Some conventional outdoor lights have sensors to implement motion detection or dusk-to-dawn lighting operation, for example. However, such outdoor lights either provide limited functionality, or are difficult to operate as desired. Because the controls of conventional outdoor lights are located with the outdoor light itself, adjusting a feature or function of the light can be difficult. When it is difficult to change a feature or function of a light, the light is often operated without the appropriate or desirable settings. For example, a motion detector associated with an outdoor light may have to be set to detect motion in certain locations. Because outdoor lights are often used as security lights, it is important that the lights operate as intended in order to provide the desired security feature.
Because a light having a dusk-to-dawn feature must switch at some level of light which is greater than complete darkness in order to compensate for natural lighting occurrences such as moonlight, outdoor lights implementing dusk-to-dawn features must inherently be turned on when it is light out. Further, because an outdoor light implementing a dusk-to-dawn feature may operate for an extended period of time, it may be beneficial to limit the amount of time that the light is on. That is, conventional outdoor lights having dusk-to-dawn features may operate during a fixed time period based upon the sensitivity of a sensor. As a result, the outdoor light may operate during times which may not be beneficial.
As the number of people using outdoor lights for either aesthetic or security purposes increases, and those people rely on sensors to automatically turn on and off the outdoor lights, it is important that the outdoor light sensors operate as desired. Efficiently operating an outdoor light is important to reducing energy consumption. Such a reduction in energy consumption is not only beneficial to individuals from a cost standpoint, but also reduces the environmental impact of energy production and consumption required by the light. Without an effective user interface for an outdoor light for example, the light may be on significantly longer than necessary, which will not only waste energy, but in many cases increase pollution through unnecessary energy consumption and discarded light bulbs. Any reduction in energy consumption and the pollution which could be achieved by improved control of outdoor lights would have a compounding effect if implemented on a large scale.
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