safe and trouble-free installation. It’ll even spot the furry critter that raids your garbage can at night! It switches on the lights exactly when and where you need them. How often have you come home at night, fumbled for the door key, and wished you’d left the light on? Or had to negotiate an icy sidewalk in the dark? Or felt apprehensive about strange noises outdoors?Ī motion detector that automatically switches on the outdoor lights is the perfect convenience to welcome you home at night, usher you up the walk (no need to fear tripping on a baseball bat!), and ease your concern about intruders entering your yard.
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