MOTION-SENSING SPOTLIGHT

Motion-Sensing Spotlight, retail $39.99 (www.mrbeams.com...)
Manufactured by Mr. Beams™ (www.mrbeams.com)
Last updated 04-29-08




The Motion-Sensing Spotlight is...what else...a motion-sensing spotlight.
It comes in an all-plastic body (made from shatterproof, UV-resistant ABS), uses a high-powered warm white LED at the bottom of a mirror-smooth reflector, and it uses three D cells to power that LED with.

What makes this different from other LED spotlights are five (5) significant things:
  1. It uses a warm white LED, not a standard (cool white) one.
  2. The beam is very smooth & wide because of how the LED is positioned with regards to the reflector.
  3. It senses motion, so it only comes on when motion is detected, and turns itself off shortly thereafter.
  4. It only "triggers" at night; a photoelectric switch keeps it off during daylight hours.
  5. It is fully self-contained and battery operated.
When you first fire it up, you might mistake it for an incandescent, but I can assure you with absolute, positive, 100% certainty that it is LED. No really, it is!!!

***VERY IMPORTANT!!!***
This product will not become available until 05-12-08.


SIZE



Feed the Motion-Sensing Spotlight three D cells first, and then you can take out the garbage in the dark or park the car in your driveway at night with your headlights off. *

If the wall you intend to affix the Motion-Sensing Spotlight to is wood, start by drilling "pilot" holes with a 1/8" drill bit, positioned exactly 2.125" (2 1/8" or 5.40cm) apart. Drive the included screws into these holes with a medium phillips screwdriver or a drill equipped with a medium phillips bit, and screw them in until the bottoms of their heads protrude from the wall 1/8th of an inch - this is to allow the keyhole openings on the base of the unit to function properly.

If the wall is made from drywall (gypsum board), drill the "pilot" holes with a 3/16" drill bit first, insert the included drywall anchors into the holes, then proceed as shown above.

Hang the unit by gently pressing the base of the unit onto the screw heads, orienting it so that the screw heads go into the holes on the Motion-Sensing Spotlight's base plate, and lower it approximately 1/5th of an inch until it stops.

If you wish to have a more permanent installation, unscrew the lowermost thumbscrew until the base can be seperated from the rest of the light (while the unit is mounted to the wall), drive that third screw (the longer one of the three) through the hole in the center of the base, place the bulk of the light back over the base, and tighten that thumbscrew.


There are no switches to fuss with or forget; once batteries are loaded, operation of the Motion-Sensing Spotlight is ***TOTALLY*** automatic.
To borrow a phrase from a popular infomercial, you just "set it and forget it" - it's easier than that though, as you don't have to actually "SET" anything. It "arms" itself when it becomes dark, comes on when motion is detected (and stays on for 30 or 120 seconds; please see below), then automatically turns itself off. And when it starts to get light, the unit will automatically not "trigger" when motion is detected.

This light also has two intensity settings; set by a small switch inside the unit - again, please see below for how this works.

Once the spotlight is mounted, you can adjust where its beam is directed (aimed) by loosening the thumbscrews, adjusting the illuminator head's position to where you want, and tightening the thumbscrews. Tighten these screws finger-tight only; please do not overtighten them - and for heaven sakes, please do not use a crescent wrench or other tools on the thumbscrews.

The base is adjustable in just six increments (in the X-axis); you'll want to position the two outside mounting screw holes accordingly so that the illuminator head faces exactly where you want it. However, the illuminator head adjustment assembly (adjusts the illuminator head in the Y-axis) has a much finer detent, so it can be positioned with far greater accuracy.



To change the batteries, turn the bezel (the very front end of the illuminator head) approximately 1/30th of a turn counterclockwise (as though loosening it) until it stops, then pull the "guts" straight out of the outer shell (it will be heavier than you might expect; please excersize caution when doing this when the light is mounted high up).



Press that tab you see at the top of this photograph until it clicks and the battery lid pops off. Gently place the lid in the driveway, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy for their insect tummies and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the three used D cells out of the light and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Insert three new D cells into the light's body, orienting two of them so that their flat ends (-) negatives face the springs for them in the compartments, and place the third D cell in the remaining compartment so that it's button-end (+) positive goes down.

Place the lid back on, fitting the two tits on it into the two openings for them at the upper edge of the open end of the light's body, and swing it down until it snaps closed.

Place the light's body back into the shell, orienting it so that the arrow symbol on it aligns with the arrow symbol on the shell, and (while pushing in on it gently but firmly) turn it clockwise (as though tightening it) approximately 1/30th of a turn until it stops and the "lock" symbol on the illuminator head is aligned with the arrow on the shell - the illuminator assembly and shell should now be securely joined. Press & turn clockwise a bit more vigorously to get it to turn that last little bit if necessary.

This procedure is signicantly easier to actually do than it sounds by reading about it.

Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery lid into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?


Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.



