Do you leave your front lights on at night?

[Neil4Speed]

Moved into a house recently and was curious. I don't see too many houses on my street with them on, but figured it was a good security measure to have them on? Now I am second guessing and thinking if I wanted to target a home, it's nice to have some light to work in? LOL

Obviously there are some electric costs associated, but with Dusk to Dawn LED's, it's not significant.

[ExtraSlow]

Nope, turn em off when I'm done out there. some nights that's 8pm. Security is an illusion.

[G-ZUS]

I have bright motion sensors all around the place

[ThePenIsMightier]

Absolutely on at night.
I might be a fruit, but I ain't no low hanging fruit.

[The_Penguin]

We leave a small subset of our Gemstones on warm white at about 60% brightness. Over the doors and sidewalk.

[Tik-Tok]

Off at night. My neighbor on the other hand has two massive motion security lights, which are on pretty much 24/7 because there's always something moving on the street (cars, animals, etc).

[mr2mike]

Light the area so thieves can turn off the headlamp to scope your yard.
Nice!

[bjstare]

Mine (garage/driveway, front entry) are set to auto-on at sunset, off at 5am. I'll probably change it to sunset -> sunrise, 5am was arbitrary and doesn't make sense in the winter.

[suntan]

I have a Leviton switch that has auto-on at dusk and auto-off at dawn. Adjusts based on time of year.

[lasimmon]

I leave them on sometimes and off sometimes.

If you leave them on every night you have to find a way to leave them on even if you aren't home.

[ShermanEF9]

I have a Leviton switch that has auto-on at dusk and auto-off at dawn. Adjusts based on time of year.

This, but mine turns off between 11pm-12am, kinda randomly throughout the week.

[topmade]

Only turn them on if taking out the trash or have guests coming over, otherwise they are always off and there's other motion lights.

[suntan]

I want to make sure thieves have enough light to safely steal my cat converter.

[mr2mike]

I want to make sure thieves have enough light to safely steal my cat converter.

Leave a sawZall under the front door mat too.

[holden]

My outdoor lights are all motions sensors.

[schurchill39]

Only turn them on if taking out the trash or have guests coming over, otherwise they are always off and there's other motion lights.

Us too

[88CRX]

I leave them on sometimes and off sometimes.

If you leave them on every night you have to find a way to leave them on even if you aren't home.

WiFi switch. Can set programs or control them from anywhere. Turn on at sunset and off whenever you want.

(Pro Tip: Get your xmas light soffit plug on a wifi switch too.)

[CLiVE]

Dusk to dawn LED Bulbs now. Before that they were on full time (forgot to switch them off).....Prior to that they were always off, until we had a break-in.

[BokCh0y]

Kasa smart switch. On at midnight off at 5am everyday.

Have half dozen neighbours around me that do a something similar but we have some big trees around the house that block out a lot of the street lights, so some peace of mind.

[Neil4Speed]

Shoot, should have made this a poll!

[suntan]

Certainly you can put lights on a pole.

[XylathaneGTR]

Neighbours leave rear /backyard lights on all night as a security measure, but not the front.

[bjstare]

Kasa smart switch. On at midnight off at 5am everyday.


I have these switches too. Bought them since I don't want to commit to real home automation since we're moving soon, they're really good for the price. I got 3 for like $35 on amazon.

[cyra1ax]

Went with Lutron Caseta switches. Mine come on when it's after sunset and I enter the geofence area. Wish I could get more granular, for example have only the back lights come on if I'm parking in the garage, but I haven't come across the right settings yet. Might have to do some IFTTT integration.

[mr2mike]

What's this security measure everyone's talking about?
Are criminals afraid of light?
An Inverse Moth

[rage2]

People want to fuck with your house, it won't matter if light is on or off. I have my lights on at night, mostly so the camera captures things clearer.

[ExtraSlow]

What's this security measure everyone's talking about?
Are criminals afraid of light?
An Inverse Moth

muh feels brah.

[littledan]

Lights on at night is definitely a deterrent. The creeps will go for the dark house to check door handles etc. I leave my garage exterior lights on 24/7 and have my soffit lights on a ge relay switch that tracks dst etc.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Lights on at night is definitely a deterrent. The creeps will go for the dark house to check door handles etc. I leave my garage exterior lights on 24/7 and have my soffit lights on a ge relay switch that tracks dst etc.

^Yes!
If they didn't like dark, they wouldn't be doing their work in the dark. 40% of my neighbours leave their houses dark and that makes them the low hanging fruit. If thieves didn't like low hanging fruit, they'd have chosen Cocaine and Dentistry instead of Meth and MethMouth.

But hey - I still have glass windows and if a pro wants my shit, they are getting it. I just want to reduce my odds.
Another top tip is putting the tens of thousands of dollars worth of vehicles inside one's garage instead of using it to store $300 worth of crap no one would even bid on in Storage Wars with the vehicles out on the driveway.

[thinmyster]

I have a Leviton switch that has auto-on at dusk and auto-off at dawn. Adjusts based on time of year.

Us too. Also gemstone

[BigShow]

At dusk all the exterior lights come and and stay on till dawn, pretty convenient and like Rage says improves my camera image quality.

[Doozer]

Another vote for light-sensitive lights, the whole dusk to dawn thing. Same reasons as above. Helps the cameras, helps make the house less of a target than the neighbors. Front and back lights.

A few other houses leave their front lights on, but almost no one on my side leaves their back lights on. It's completely dark up and down the backyards except for mine. Hopefully that makes a lot of targets that aren't me. Oh, and with any luck the giant doghouse might also make them think twice about coming inside.

[tirebob]

Automatic lights... I hate light at night in general. Only sleep well in pitch black darkness and even a slight bit of light outside can disrupt me. The auto is good because if it switches on I know something tripped it and can investigate. Always on or always off you have no idea until the door is caving in.

[ZenOps]

This is the time of year to make sure the porch and back lights are on. As soon as the snow falls and stays permanent on the ground, that is when you can turn them off because more than likely you will get enough side glare from streetlamps to make it all visible.

2.5 watter in the back 7 watter in the front. Enough to just spray a smattering of light. No need for sensor as sensor probably draws more power than just leaving it on.

[Thaco]

i have mine on smart schedules, turns on at sunset and off at 11pm, turns on at 6am and off at sunrise.

[JustinL]

Automatic lights... I hate light at night in general. Only sleep well in pitch black darkness and even a slight bit of light outside can disrupt me. The auto is good because if it switches on I know something tripped it and can investigate. Always on or always off you have no idea until the door is caving in.

Same. Soffit lights with motion sensors. They flick on and let me know if I need to check something out... well they flick on and wake up my wife who wakes me up to check it out (ha!). I also park my cars in the garage and don't have a man-door for the garage.

[littledan]

I built my rear yard fence with literally 0 gates. You want in my yard you gotta come through the house, garage, or jump the fence lol. It would have definitely kept my mainland neighbour out. He locked himself out of his garage one day and his fence gate was stuck. He tried to climb over the fence but didn't have enough upper body strength. He tried climbing on my garbage bin lid, which was empty. The lid promptly collapsed and he fell into the garbage. Was pretty hilarious to watch. f'r left the collapsed lid in the bin too didn't even fix it.