On Sep 8, 12:44*pm, Smitty Two wrote:
In article
,

*DerbyDad03 wrote:

"You could use an emitter / detector across the path"

Did you miss the part where I said:

"...mounting a separate sensor someplace else and running wires back
to the fixture would be a pain. I'd really prefer something built
into the fixture..."

By cracky, I guess I did miss that part. I think by the time I got to
the 7th paragraph I figured I had the gist of it. Besides, I was eager
to make my detour sign suggestion. Seriously though, no respectable
landscape designer would put in an arrow-straight 40' path to the front
door these days. Take the opportunity to move the beginning of the path
over 10-15' feet, and put a couple of graceful curves in it. Put
landscape (plants and/or hardscape) features appropriately so the path
is forced to wind to go around them. Then you'll have your motion
sensing capability.

One way or the other, you (or your dad) might end up doing more work
than you want to. You could go wireless on the emitter / detector, but
it's still going to involve additional fiddling around. You also
mentioned cars triggering the light; I think that's going to be a major
annoyance to residents and visitors alike. (I hate it when I'm strolling
down a public sidewalk after supper and security lights start blinding
me.)

"Seriously though, no respectable landscape designer would put in
an arrow-straight 40' path to the front door these days."

I guess it all depends on the layout of the lot and dwelling, doesn't
it?

Take a look at the L shape shown he

http://gamecore3d.com/docs/sites/def...s%20Shapes.jpg

It's a bit out of scale, but the lower 2 (horizontal) squares are the
back apartment and top 2 (vertical) squares are the front apartment.
My Mom and Dad live in the back, my sister lives in front.

The area in blue to the right of the front apartment is the lawn,
driveway and walkway to front door of Dad's apartment.

"Take the opportunity to move the beginning of the path over
10-15' feet"

As per the picture, there's really only one way to move it and that
would be into the middle of the driveway.

Now, you may ask "Well, doesn't the light come on when you pull in the
driveway?" Yes, it does, but here's some more info:

Dad also owns the house next door to his, basically where the J shape
is in the picture. That house has a garage, so he parks there most
nights, especially in the winter. Therefore, he approaches his house
by walking down the sidewalk, across the front apartment, and turns
right onto his walkway, which leads him straight towards the front
door. I guess he could keep walking past his driveway and then cut
back across it to approach the front door at an angle, but that's just
a tad inconvenient, don't you think?

"You also mentioned cars triggering the light"

I only mentioned that to bolster the fact that the sensor works as
described in the literature and that the problem is the "straight on"
approach. I already lowered the sensitivity to shorten the range so it
doesn't reach the street, but that doesn't solve the problem of the
light not turning on until you are at the stoop.