Light for driveway

[jesperjes]

Hello

I have an idea for the lighting in my driveway:

When it gets dark the light switches on at maybe 20% power. When I get home the light in the driveway goes up to 100% and then back to 20% after a few minutes.

What I'm thinking I need is some kind of dimmer where I can connect a twilight switch and a PIR sensor.

Does anyone know if it's possible at a reasonable price?

 

[cybrdyke]

Such devices are being tested and used in municipal lighting across the world....at huge expense. But the overall savings could be monumental, if reliability was good.
At home, it makes less sense, unless it's just something that you 'want'. But, there are products available. The Lutron RMJ5T allows you to adjust the low end light output from 0-45%, so you could set it at 20% as the lowest. Then you would add in a wireless motion sensor to activate the lights up to 100%. But these are indoor products. You might be able to figure out a way to make them work for your application.
Good luck,
CD

 

[jesperjes]

It's not because I want to save energy/money. I just thought it would be cool

 

[Shiftless]

Wouldn't it be easier and way less expensive to have 2 different lighting circuits and controls? Low level landscape lights on all the time dusk to dawn or whatever and then if you really need higher levels of illumination for pulling into your driveway, a separate motion detector to switch on and off the brighter lights. Or you could also control the brighter ones with a remote just like your remote garage door opener. IMO, that would also be cool and might add a sense of security for surprise visitors to your driveway either four legged or two legged if you know what I mean.

 

[Stuart in MN]

My neighbor has a standard floodlight on his garage with a motion sensor; it stays at a dim setting until someone walks by or a car pulls up, then it goes to full brightness for some time period (I think around 5 minutes.)

So, there is already a product that does what you want, but I don't know the brand or if it's available in Denmark.

 

[larry_g]

My neighbor has a standard floodlight on his garage with a motion sensor; it stays at a dim setting until someone walks by or a car pulls up, then it goes to full brightness for some time period (I think around 5 minutes.)

So, there is already a product that does what you want, but I don't know the brand or if it's available in Denmark.

It's called a dual-brite;

http://www.motionlights.net/8-blog/42-understanding-the-dual-brite-feature-on-motion-lights

You will see many motion detector lights with a feature called "Dual Brite" or "Dual Brite Timer". What is the Dual Brite feature? It is a very convenient and valuable feature that adds a new level of function to a motion light. Below, I'll describe how the Dual Brite feature works.

The Dual Brite feature adds another set of light control settings to a motion light. When the Dual Brite setting is on, the light will automatically turn on in a half-bright mode for a set period of time after dusk. So when it gets dark, the light automatically switches on in dim mode, providing you with convenient lighting during times when it gets dark early in the evening, and the security of automatic dusk lighting. The Dual Brite setting does not interfere with normal motion light settings--if the motion detector picks up motion, the light will switch on in full power mode, even if the light is already on in dim mode from the Dual Brite setting.

I have some heathkit ones and really like the function. However I have also found them not to reliable and have to be replaced every few years.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Shiftless]

My neighbor has a standard floodlight on his garage with a motion sensor; it stays at a dim setting until someone walks by or a car pulls up, then it goes to full brightness for some time period (I think around 5 minutes.)

So, there is already a product that does what you want, but I don't know the brand or if it's available in Denmark.

Sounds like a winner there!
I never saw one of these. Sounds like what the OP is looking for.

 

[jesperjes]

It's called a dual-brite;

http://www.motionlights.net/8-blog/42-understanding-the-dual-brite-feature-on-motion-lights



I have some heathkit ones and really like the function. However I have also found them not to reliable and have to be replaced every few years.

lg
no neat sig line

That's it. Now I know it exists.

As some of you have suggested it might be easier having two different systems.

Thanks for the input