Proper Size for LED Flood Lights Around House

[Thailaw]

My house in the Maprachan are was broken into while I was away. They stole the water pump, which I have temporarily locked inside until I improve security around my house. I had CCTV cameras installed last week. Next is flood likghts around the peremeter of the house -- rear, and both sides, and the front. The land is almost 1 rai and the house is 2 story. The side yards are narrow, 20+ meters long and 5 meters wide. The front is small, as the house is positioned close to the road in the front -- if positioned correctly, I think 20W should be adequate for the front. The back is large with a pool.  Can someone recommend the "best" size (in Watts) for flood lights? I am sure that 10W is too small; 50W may be OK for the back, but could be too much, as I really want light on the area around the house, and not for the entire back yard. I think, given what I have read, that 20W - 30W should be find for the sides. Will (F) 20W, (S) 20W, (S) 20W and (B) 30W be ok? The cost of the lights is not a major concern, but I would like to keep the running cost to a minimum. Can someone confirm what I am thinking is correct or correct me? Thanks a lot.  TL

[sometimewoodworker]

We have lights all round our house, the rear wall is 20 metres and has 4 lights the workshop side is 12 metres and also has 4 lights

the front of the house has more decorative fittings with 5 up and down lights

 

the bulbs in all of these are 3W at night 4 x 3W is more than enough to not only light the walls but a considerable distance into the garden. 
 

we do have a 20W led street lamp at our gate that we run all night along with a few more accent lights in the garden and Waterhouse.

 

My opinion is that 20W LEDs are excessive and vastly more than is needed. 
 

CCV images 
as an example here is the daytime 

 

the early evening, so dark but with 3W lights they are enough to allow the CCV to capture colour 

 

and lastly we turn them off after midnight so this is the IR illuminated image 

[CallumWK]

I have 8 x 1500 Watt halogen lights around the house, and a 24V truck horn, which are connected to the alarm system.

The alarm system has infrared sensor inside and outside the house.

When the alarm goes off, it's like daytime in the middle of the night on my entire 1 Rai plot. At the same time the 24V truck horn goes off.

I haven't had any security issues in all the years I live here, but I'm sure when the alarm goes off, they will change mind.

[Thailaw]

5 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

We have lights all round our house, the rear wall is 20 metres and has 4 lights the workshop side is 12 metres and also has 4 lights

the front of the house has more decorative fittings with 5 up and down lights

 

the bulbs in all of these are 3W at night 4 x 3W is more than enough to not only light the walls but a considerable distance into the garden. 
 

we do have a 20W led street lamp at our gate that we run all night along with a few more accent lights in the garden and Waterhouse.

 

My opinion is that 20W LEDs are excessive and vastly more than is needed. 
 

CCV images 
as an example here is the daytime 

 

the early evening, so dark but with 3W lights they are enough to allow the CCV to capture colour 

 

and lastly we turn them off after midnight so this is the IR illuminated image 

Thanks for the help; much appreciated. I will consider 10W (and 20W for the back) rather than 20W and 30W. 

[Thailaw]

5 hours ago, CallumWK said:

I have 8 x 1500 Watt halogen lights around the house, and a 24V truck horn, which are connected to the alarm system.

The alarm system has infrared sensor inside and outside the house.

When the alarm goes off, it's like daytime in the middle of the night on my entire 1 Rai plot. At the same time the 24V truck horn goes off.

I haven't had any security issues in all the years I live here, but I'm sure when the alarm goes off, they will change mind.

Thanks for the help -- sound like you have way more than I need.... That should keep any intruder away

[CallumWK]

5 minutes ago, Thailaw said:

Thanks for the help -- sound like you have way more than I need.... That should keep any intruder away

 

You could consider solar lights. I have them on my perimeter wall and they last till 3-4am continuous on. If you put them on movement sensor they last forever.

175 baht on Lazada or Shopee

[sometimewoodworker]

13 hours ago, Thailaw said:

Thanks for the help; much appreciated. I will consider 10W (and 20W for the back) rather than 20W and 30W. 

It’s not the brightness of the lights that are a deterrent, it’s the fact that the property is well lit. As you can see a number of lower powered lights illuminate completely. a single high powered light will provide inky black shadows for miscreants. Also have you considered that if you are running them all night you are going to need blackout curtains to sleep?
 

FWIW if 2w bulbs were easily available I would be using them not the current 3w ones

[Rimmer]

Nothing less than 60w each flood all round the house facing the house. Heck they are cheap enough and last for three to four years.

Benefit is if the power goes out you still have light inside the house.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Solar+Cell+JD-8860+&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4m.pdp.search.go.b09a78278dKUkg

 

We have around ten of this model illuminating the entire house and some dark areas in the garden and by the gates

Solar Cell JD-8860

 

[Thailaw]

50 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

Nothing less than 60w each flood all round the house facing the house. Heck they are cheap enough and last for three to four years.

Benefit is if the power goes out you still have light inside the house.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Solar+Cell+JD-8860+&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4m.pdp.search.go.b09a78278dKUkg

 

We have around ten of this model illuminating the entire house and some dark areas in the garden and by the gates

Solar Cell JD-8860

 

Great idea, thanks. Are these lights set to come on at dusk/dark? How long do they last in one night? I assume that lower watt will last longer -- what size in watts are your lights?  Thanks again. 

[Thailaw]

14 hours ago, CallumWK said:

 

You could consider solar lights. I have them on my perimeter wall and they last till 3-4am continuous on. If you put them on movement sensor they last forever.

