Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Outdoor Flood Lights – Make Your Home Safe, Secured and Comfortable

Do you ever have that uneasy feeling whenever you arrive home late at night and all alone? Cautiously looking around as you approach your doorway, fearing that somebody might be lurking in the dark and suddenly grab you from behind as you reach for the door? Well, with only a small light bulb lighting it and nobody from your family is awake to meet you, how you wish that you have outdoor flood lights that automatically switch on as you pull into the driveway.

Fact is, having outdoor lighting, even with simple outdoor string lights, gives you that feeling of security while providing some sense of comfort to you and your household, whether you’re at home or not.

Outdoor flood lights come in various options of operation. It has three main operational systems:

1. Timer activated
2. Dusk-to-dawn activated
3. Dual operation or one that can be switched from motion to dusk-to-dawn mode.

Of these, the motion sensor timer activated option is the most common as it spontaneously turn on at a pre-set length of time once its sensor detect any movement.

Since outdoor flood lights consume electricity and would mean an increase in your electric bills, there is one type that doesn’t need it but uses the sun as its energy source. Solar outdoor flood lights. They can be easily installed and won’t need electric wires to connect to an outlet. Instead, it has a solar panel that gather sunlight, convert them to energy and store them to rechargeable batteries. The stored energy will then be used for powering up the outdoor flood lights at night. A photocell controls the lighting sequence from dusk to dawn. It can effectively light wide areas, signage, monuments, ornamental plants, trees and other architectural structures. Due to the strength of its lights, it can be visible even from long distances.

Outdoor flood lights can fit anybody’s needs, what with its vast array of available styles. Its bulb types include incandescent, quartz halogen and LED outdoor flood lights. There are also high-intensity discharge (high pressure sodium and metal halide) and CFL. However, the high-intensity discharge types and CFL outdoor flood lights are not applicable for use with motion sensors though.