Remote control for outdoor lighting

[MatBirch]

With the days getting shorter, I’ve discovered a need at the new place. The carport and walk into the house is very dark. I’ve started forming a new plan to put in a remote control unit of some sort. I just don’t know what or how.
A few things that come to mind-

Is there a way wire up just the remote and lighting components out of an old garage door opener? This would be the perfect setup- drive up and click the remote, the light comes on. Then it times itself back off after we walk to the house....

Of course a more elegant solution with a nice fixture would be better.
Without the timer, I would need 3 remotes. One for each car, and one to live at the back door.
It seems with a quick google search, most ready-made options only have one remote so you don’t have to go outside to turn on/off Christmas lights, etc. The remote is not really conducive to living on the car visor.
I know I could get really complicated and get a receiver and remotes from an entry system. Most I know of are low voltage, so I would need a transformer that would be running 24/7, and a relay to handle the load. I’m not sure how to add a countdown timer into this.
I could house it all in a Hoffman box or something.

Is there an easier way?

 

[Bert_]

I've just got a light with a photocell. Runs dusk to dawn. No extra BS.

15w bulb costs about $5 to run the whole year.

 

[Zmann]

what garage door openers do you use ?
chamberlin has a remote light option that comes on and goes off with the opener

 

[ducksface]

'Alexa, turn on garage light'
About $11 on amazon.

 

[nadogail]

Big box store motion activated flood lights with LED bulbs.

 

[MatBirch]

Sorry Bert, I’ve never been able to tolerate photocell lights. Especially the neighbor’s. Lol. I don’t want the light on all night long. I just want light when I need it, then off it goes.
The Alexa/google options are cool, but I want to be able to trigger it by driving in... and have it go off automatically when we leave. Don’t want to need to fiddle with my phone while driving.
I bought a new motion sensor deal, as there was old, dead one that had been wired to the light and after fiddling for an hour or more with the adjustments, it cycled on and off all night. Very frustrating.
No garage, just a carport, so I’m not able to integrate with an opener. This is just where my mind went for getting a remote control setup. I’ve done a little more looking around today. Won’t be real cheap, but not bad.
I can get a remote receiver and three remotes for around $100. A time delay relay for $14,
a small transformer, a solid state relay, and a box to put it all in for maybe another 40-50$. I can probably scrounge up a lot of the stuff I need from the used parts bins at work.

 

[justsam]

It really does sound like a motion sense light is ideal for your application. I realize you have had a negative experience with one, but I have one at my back garage that has worked fine for over ten years now, no false activations, just when someone walks near it, or I drive my car in back. Might be worth another try and it does give you some additional security.

Clearly you can get as complicated as you like up to geo-fencing your phone and using it as a trigger.

 

[Boatman62]

what garage door openers do you use ?
chamberlin has a remote light option that comes on and goes off with the opener

I've got four of them and hate them. Half the time they don't go on. And when they do, they stay on and I have to go go down to the garage and manually turn them off.

Going to ditch them this week and install a motion sensor to activate the lights.

 

[Denwood]

This may be a bit much for your project, but if you want reliable and elegant, grab a HUE starter kit, and one of their outdoor sensors (wireless).

If you really want flexible control of lighting with rules, it's the best way. If you and your wife use smartphones, you can also just skip the motion sensor and use the phone's GPS to tell HUE when you're home. This is built in to the system. Basic Philips HUE bulbs are just screw in A19 base, (looks like a regular bulb), but they have many choices for lights that work with the system. Each bulb has radio, and motion sensors are wireless. A HUE starter kit (hub and 2 bulbs will run you about $60, and the outdoor motion sensor, another $50. I've used a pile of different automation systems, bulbs etc. and the HUE stuff is pricey, but easily the best of the bunch for reliability and ease of use. The wireless sensors use AA batteries, and in over two years I've yet to replace any.

Their lights and hub also integrate with pretty much every automation system out there, so if you decide to take things up a notch, you're starting with a bullet proof lighting system. When my wife arrives home, the outdoor, porch and entry lights fire up automatically as she pulls into the driveway...so never a dark entry. You can of course have full control of how, long they stay lit, how bright or dim they are etc. Once our house is in "night" mode, motion sensors may only trigger one light at 10%, vs six at full brightness. This way you can walk around at night with lights following you, but not burning your retinas All of the decent hubs out there figure out when dusk/night occurs over the seasons based on your GPS location.

The other product I really like for SIMPLE outdoor motion illumination are small solar charged lights with integrated motion sensors like these. I have about eight of these along our driveway and back yard fence which light up for 20-30 seconds, then off. They have survived outside for 2-3 years now with temps as low as -30C at times in winter. Zero issues and you just screw them on. They only run for short times at night, so even in shaded areas, seem to get enough light to keep charged. At basically $12 bucks each, they work better than any of the solar motion lights I've purchased from HD at many times that price. These ones are a step up with gradual onset lighting etc.

 

[Zmann]

I've got four of them and hate them. Half the time they don't go on. And when they do, they stay on and I have to go go down to the garage and manually turn them off.

Going to ditch them this week and install a motion sensor to activate the lights.

bummer
I have had 0 issues in 1.5 years
the garage door wall button is the motion sensor on mine and of course it goes on when you open the garage door

 

[Glemon]

I had a great motion sensor on my garage 30 years ago, more recent purchases are less satisfactory, and I have had to return a few the were either too sensitive to movement, or not sensitive enough.

I do have one in may garage to turn on lights when you walk in or drive in, works great, shuts off the lights in a few minutes.

 

[Overboost]

You could also look into a Wifi controlled switch or outlet. The more common brands, like Leviton or TP-Link incorporate a number of features for home/away, or sunrise/sunset scheduling. Plus, you'd have the phone app to turn them on or off as you need. You could go one step further with an IFTTT routine to control them with a wider array of inputs, if needed.

 

[Shiftless]

I've just got a light with a photocell. Runs dusk to dawn. No extra BS.

15w bulb costs about $5 to run the whole year.

I’m with Bert on that.
I know you say your neighbors‘ lights annoy you but that’s probably because they use floodlights mounted high aimed outward from the house. The better option is to have fixtures where the bulb is not seen but just the pool of light is seen. Nothing shining directly into the neighbors. This requires multiple relatively low lumen output fixtures mounted low.

I live on less than 1/4 acre in town and have 8 LED low voltage fixtures that run all night. Total watts is about 20

 

[adsinnott1]

Replace light fixture that is currently there with a nice outdoor fixture. Replace the current switch with a Lutron Casseta. Purchase 2 Pico remotes (1 for each car).

 

[penright]

This may be more work than you want, what you are asking for is a smart home. Also, there will be a learning curve.

There are a lot out there and some have already been mention. Let me throw one more out there. https://www.home-assistant.io/
The cool thing about Home Assistant (HA) is it will integrate with a lot of different smart home devices already in existence.