Outdoor home lighting provides a number of great benefits - convenience, security, and beauty to name a few. But when choosing outdoor home lighting, there are a number of reasons to choose motion sensor lights over standard, non-motion lighting. This article will highlight some of the top reasons you should choose motion lighting for your outdoor home lighting needs.

• Save money and only use the lights when you actually need them - when motion is detected. Whether coming home after dark, looking for your keys outside a front or side door, or taking your pet out at night, motion lighting will automatically provide light once you move in the motion detector range. You'll save money as a result and get the automatic lighting convenience.

Dusk to Dawn Feature

Many times we are asked about the meaning of the "Dusk to Dawn" feature of motion lights.  This is a very nice feature that you will find on most motion sensor lights, so understanding this will help you make the best choice when choosing the light that is right for you. In short, the dusk-to-dawn feature of a light will cause your motion light to only activate when it is dark.  In daylight hours when existing and ambient light is present, the light will not activiate when motion is detected.  This feature uses a small photocell like the one pictured above to detect the presence of available and existing light.  If light is detected, the motion light will not trigger.  If light is not detected, then the light will turn on when motion is detected.

How and where you place your motion lights will directly effect the security and convenience you get from your lighting.  Before installing (or even purchasing!) your motion lights, make sure to think about your intended use for your lighting, your home layout, and placement of your lights.  One factor will be whether you are using existing non-motion lighting (and simply adding a motion sensor to that existing lighting).  Also, you should consider whether you are using existing light wiring, or are adding new wiring to your desired installation location.  Here are some additional tips to maximize placement of your motion detector light.

Best Convenience

For best convenience out of your motion light, place the motion detection sensor to cover the walks and pathways leading to your front door, your back doors and your driveway.  This will ensure that your motion lights will turn on when you come home at night.  Motion lights also add great convenience to light up patios, decking, stairways, and areas around swimming pools.  Also, consider using motion lights to cover any areas you use at night to take out your pets.

Motion detectors sense moving objects by picking up the heat that radiates from the object.  The motion light will automatically turn on when the motion detector senses an object moving within its detection range -- the sensor will work especially well when warm objects move within the detection area, such as animals, people and cars.

Once motion is detected and the light turns on, the light will remain on for a set period of time.  Most outdoor motion lights will allow you to set the amount of time that the light will remain on, typically anywhere from 1 minute to 25 minutes.  Then, if the detector no longer senses movement after the set time, the light will automatically turn off.  In addition, most outdoor motion lights include a photocell that will deactivate the light during daylight.  As a result, the light will only turn on when motion is detected during darkness.

You will see many motion detector lights with a feature called "Dual Brite" or "Dual Brite Timer". What is the Dual Brite feature? It is a very convenient and valuable feature that adds a new level of function to a motion light. Below, I'll describe how the Dual Brite feature works.

The Dual Brite feature adds another set of light control settings to a motion light.  When the Dual Brite setting is on, the light will automatically turn on in a half-bright mode for a set period of time after dusk.  So when it gets dark, the light automatically switches on in dim mode, providing you with convenient lighting during times when it gets dark early in the evening, and the security of automatic dusk lighting.  The Dual Brite setting does not interfere with normal motion light settings--if the motion detector picks up motion, the light will switch on in full power mode, even if the light is already on in dim mode from the Dual Brite setting.

With the current state of the economy, there is more concern than ever that burglaries and other household crime will continue to increase.  As a result, it is crucial now more than ever to increase security at and around your home.  While many home security systems and strategies will cost you thousands of dollars of upfront and ongoing cost, there are other supplemental and effective steps you can take now to increase your home security.  One effective measure that is relatively simple, quick and inexpensive to add to your home is to install motion activated lighting to your home and yard.

One of the main reasons that people install motion lighting is to deter the plans of would-be burglars and add safety to their home and home environment.  Other benefits and features of motion lighting include beauty, convenience and energy savings.

Based on our experiences with outdoor motion detector lights, this article will list the top 5 benefits that we have found. These are not the only benefits -- in fact, while reading this article, you will likely think of other benefits from outdoor motion lights. If you do, share them! Let us know how you have benefited from motion sensor lights!

• Security - this one is easy. Motion lights come on when motion is detected. With properly placed and set motion lights, intruders will be met with lights turning on in their face as they approach your house. Something to note: set your light sensitivity correctly. From experience, when your motion lights turn on in the middle of the night, you'll want to know what set them off! Setting the lights to avoid small animals like racoons, rabbits, etc. will help you avoid false alarms!