Motion Detector

Cooper Lighting msl180w Motion Activated Solar Floodlight

Solar motion lighting is all the rage lately. With the convenience of being able to put a light anywhere without having to run wires or pay for electricity, and the low cost of these lights, the allure is obvious. Not all of these lights are created equal. This light by Cooper Lighting doesn’t stand up to the competition. Being priced near seventy dollars, you would expect it to be built to last, but the weatherproofing leaves much to be desired, as does the battery lifespan.

I’m a big fan of halogen for outdoor motion lighting. Halogens put out a lot of bright, dimmable  light, but that is when they are connected to the grid. Where power is scarce, LED is king. If I were buying a flashlight, I wouldn’t get a halogen, because I’d want the batteries to last a while and not take up a lot of space; solar motion lighting is the same issue.

Lets compare this Cooper msl180w light to a LED toting competitor. This solar Bunker Hill motion light uses 36 LED bulbs, runs on a small fraction of the power, requires a much smaller battery, has better weatherproofing, and is quite a bit cheaper. You also don’t have to worry about replacing a burnt out bulb. If you need a lot of light, run the wires. If you are willing to sacrifice some brightness for portability and efficiency, then stick with LED.

Motion Detector

Home Driveway Alarm

This DrivewayPatrol Driveway Alarm is one of those ‘As seen on TV!’ products, which means the quality is questionable, but the price is outstanding due to mass production, and they are thoroughly tested. The idea is simple: just hide the motion sensor along your driveway, put the speaker unit in your home (within 400 feet), and when someone walks or drives into your driveway, you hear a chime. It can be handy for security, alerting you to guests, or for quite a lot of other purposes.

This is a passive infrared sensor, so you don’t want to put it in a windy bush or at a level where the cat will set it off, unless you want your cat to set it off. Some people use this type of motion detector at ankle level by their door to let them know when their pet wants to come in. They can also be useful if you are making a racket in a workshop or are in the back yard and you want to be alerted to visitors. There is no wiring necessary, as the wireless driveway alarm takes three C batteries for the sensor, and a 9 volt for the chime (not included).

There aren’t many products out there that still use C batteries, and if you are like me, you don’t want to be buying odd battery siezes all the time. My solution was to get these Sanyo rechargeable batteries with charger. They come with 8xAA, 2xAAA, and four each of these plastic shells you can put a AA battery inside of in order to make them work as C or D batteries. They work great, and rechargeable batteries have gotten so much better in recent years. I use them for everything now. Everything from AAA to D batteries actually put out the same voltage, they just made all the bigger sizes to hold a charge longer, but the new AA batteries hold more than the old D batteries.

There is a similar driveway alarm system, the Bunker Hill Driveway Alert System, that you can find at Harbor Freight. They are similar enough that I’m guessing they are using pretty much the same guts. Harbor Freight is known for having really cheap stuff, but amazon has this Driveway Patrol unit for around half the price ($11 as of this writing).

If you are looking for a DIY driveway alarm solution, It would be easy to whip up something fun with this DIY Motion Detector Kit. By putting the sensor in your driveway and hooking it up to your indoor lights, you could have the interior lights come on whenever someone approaches, which would both leave a convincing impression that you are home even when you aren’t, and if you are home, alert you more directly than traditional outdoor motion lighting when someone is outside.