Motion sensitive solar powered lights (house, good, install, installation)

[my54ford]

Anyone have experience with these? Good or bad! I'm 1100 yards off a gravel road and am contemplateing the installation of several of these in strategic locations.
Thanks in advance!
Todd

[Nor'Eastah]

You may not want to light up any intruders, as that alerts them to the fact that you may be aware of their presence. They might just move away from the lights, and then you've lost any strategic advantage you had just knowing they were present.

A silent detector system (can also be solar powered) that alerts you inside the house, without letting the intruders know they were detected (no lights, sirens, etc) would be more effective, IMHO. Of course, critters could also set this off, as they would with the lights, but the lights would likely scare them off, or at least into the dark.

I'm in the process of designing such a system and will say that it requires some outside-the-box thought. Presently we have motion-detector lights at the corners of the house, and at the garage. But when we retire (soon, hopefully) we will be moving to a more remote location where there will be considerably more freedom in designing a system. You do need to give some thought as to WHO it is you wish to be alerted by (trespasser? neighbor? police? game animals?) and start from there. Who do you want to be aware first -- you or them? What else can you do to deter them (non-fatally) besides just lighting them up?

I can tell you that light alone will NOT deter anyone who is up to no good, unless it's just kids or a nosy neighbor.

[my54ford]

Thanks. I am trying to think "outside the box" and comeup with systems that are flexible enough to meet a range of scenerios or degrageing situtions. I agree motion sensitive lights may be fine today but down the road may not be..........One thing about a motion senisitive lighting is that it will potential minimize or degrade the night vision capabilities of potential intruders.

[Nor'Eastah]

Agreed, they are fine today, and shed a little light on the situation as well!

One thing we have been experimenting with is monofilament fishing line, esp green color. I read about using this stuff as an effective deer fence around a garden, about a year ago. It is effectively invisible. We have trees at our present property and just for trials, I strung some between trees, about 1' above the ground. You can get dangerous with this stuff! It doesn't break all that easily, and I fell adze over teakettle walking back to the house, not realizing exactly where it was. It also frightened our German Shepherd when she ran into it. Based on this, I feel the stuff has potential, and plan to experiment further with it. It's cheap and requires no power.

Another idea I'm starting to work with is 'sticky stuff'. I haven't decided what sort of stuff to use yet, but it has to have a powerful stickiness to it, like flypaper is to a fly. If our future home wasn't in such a cold location (note to self: minus 25 degrees is an effective deterrent to sneaking around!), I'd use tar or tarballs. Anything that will annoy the hail out of an intruder, cause surprise and perhaps a little pain, and a whole lot of bother. If it sticks to their feet, is difficult to tear, slows down their movement, and elicits foul language, all the better.

I've done quite a lot of photography in my day and have several flash units I no longer use, but they still work. You recall when somebody took a flash picture of you, years ago, how you were blinded momentarily? Try rigging some old units (cheap on ebay) at eye level, and find a way to pop 'em when someone steps on something right where you fear they'll tread. The ones with stroboscopic effects (multiple quick flashes) cause disorientation. Newer tactical flashlights also have this feature, but may be more difficult to trigger.

Hanging near-invisible supports of monofilament from tree branches at about head or neck level is also a sure-fire stopper. This is the type of thing I mean by 'thinking outside the box', and few people have written a whole lot about it. Good luck to you!