By By Ron Goldsmith
I guess I’m not saying anything that you do not already know here.
Light timers have been pretty commonplace for a number of years now so you are likely to have them in use, you do don’t you?
If you don’t, using them really is something you might want to seriously consider. When used correctly they really can play a part in keeping the burglar out of your home.
Each time that me and mine venture out in the evening times we make sure that all our light timers are set. It is a comforting feeling to know that our home gives the impression of being occupied, even though we are not there. Of course, we do not leave our home as often as we did when we were youngsters, particularly on long winter evenings.
Fact is, however, it just takes the one time for something to happen and we could return to find we have been visited in our absence. Not a nice thing to arrive home to.
Yes, I hear you if you are saying an effective intruder alarm is a better deterrent, yes sir it is! So too are strong and effective locks, provided they are used of course.
The thing is, timer switches can be used in addition to any other security measures your home may have. To a point, anything extra that you have increases your security.
Nothing but the porch light on. Is this telling the burglar that there is no one home? If you don’t have any security measures, then you should and timers are not a bad place to start, even if they are not the latest and greatest protection for your home.
If you have not looked at time switches lately you will find that that there are more choices available these days.
Still available are the plain vanilla standard kind, set one time for the light or appliance to turn on, set another for it to turn off.
Then you have the kind with multiple settings; you know how it goes, set to turn on, then off then on again.
These babies are good for bathrooms; any time folks are home the bathroom light will be on and off several times during the course of an evening, it would be an unusual home if it is not like that.
What you may not know about are the random light timers
These devices are pitch perfect for those times when your home is empty for a number of evenings at a stretch when you are on vacation for instance.
When set-up, these switches will operate at various times on different days.
If a thief is keeping watch on your home and he sees lights come and go off at the exact same times each evening, it is going to confirm to him that you are using timers.
If he sees lights operating at random times each evening, he may still suspect timer switches but the doubt will be there and the probability is he will leave your home alone.
No matter what kind of light timers you use, don’t go forgetting to draw your drapes.
If the would-be burglar can see into the room and sees the light come on or go out, but there is nobody in the room, it does sort of give the game away.