Along with Halloween, DST ends this weekend — is your outdoor lighting timer worthy?
November 1st marks the official start of Daylight Saving Time (DST) where we shoot our clocks back one hour to adjust for the earlier onset of nightfall. You can look to the Germans for the invention of Daylight Savings Time, as it was concocted to save fuel reserves during WWI. Soon after, the whole world jumped on the energy-saving bandwagon to conserve energy.
Daylight hours shortening and increasing causes a bit of a dilemma for those of us with lighting on timers, whether indoors or outdoors. Landscape light in particular is affected because it means that earlier darkness means coming home to a spooky dark property and home. Children arriving from school in the late afternoon, and parents getting home from work have to navigate a pitch black driveway and walk to the front door. To combat the problem, you need to alter the timing of your timer every few months to adapt to the changing of seasonal time. Boy, ain’t it a pain?! You’ve got to hope you find the manual to your timer and then fiddle around with a series of pins, buttons or dials depending on what type of timer you own. It’s annoying and a nuisance to say the least.
One of our LCA timers.
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Clearwater & Tampa Bay can solve this ongoing nightmare for you with one of our Astronomical or Lighting Control Automation (LCA) timers. These nifty devices are super smart as they are able to automatically change themselves to accommodate the changes in time. Best of all they are easy to use, and you set them once and can practically forget about them.
Astronomical timers utilize GPS via satellite to pinpoint where your home is so it knows via a schedule what hours it needs to turn your outdoor illumination system on with zero programming on your part. Just tell it where you live and that’s it! LCA timers have all the simple automatic features of an astronomical timer, but it’s the next step up in terms of being able to also control your indoor lighting too. There’s a bit more flexibility to regulate goodies like your appliances, HVAC system and even your TV all through your computer or even a mobile device. You can set things to turn on and off at various times so it always appears that someone is home. It’s the perfect set up if you have a vacation home, as it deters thieves who would otherwise think your home is unoccupied and an easy target. Having lights indoors and out turn on at random times makes your home seem lived in and gives you extra security. Best of all, you don’t even have to be home to control any of these facets that a LCA timer offers.
End the frustration of keeping up with seasonal time changes at your home and property. Let our intelligent timers take all the work and hassle away so your outdoor lighting system is always functioning and doing what it should be at the right times. These timers also include the benefit of a battery backup should the power go out temporarily, and all your settings will be retained within the device. Since astronomical and LCA timers adjust to when light is most needed, they are a great cost savings as you are not wasting electricity lighting your property when it’s not necessary. It’s a plus for your pocketbook and it’s good for the environment.
The Daylight Saving Time shift may add hours of darkness to our evenings, but it doesn’t have to add hours of darkness to our properties. If you are tired of attempting to reset your outdoor lighting timer, call or email Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Clearwater & Tampa Bay today. We’re sure we can find the right timer solution for your outdoor lighting system.
Robert van der Putten, Owner
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Clearwater & Tampa Bay
727-785-6000 or 813-237-0340
olpclearwater@outdoorlights.com