175 baht on Lazada or Shopee

Great idea, thanks. If I can find lights with a darkness sensor, they would be perfect. I have such sensors on the small lights over the doorway into the garden, which are wired lights. Thanks again.

[CallumWK]

3 minutes ago, Thailaw said:

Great idea, thanks. If I can find lights with a darkness sensor, they would be perfect. I have such sensors on the small lights over the doorway into the garden, which are wired lights. Thanks again.

 

All solar lights have a darkness sensor, so they switch on when it get dark. But they also have a movement sensor, so you can change the setting if they switch on when dark or when there is a movement.

 

The ones I have I can't find anymore, but they look similar to this.

 

https://shopee.co.th/ไฟโซล่าเซล-ไฟสปอร์ตไลท์-LEDใช้พลังานแสงอาทิตย์-ปรับมุมส่องได้-180-องศา-สว่างจ้า-3โหมด-ตรวจจับความเคลื่อนไหว-ทนแดด-กันน้ำ-i.233691182.4397360300?

 

 

[Rimmer]

21 minutes ago, Thailaw said:

Great idea, thanks. Are these lights set to come on at dusk/dark? How long do they last in one night? I assume that lower watt will last longer -- what size in watts are your lights?  Thanks again. 

 

lights around the house and small stand alone staff house and all approaches to both houses are all 60w,  I also have a couple of 60w illuminating parts of the three rai garden pond and ornamental Chinese bridge over a waterfall and stream, a couple of smaller ones maybe 30w illuminating the pool deck and catio.  Costs nothing to leave them on auto all night long.

 

We don't have any dark areas inside our walls cant afford to risk it as we are isolated and alone at the end of a dirt road. 

 

Lights are all automatic when they come out of the box, meaning they come on when it gets dark and go off when it gets light, that can be overridden with the hand controller if you want to use it, so they can be made to come on for maybe three or five hours to suit your schedule, I use that facility to illuminate my pond and pool deck.

 

 

I have 60w JD solar lights that are maybe four or five years old and still going strong, the smaller ones have a smaller battery and die after about one year, but they are also very cheap.

 

[Rimmer]

2 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It’s not the brightness of the lights that are a deterrent, it’s the fact that the property is well lit. As you can see a number of lower powered lights illuminate completely. a single high powered light will provide inky black shadows for miscreants. Also have you considered that if you are running them all night you are going to need blackout curtains to sleep?
 

FWIW if 2w bulbs were easily available I would be using them not the current 3w ones

 

Bad people avoid well lit house like the plague and will usually move on to something dark.

 

We have two floods pointing at the bedroom window / wall area, advantage is if you have to get up in the night for a pee you don't fall over the cat. We have ordinary curtains and they let just enough diffused light into the bedroom with the curtains closed but don't make the room bright at all, if a power cut happens we can open the curtains and have light inside the rooms of the house. 

 

We also have nine hard wired CCD cameras, plus ten wifi cameras connected to the phones and maybe eight or ten dummy cameras and three sirens connected to motion sensors, all apart from the standard house burglar alarm on all the doors and window.

You can now buy solar wifi cameras for around B1000, I have one but not fitted yet. 

 

A bit of overkill you might say but just to finish it off some of our walls around the property are up to around three meters high depending where they are.

 

[impulse]

10 minutes ago, Rimmer said:

Bad people avoid well lit house like the plague and will usually move on to something dark.

 

I agree with that, but I think it's important to have some motion sensing lights that give the impression that something has been triggered by their presence, especially if it's a secluded area with no (or few neighbors).

 

[sometimewoodworker]

30 minutes ago, impulse said:

I think it's important to have some motion sensing lights that give the impression that something has been triggered by their presence,

Even better than just a motion sensing light. Are the hard wired CCV cameras with motion triggered, tracking and 2 way audio cameras we use the Reolink system PoE cameras + NVR and a moderate UPS that will probably do almost 24 hours so even a power cut doesn’t effect them.

one of the 4k cameras is the Trackmix.

REOLINK 4K 8MP Dome PoE Security Camera 5X 3D Optical Zoom Pan and Tilt Auto Tracking Smart Detection 8MP Onvif Outdoor IP Camera THB 7,689 |

https://a.aliexpress.com/_oFUE8El

It is surprisingly disconcerting to have all your movements tracked and illuminated!

[Thailaw]

2 hours ago, Rimmer said:

 

lights around the house and small stand alone staff house and all approaches to both houses are all 60w,  I also have a couple of 60w illuminating parts of the three rai garden pond and ornamental Chinese bridge over a waterfall and stream, a couple of smaller ones maybe 30w illuminating the pool deck and catio.  Costs nothing to leave them on auto all night long.

 

We don't have any dark areas inside our walls cant afford to risk it as we are isolated and alone at the end of a dirt road. 

 

Lights are all automatic when they come out of the box, meaning they come on when it gets dark and go off when it gets light, that can be overridden with the hand controller if you want to use it, so they can be made to come on for maybe three or five hours to suit your schedule, I use that facility to illuminate my pond and pool deck.

 

 

I have 60w JD solar lights that are maybe four or five years old and still going strong, the smaller ones have a smaller battery and die after about one year, but they are also very cheap.

 

That's perfect -- thanks a lot. So long as they are "automatic..., meaning they come on when it gets dark and go off when it gets light", they are just what I need. The big plus is that they save the hard wiring. I do lamps on timers inside the house, this is strictly for the outside. The ones that you linked on Lazada are minimum 350W, so unless you tell me otherwise, I will order 5 of these, which should be adrquate. Again, thanks very much for your help.....