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Burglary protection through lighting

Burglary protection and light are closely related. Although many thefts are also committed during the day, the majority still occur under the cover of night. When the sun has set, thieves feel particularly at home and go about their sinister machinations unnoticed. There are a few simple tips and tricks you can use to deter crooks from approaching your belongings with lighting. Especially in the case of offices or other working environments, it's the little things that can make a big difference. In this blog entry, we will prepare you and explain how you need to proceed against burglaries when planning your lighting. 

 

Table of contents

 

Office at night: Burglary protection through lighting



The most important facts at a glance:


  • Lighting plays an important role in burglary protection
  • Watch out for irregular lighting indoors
  • Illuminate niches and hiding places in outdoor areas
  • LED floodlights, LED wall and ceiling lights and smart lighting are essential



Burglary protection: Light takes on an important function

 

When we think of burglary protection, we usually first think of alarm systems. These are undoubtedly sensible and efficient, but also very expensive. You can also create a lot of security with the right lighting, because:

Dark alley: Lighting against Burglars

60 % of all burglaries take place at dusk between 9 pm and 6 am. Two times more crimes are committed in the dark season than in summer. Especially the protection of darkness plays into the burglars' hands: they can get into offices or company facilities unseen. Surveillance of an environment also works much better when a dark hiding place is available. Efficient lighting with sensors, for example, can deprive thieves of an important foundation: A well-lit environment is much more difficult to rob than one that lingers in the shadows of the night. If you now think of such lighting as being associated with high energy costs, you will be surprised how efficient modern LEDs are - especially in direct comparison with ordinary bulbs.

LED lighting is the best option for burglary prevention. In contrast to conventional halogen bulbs, which used to be popular for effective burglary protection, LED bulbs consume up to 90 % less electricity - while maintaining the same brightness. This way, you not only save a lot of energy costs, but also do your part for a more sustainable future: bulbs with LED technology do not contain any toxic ingredients and can be recycled. Therefore, you should always take them to a recycling centre. Due to their modern design, they are also much longer-lasting than conventional bulbs and therefore need to be replaced or maintained less often. Especially for fixtures that have to be installed in complicated places, this is a real plus! You can find all other relevant information about LED on our page: Switch to LED.

 

Suitable lighting for burglary protection

 

 

 

 

Using light against burglars: What you should bear in mind

 

Of course, you can't just install a few LED fixtures on your property and in your office, illuminate doors and entrances and expect that to provide protection against burglars. The thieves are analytical and usually observe you and the surroundings for a certain period of time before they strike. This happens to a large extent when no people are present in the premises. So if you want to suggest that the office space is not lonely and deserted, you need to devise a sophisticated lighting concept.

This means: create an opaque and seemingly arbitrary lighting plan. If the same lights are left on in the office every evening, it is quickly apparent to the burglar that it is the work of a timer and that the premises are unoccupied. If, on the other hand, lights are switched off more often and others go on, the impression is given that people are moving around in the office. The more sophisticated the concept, the more security is generated by such a lighting plan.

Smart Lighting in particular can help you with this. These are lighting products such as lamps or fixtures that you can control directly via app or voice command. In this way, you can easily create lighting concepts and schedules and do not have to work with impractical timers.

If you already have existing bulbs that you would like to continue using, you will also find smart plugs in this category that you can connect between the bulbs and the socket. In turn, you can control these via app and control the respective bulb. In this way, a conventional bulb is equipped with various Smart Home functions.

 

Burglary protection through lighting: Positioning light correctly

 

Of course, it is not only lighting of the respective interior spaces that is important. Outdoor areas can provide burglars with the protection they need to get inside offices, warehouses or other working environments in the first place. The right lighting makes this task much more difficult and unattractive for crooks. Therefore, you should definitely put your focus on doors and other access points to the interior. Also be sure to look out for windows that could provide an entry point. In any case, light these places sufficiently. 

 

Lighting with sensors is efficient and saves energy costs

 

Of course, you have the option of leaving your outdoor lighting on all night. However, this can drive up electricity costs quite a bit. That's why we always recommend that you opt for LEDs. Compared to ordinary bulbs, you can save up to 90 % on energy costs with modern bulbs.

