
If you plan on using lights to display your landscaped lawn in the evening, or simply want to discourage potential thieves from targeting your home at night, consider investing in lights controlled by motion sensors and/or timers. These mechanisms ensure that electricity used to power your lights isn't wasted by staying on at unneeded times.
Timers
Use these with your energy-efficient halogen and compact fluorescent flood and spot lights for an added eco-friendly bonus. Timers come in indoor, outdoor, analog, digital, plug-in and hardwired varieties, and some can even fluctuate operation times by a few minutes each day to keep potential thieves guessing if you're away or not.
Motion Detectors
Light a welcome visitor's path or dissuade a would-be burglar with a motion detector while doing something to alleviate the demands placed on your area electric power plant. Motion detectors come with many settings to suit your lighting needs. For instance, set the sensor from 110 degree to 270 degree, depending on placement in your lawn. Use less sensitive and less widespread settings closer to high traffic areas or near a neighboring house, or set it to a wider area to ensure coverage of the entire lawn. Some motion sensors even cause a light to turn on inside the home when triggered from outside, possibly startling or tricking potential thieves.
Dusk to Dawn Photo Cells
These sensors are light activated rather than motion activated. Take care not to face your cells toward the street or where headlights may trigger their activation, or better yet, find cells that contain a delay to ensure the light is sunlight rather than another other light source. Take care to find out whether your photo cell needs to be hardwired or plugged in and whether they are compact fluorescent compatible.