The Motion Sensing Spotlight was meant to be hung up somewhere and not {vulgar term for having had intercourse} with, not a flashlight meant to be thrashed, trashed, and abused. So I won't throw it against the wall, stomp on it, try to drown it in the {vulgar term for feces}bowl or the cistern, run over it, swing it against the concrete floor of a patio, use a large claw hammer to bash it open in order to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout (located at Piņata Central), a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or a pack-of-cards-sized instrument that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannoņata (also located at Piņata Central) is only used to shoot piņatas to piņata parties away from picturesque Piņata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or inflict upon it punishments that a flashlight may have inflicted upon it.

So this section of the Motion Sensing Spotlight's web page may appear more bare than this section of the web page on a web page about a flashlight that was born to be a flashlight and nothing but a flashlight.

It does appear to be at least reasonably durable; you'd really have to open up a can of Whoop Ass on it to cause any significant damage to it. Dropping it, fully loaded (with batteries) from the top of a ladder might do the trick though.
This is due in great majority to the mass & weight of those D cells though, and does not indicate any fault with the light whatsoever.

The Motion-Sensing Spotlight is weather-resistant to the degree that it can be used outdoors. A red O-ring is visible on the inner edge of the bezel; this should mate with the outer shell when the product is assembled properly to help ensure that this is the case.


This is a photograph of the area inside where the timer and intensity switches are.

The intensity switch allows you to set the light output from maximum to a little dimmer (~48Kmcd and ~36Kmcd) - the dimmer setting is advertised in the instructional materials as being there to extend battery life.
The "on time" switch allows you to select an "on time" (the duration of time the light stays on after it last detects motion) of 30 seconds (half a minute) or 120 seconds (two minutes).

The intensity switch is the innermost one, and the "on time" switch is the outermost one.

I do not have a place to affix this light to (the apartment lease states that nothing can be screwed into walls any larger than picture-hanging nails), so I cannot show you (with pictures) how it might be used like this.

In the short time I've had it, this product rocks, and I do not forsee awarding it any less than 4.5 stars - possibly even five full stars and a place in The Trophy Case on this website!!!
It's maximum candiosity** (pronounced "")...er...uh...INTENSITY appears as such that it will do the job it is intended to.



Beam photograph on the test target at 12".
Photograph was not cropped, so that you could see more of the beam.
Measures 36,200mcd (low) and 47,600mcd (high) on a Meterman LM631 light meter.

This is a very wide-angle lamp, and if I've told you once, I've told you 1,000,000,000 times:
Wider viewing angles always, always, ALWAYS equal lower mcd values!!!

That shadowy triangular thing near the top of this photograph is a plastic bag, and is not part of the beam itself.



Beam photograph on a wall at ~10 feet.

Those rectangular graphic things in the upper left quadrant of this photograph are marquees from:

Atari ''Tempest''
Nintendo ''R-Type''
Super Tiger...er...uh...Konami ''Super Cobra''
Midway ''Omega Race''
Sega ''Star Trek''
Williams ''Joust''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Universal ''Mr. Do!'s Castle''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Gottlieb ''Q*bert''

upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.

That graphic toward the right is:
A "BIG SCARY LASER" poster sent by www.megagreen.co.uk

Below the "Big Scary Laser" poster is a calendar my sister gave me.

That clock to the right of the "Big Scary Laser" poster is an Infinity Optics Clock.

And those very faint green spots (if you can even detect them) are from a Laser Stars unit.



Photograph of the beam on a ceiling; light was intentionally directed to the left to show the beam edge.



Beam photograph of a living room illuminated solely by this spotlight.
The light was placed approximately 15 feet away from the TV set in this photograph; it was placed on the back of the couch.
There are vertical shades covering that window to the right; this ensures darkness is near-total.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this spotlight.
Note that this is a *WARM WHITE* LED; it isn't cool white as I was expecting.
USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.


ProMetric analysis
Beam cross-sectional analysis.
Image made using the ProMetric System by Radiant Imaging.



** The term "candiosity" (pronounced "") refers to a piņata's
level of candy fill; it is also the title of a Viva Piņata episode.





TEST NOTES:
Spotlight and Stair Light were sent by A.F. of Mr. Beams™ on 04-22-08, and were received at 5:29pm PDT on 04-25-08.

Product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.

*You should *NEVER* attempt to drive your automobile into the driveway at night with your headlights off, even with one or more spotlights directed at your driveway.


UPDATE: 00-00-00



PROS:
Warm colored light
Has reasonable intensity considering that it is fully self-contained
Motion switch really does the job
Batteries it needs are extremely common and relatively inexpen$ive


CONS:
None that I have yet to find


    MANUFACTURER: Mr. Beams™
    PRODUCT TYPE: Motion-actuated security light
    LAMP TYPE: Warm white power LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: Medium flood with sharp perimeter
    SWITCH TYPE: Automatic day/night/motion sensitive
    CASE MATERIAL: ABS plastic
    BEZEL: Plastic; LED protected by small transparent window
    BATTERY: 3xD cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Yes (weather-resistant at minimum)
    SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
    ACCESSORIES: 3 screws, 2 anchors
    WARRANTY: Yes, but duration not stated; 30 day return policy

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





Motion-Sensing Spotlight * www.mrbeams.com...






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