Outside lights

[Maccapacca]

Hi,

I'm new here, is this the right place to ask about lights and things?

I would very much like to replace the broken wall lights I have either side of my front door which haven't worked since I moved in. I took one apart and they are a bunch of rusty damp wires so the lot needs renewing.

I would like

• A very low level light that is on always
• PIR with adjustable time and sensitivity
• In built timer so that say after midnight they switch off

Thanks home and garden

 

[HardwareGeek]

Those requirements could do with clarifying, as all the fittings i have seen would not offer all those functions.

Any old light can be low level and always on, or have a lux sensor to stay on dusk till dawn

Lots of lights have a pir sensor or you could use a standalone pir sensor to control multiple lights with lux, sensitivity, time, even distance settings

no lights i have seen have a time function to switch off at midnight, also why do you want this? i would guess the best way to achieve this would be to run the lights from a time switch, mechanical or digital so power is only available at certain times of the day

Also what are you goals? security or just convenience for walking up the path to your door etc

Could do something like, power run into a timer to:

1) a standalone lux sensor or built in sensor controlling a low power always on light on the porch ceiling
1) power also run into 2 pir controlled half or full coach lanterns on either side of the door

With outside elecs best to avoid the cheapest option and make sure they are well installed to avoid water ingress and nuisance tripping problems, so correct ip rating, use seals/gaskets, silicone sealant, drip loops in any cables etc

 

[Nightglow]

At my last place, I had a seperate digital timer mounted inside the house, which then connected to three outside pir lights & lux sensor.

 

[bitslice]

Hi, I'm new here

LOL

Screwfix do a 180deg PIR with a separate courtesy light output which is on all the time.

They also do a light sensor with a timed output which you can use to disable the courtesy light (ie turn it off 6 hours after dusk)

Bodge the courtesy light via a dimmer unit and you can control its level too, or you can use the main light at a reduced level instead.


I think that covers your requirements, just a bit fiddly to visualise at first.