We have a doorway with no light around it and no outlet for a light. Are there any LED lights that we could mount and automate to turn on when the door opens? We are trying to avoid hiring an electrician for an outlet.
By the sounds of what your looking for just about any battery operated motion light should work for you. There are several sold by the big hardware stores and online like Amazon that offer this functionality. They are often sold as closet lights or battery operated under cabinet lights. I have a couple around the house for the smaller closets that don’t have lights built in to them. They work OK nothing spectacular but I didn’t buy very expensive ones either.
i use these in closets.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HO1FK52/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
There aren’t any that can be controlled from SmartThings, as the radio to talk to SmartThings uses too much battery for this kind of purpose.
But as long as you don’t require SmartThings compatibility there are many good nonnetworked battery-operated lights with motion sensors that will work well for some use cases.
And our house we use a number of the Mr. beams models because they seem to be very well engineered at a good price. But there are lots of other options as well.
Of course one of the questions is how bright does the light have to be? If it’s just for a hallway that you pass through or a closet you may be fine with a light level of 300 to 500 lm.
However, A typical individual lightbulb will normally be between 600 and 800 lm, so the battery-operated models are still limited to about half The brightness of a regular light. Bright enough to read a label by on the pantry shelf, but not as bright as a regular light.
And read the product descriptions carefully – – some battery powered lights are as dim as 10 lm if they are just intended as pathway markers.
So I don’t know of any battery operated lights, networked or not, at a reasonable price that could replace a regular 60 W equivalent lightbulb. But there are quite a few that would give you about half that much light if that meets your requirements – – they just don’t integrate with SmartThings because operating a radio as well would use up the batteries too quickly.
Me too. I have a couple of the smaller version of that light. One is rechargeable, the other isn’t. They work very well for under the sink and in closets that don’t have lights.
Thanks everyone. We may just have to hire an electrician. I’m thinking the battery lights won’t be strong enough. I really appreciate all the responses!
There are some really bright solar LED lights now, that the Solar panel has a 10-15’ cord. So you could mount the light by the door and put the solar panel out of the way on the side of the house or roof.
that may work!
Mr Beams
They have an inexpensive remote mount motion sensor that is easily modified to be triggered by a smart relay
The Mr. beams were discussed upthread already. As mentioned there, note that even their “ultrabright” is only 300 lm. A typical 60 W equivalent light is about 600 lm, so that particular ceiling model is about half as bright as a light source many people would already considered dim. It definitely still has its uses in some situations like closet light or path light, but it’s not a substitute for a regular room fixture.
My apologies I sent wrong link. Their new model is 650 lumens
do you know which model number? Also how would I modify it for a smart relay? I am very new to this but catch on quickly
I’m looking for it right now, if I can’t find it I will go pull it down from shed ceiling.
With the smart relay you basically are disconnecting the remote motion sensors pir sensor wires and replacing with the relays so that your routine or piston or whatever is creating the “motion”.
One other possible alternative, depending on exactly what you are looking at that you could do without an electrician, is a smart transformer relay going to that same light. Depending on where you doorbell is and if its powered you could even use that wire and just come off from it to hardwire a dc light in. That’s a little more involved but cheaper and faster than electrician.
Or you can just run the electric yourself. Depending on house, it’s typically very easy. Running the wires can be a pain if your basement is finished, there are multiple floors, etc. . . . If you are scare of going near the main switch box, cut another line, add a junction box, and run a new wire out of there. There might even be a junction box that you can tap into.
Excellent point, just some 14/2 6 wire nuts and 1 or 2 boxes and all set.
We can’t find a light that we like that is bright enough so I think we are hiring someone. Electric work is one thing that scares me so I’ll leave to a professional!
Thank you all!