Turning Our Home into a Castle: Lights

Lights are an excellent deterrent. It’s obvious -- bad guys want to stay in the concealment of the shadows. Having good lighting takes away an advantage from the bad guy and gives us increased security. In this article we’re going to go over two different ways to use lights to improve our security footprint.

I know lighting can be a daunting thing. It can seem expensive and if you’re not an electrician or have an electrical background, it can be intimidating. That was ten years ago, now that’s not the case. For around fifty dollars you can purchase a good solar powered motion-sensor security light. It requires no electrical background. Fifty dollars may or may not be a lot of money to you, so if it is, like all things, make the purchases over time. Buy one light a month. Look for ones that have a detachable solar panel so that it can be put in the best place to receive the sun. 

A question you may have is, how many lumens? The answer is always as many as you can get, the bigger number the better. It doesn’t matter which big box store you purchase from, they’re all pretty much the same. Almost every solar light I’ve installed, I have modified in the following ways. First, I’ve changed out the cheap rechargeable batteries they came with and replaced with quality rechargeable batteries designed for solar systems. Batteries+, the store, is a good resource. You will spend between ten to fifteen dollars on a set of four. This is worth the money. You will get years of usage out of them. The second modification I often make is adding more wire to extend the reach of the solar panel so it can reach good quality light. When splicing new wire onto the existing charging cable, use the same gauge wire that exists in the system. You can splice in and tape it off with electrical tape or use some heat-shrink tubing. The system won’t be moving around much, therefore, there’s no need to solder it. (I know, Dan, you’re cringing that I said that. But not everyone has a soldering iron.) 

Now that you have your lights, where do you put them? If you’re buying them over time, you’re going to have to prioritize. You have to make a choice between your high-speed avenues of approach or your dead space. What I mean by high-speed avenues are your driveway, your front porch, your heavy traffic areas. Your dead space is going to be your backyard or the darkest places on your property. For my home, I have a good streetlight and a decent front porch light. So, my primary concern starting off was my dead space, my backyard. My backyard butts up to a wooded area that separates my neighborhood from a major street. In my situation it was a priority to illuminate my backyard.

How many lights do you need? Quick answer is at least four. That will be able to cover the four corners of your home. But just like lumens, you can have as many as you want, the bigger the better. The more lights that you have that intersect illumination, the more of a disadvantage it is for the bad guys.

Now let’s talk interior lights. Like I’ve mentioned in a previous article, if your lights are on in your home and it’s dark outside, and your blinds are open, everyone can see inside and see what you’re doing. So, think about using blinds or curtains to protect your privacy.

From time to time, my wife and I take care of our neighbor’s dogs while they are out of town for work. They like to leave a light on inside their house to make people think they are still there. That doesn’t necessarily work. Remember, lights on at ten o’clock at night, someone is home. Same light on at two o’clock in the morning, someone’s on vacation or a serious insomniac, like my wife. If you want to use your lights, I suggest putting them on a timer. You can grab a timer at any of the big box stores for around five dollars. Grab two or three of them, put them on a couple different lamps in different rooms and have them turn on and off at different times. This will give a good illusion that someone is home. This is a good way of using lights to protect your home when you’re not there.

As you can see, by adding a little bit of light you can increase the security footprint of your home even if you are not home. Once we add light into the equation, it is an effective form of passive security. When the motion sensor is tripped it is doing the work for us. It is also a form of early warning. Last night while working in the backyard we saw the driveway light flip on, and we knew someone had pulled up. Illuminate your home, take the advantage away from the bad guy, stay safe.

Chris