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Old August 9, 2009, 11:26 AM   #1
SKILCZ
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Night light question

A friend moved to a new house recently & his bedroom is down a long hall. His wife likes a night light to see when she gets up to go to the bathroom at night. His question for me was where to put the night light. He was debating between

A) In his room (which would front light any intruder coming down the hall for positive ID, but might light the room enough to give away concealment of the home owner)
B) Down the hall (which would back light any intruder coming down the hall and possibly affect the intruder's night vision as he'd be coming out of a lit area into a dark area, but might make a positive ID more difficult with a back lit silhouette)

Where would you tell him to put it? Is it better to front light the intruder while potentially lighting up your room for him to see, or is it better to back light the intruder while potentially having a harder time positively IDing his silhouette?

Obviously, I told him to get a good flashlight for IDing and blinding intruders, but the night light question still stands.

Thanks for any help in advance.
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Old August 9, 2009, 02:27 PM   #2
raimius
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I would say put it in the hallway.
He can get a manual light for IDing the person. That way, he will not be lit by the nightlight, and when he uses the flashlight, the other person will only see a light source in the dark. (Deer in the headlights, hopefully.)
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Old August 9, 2009, 02:58 PM   #3
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With all due respect, he needs to put the night light where it will do the most good for his wife. The likelihood of his wife needing to get up in the middle of the night seems to be fairly high. I am 52 and diabetic. Sleeping through the night is becoming a fond memory of my younger days. But anyway, the likelihood of an intruder breaking into his house in the middle of the night is (hopefully) extremely remote. Any security plan needs to take into account that you have to actually live in the house.

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Old August 9, 2009, 08:06 PM   #4
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In that situation, . . . I would install a receptacle somewhere to the left or right of the door (over the door would be perfect), . . . and get one of these fairly high output new flourescent night lights.

It would give good light down to the bathroom, once one got to the door, . . . would light up the front of anyone using the hallway, . . . and leave the bed room darker.

I have several of these HO night lights strategically placed in our house, . . . and I can see most anything I need to see before I allow myself to come into the light where the bg could see me.

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Old August 9, 2009, 08:33 PM   #5
jrothWA
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Put the hite lites,....

to eliminate dark spots in the house.
I use the old circular neon types.
one is the laundry room ciming in from garage, base of step lighting the entery foyer and stairs.

Bathroom, for obvious reasons.

You know where they are place and if that area is dark then avoid going there.
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Old August 9, 2009, 09:36 PM   #6
m&p45acp10+1
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I just use a black light. Not so blinding and gives good ilumination with out compomising night vision.
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Old August 9, 2009, 11:31 PM   #7
raimius
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Good point, scottaschultz! I was assuming there would be sufficient lighting for the wife in both cases.
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Old August 9, 2009, 11:58 PM   #8
5whiskey
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I agree with scott. I went nuts with my HD/SD plans a few months ago. Of course, I was in a situation where I felt as though a group of individuals may single me out and target me no matter the cost. I think I over-estimated the risk, and I've realized that I went over-board. Making plans for HD is fine. You need to be prepared. Over-thinking a night light to get to the bathroom MIGHT be a bit much. With that said, if you want the best of both worlds, disrupting someones night vision and backlighting them is ALWAYS more effective than frontlighting them... unless the front light has the ability to be aimed in the eyes and blind them.
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Old August 10, 2009, 12:08 AM   #9
Old Grump
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Plug into receptacle with a motion detector. The light is on the ground where you need it and it is only on when you need it. 3 old diabetics in our house to and we don't need to be stumbling and crashing into things. We don't heal bruises as quickly as we used to and it is harder to get up than it used to be. If an intruder trips the light he is back lighted for your benefit not his.
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Old August 10, 2009, 12:17 AM   #10
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Put the night light in the bathroom, use a low light red filter, does not affect nightvision and provides enough lite to find the bathroom (I thought that was the point). Keep a flash light by the bed stand (6 battery job) for any ID's that need to be made.
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Old August 20, 2009, 05:02 PM   #11
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I agree with OldGrump. If the motion detector sets the light off and his wife is still in bed it's fair warning. Provided there's no cats or dogs...No Motion detectors for me.
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Old August 20, 2009, 06:11 PM   #12
Lee Lapin
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Night lights can be had in various colors of illumination, as well as various intensities. I would not put a night light in the bedroom where I planned to bunker down in the event of uninvited visitors, the hall is a better location IMHO. Since there is some history of BGs pulling the power and cutting phone lines to houses they had targeted, I'd prefer to have one of the 'power failure' type night lights, that illumnates in the event of a power failure also.

Any necessary target ID needs to be done with a hand held flashlight or a weapon mounted light from the front. Contrary to frequently stated opinion, it is NOT necessary to aim a weapon directly at a potential target to illuminate said target with its weapon mounted light. There is enough peripheral light to allow target ID without direct illumination/aiming the weapon directly at the target.

JMHO, YMMV,

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Old August 20, 2009, 06:26 PM   #13
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I had the same problem.I put the light in the bathroon so she could see to go.
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Old August 20, 2009, 06:55 PM   #14
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Both.

Plus one in the bathroom.

A little low level lighting throughout the house equalizes the environment -- and prevents stubbed toes.

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