Exterior lighting is the first line of defence for any home.

Automatically triggering the illumination of the dark perimeters, driveways, and entry points of your property actively discourages unwanted visitors before they ever reach the house.

However, smart outside lighting does far more than just secure your home.

It can adapt to the seasons, integrating with other smart devices, and extending the usability of outdoor spaces, transforming a dark garden into a welcoming, atmospheric environment.

How outside lighting works

Traditional outside lighting usually has several ways to configure the light, depending on its location and your requirements:

1. Infrared sensitivity

   

   Most outside lights come with advanced Passive Infrared (PIR) sensors that track heat signatures.

   This ensures the lights ignore harmless environmental movement and only activate when a person or vehicle enters the property.

   Adjusting the sensitivity to 'low' means you won't get false positives from small creatures like hedgehogs ambling past the range of the sensor, going about its business, and the light will remain off.

   High sensitivity settings mean any heat signatures will trigger the light to activate. Usually, a setting somewhere between both extremes is ideal for most locations and scenarios.

   Remote controls are available to use from indoors, so if you do hear something untoward in the small hours out on the street, you can trigger the light manually yourself with the remote control and reassure yourself the fox inspecting your bins means no harm!

2. Time

   

   The time setting customises how long your light stays on once triggered by an object.

   The duration the light remains on after detecting motion is completely adjustable, from a few second burst (saving electricity) to a full 10 minutes.

   Longer time settings are useful to either scare off intruders or allow you time to unpack the car when you arrive home!

3. Lux

   Lux is just a fancy word for the ambient brightness. You can configure when your outside light is able to be activated by the amount of light hitting the sensor.

   Low lux values mean your light will start operating only when it's very dark; high lux values will allow your light to start operating at early twilight, as the sun is just starting to dip below the horizon.

   Regardless of the lux setting, your outside light will be inactive during the day to save energy.

Smart Camera Integration



For ultimate protection, there are smart camera products with built-in floodlights, or exterior lights that can link directly to security camera systems.

If a camera detects a person at the boundary of the property, it can instantly command the outdoor floodlights to snap on.

This unexpected blast of light acts as a powerful deterrent while instantly providing the camera with crystal-clear, full-colour footage for a mobile app alert.

Outdoor living



Beyond security, smart exterior lighting can be designed to enhance the daily experience of a home, whether coming back from a long day at work or relaxing in the garden.

When spending warm summer evenings relaxing or dining in the back garden, constant motion triggers can be highly disruptive.

We can install outdoor lighting systems that can be switched on permanently to provide constant lighting at the correct level, providing beautiful, steady illumination across patios, decking, and seating areas for as long as needed.