If you want to be more comfortable, fixtures with a brightness sensor are also suitable. They are activated when the light level in your surroundings falls below a certain lux level: So they activate when it gets dark. Such fixtures are particularly suitable for illuminating facades and walls. 

Another option is offered by fixtures with motion detectors. These can increase the efficiency of your lighting even further. The light only comes on when something moves in the surroundings. This not only reduces the burden on your electricity bill, but also on neighbours who might feel disturbed by the constant lighting at night. Such challenges should always be taken into account in your lighting design. Especially with these fixtures, correct installation is crucial.  

 

How should you position the lamps and fixtures?

 

The correct placement and orientation of your bulbs also plays an important role in burglary prevention. As a rule, you should always choose your lighting so that you specifically illuminate dark corners and angles that could serve as a possible hiding place. This could be, for example, a bush that stands in front of the office. To find out where such places can be found on your premises, you should put yourself in the burglar's shoes. Ask yourself where you would seek shelter or from which direction you would enter your office. Memorise these locations and illuminate them with your sensor lights. Then do a test round at night and check whether all nooks and crannies are really covered by the light.

By the way: If you want to increase the efficiency of your lighting even more, you can also use LED Solar Lights. These are not connected to the mains and draw their energy solely from your batteries, which are charged by the sun's rays. This means that these fixtures do not appear on your electricity bill at all.

 

What types of fixtures are suitable for burglary protection?

 

As already described in the previous chapter, sensor luminaires are particularly efficient at providing light that deters burglars. These come in different types and shapes: LED floodlights with motion detectors are particularly popular for this purpose. You can find such products in various brightness levels and with different colour temperatures on Any-Lamp. Often, you can also fine-tune the sensor on the products themselves. For example, you can set the radius and distance at which the fixture switches on when motion is detected. In many cases, you can also set the lighting duration - i.e. how long the fixture emits light after it has been activated. Before buying, it is worth clarifying which of these settings the sensor supports and thus meets your requirements.

Facade lighting as protection against burglary

The situation is similar with LED Bulkheads. These wall and ceiling luminaires are also equipped in places with motion detectors that you can individualise. However, one aspect distinguishes them from LED spotlights: they radiate their light diffusely in all directions. This means that people are less dazzled and there is particularly uniform illumination of an area. This type of safety lighting is therefore very suitable if you also use the fixtures for employees in outdoor areas for navigation and orientation. Of course, you can also use all other wall luminaires for illuminating walls or facades. Up Down wall luminaires, for example, offer you not only protection through illumination but also a particularly attractive play of light because they emit their light both upwards and downwards. 

If you decide to let the LEDs burn all night and do not attach great importance to aesthetics, you can of course also go for quite classic LED spotlights. These come in countless shapes and types, so you are guaranteed to find the right variant for your project.

No matter which fixtures or bulbs you choose: If you install outdoor lighting, you must ensure that it has a sufficient IP protection class! From IP44, the fixtures are splash-proof. From IP65, they are completely waterproof and can withstand even heavy rain showers.

 

How bright does the light for burglary protection have to be?

 

The question about the brightness of light for burglary protection is not easy to answer. If you really only want to use your lighting to deter possible intruders, you can opt for a high brightness. However, as described above, this can also disturb neighbours. So if you also use the fixtures as orientation lights or lighting for your employees, you should use sufficient but not too much brightness in outdoor areas.

It is essential to observe DIN EN 12464-2. This specifies how many lux, i.e. lumens per square metre, you need for the outdoor area of your working environment. For an ordinary path intended exclusively for pedestrians, a value of 5 lux is sufficient. The contrast between darkness and light provides enough brightness to give your employees the necessary orientation to move around the premises even in the dark.

 

 

Our fixtures for burglary protection

 

Noxion LED Floodlight Beamy V2.0 with Motion Sensor

LED Floodlight from Noxion
Paulmann LED Solar Bollard Light with Motion Sensor

Solar Bollard Light from Paulmann
Noxion LED Bulkhead Corido (Sensor Option)

LEd Bulkhead with Sensor