Motion Activated Light

[Joe-K]

I recently saw one of the Mr. Beams Step lights in a motorhome and after looking at the product tried out their The Mr. Beams Ceiling Light for my home.

The ceiling light is a battery powered, motion activated LED ceiling light. It’s also a product that I can’t believe I lived without for so many years. It's 15 bucks very well spent.

Although the product can fit many RV applications such as outdoor lighting or lighting for the storage compartments, my use of the light was actually in my home. As we exit our house into the garage, it’s necessary to walk down two steps from a small landing to the garage floor. Although there are lights in the garage and light switches beside the door, there are many times I don’t want to turn on the ceiling lights and a motion activated light is the perfect solution.

The light fixture looks like a smoke detector and mounts in much the same way. A plastic mounting ring is screwed to the wall or ceiling and then the light attaches with a simple twist to the mounting plate. The plate is clearly marked with an “Up” arrow and insures when mounting the motion sensor is facing down on the light. When it comes time to replace the batteries, the same simple untwisting from the wall plate is done, and the back removed with a single screw. The 4 C batteries are easy to insert with polarity clearly marked.

The Mr. Beam light works perfect mounted on the wall by the landing. As soon as I open the door to leave the house, the light illuminates the garage very nicely. No more tripping down the stairs or stumbling over shoes my family tends to leave in the garage at the foot of the stairs. You can see the difference in the picture of the lighting with the light on and off.

The motion sensor itself if very sensitive and picks even distant motion. In my application, I chose to mount the light on the wall by my entrance door where it turns on when I exit the house. A surprise benefit is that when I enter the garage through the outside door, the light also turns on, even though that door is nearly 30 feet away. Another added feature is the light only illuminates when it is dark so that motion during the day does not cause the light to light which saves on the batteries.

I’ve only had the light installed for about a month so I can’t comment on battery life, but it does get activated dozens of times in our house with the family passing through the garage frequently and it’s going strong. I’ve already had several people ask me where I got it and want me to order a couple more for them. Definitely a “thumbs up” product.

[DriVer]

Happy New Year Joe and thanks for the post!

[NLOVNIT]

I saw Bill used your garage pic in his website's product review, too. Man, you're garage is WAY too clean!

It looks to be a much brighter light than the wimpy one we have in the wet bay. I just might have to get one.

Lori-

[AZgl1500]

I like that Joe, and thanks for reviewing it for us.
I hate adding wires to places that are impossible to get to. That thing makes it easy peezy.

[Ray,IN]

I'm leaning toward buying one of each. Perhaps a couple more of the ceiling lights for basement areas in the RV, and inside when boondocking to save house batteries. Thanks Joe! Oh, and RVupgrades for offering them. Other motion sensor lights I've seen for Rving are rather expensive.

[Ray,IN]

Joe does the step light have a manual switch to turn off? I can picture driving at night and the step light coming on every time I pass something. I'd like to mount one just above my entry steps but that might be an issue.

[NLOVNIT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray,IN Joe does the step light have a manual switch to turn off? I can picture driving at night and the step light coming on every time I pass something.

A good point, Ray. On that topic, several years ago we got RV Suresteps for our coach. They were battery operated, motion sensored lights that attached to the step front edges so when you walked up to the door, they'd come on for safety. At a campsite they were a great accessory. Unfortunately, because they didn't have an on/off switch, they'd go on/off/on/off/on when driving at night, activated by guardrails, trees, bridge supports, even a car passing on our right if we happened to be in the left lane - anything within the sensor's field of vision. They also weren't designed well & water, kicked up by the front tire, penetrated the battery compartment & ruined them. They're no longer sold...I wonder why?

Lori-

[JohnRR]

Since the step will automatically retract when the engine is running why not use the power line at the step for a power source? Or are not all steps like that?

[Ray,IN]

Trailers do not have powered steps.

[JohnRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray,IN Trailers do not have powered steps.

I'll be the first to admit I did not think of trailers when I posted

[Joe-K]

Ray,
I don't think the step light has a switch but I don't know for sure. I might email Bill and ask him to post the answer in here.

I suspect that it works like the ceiling light that I have in that it will turn on whenever it is dark and there is motion. The combination of needing darkness and motion is actually a really nice feature and isn't in all motion activated lights. In our case, we're constantly going in and out of the house throught the garage. Everytime the dog wants out or kids in and out for any reason, the garage is our path. Since the light only comes on with the motion during the dark, it works out very well.

After seeing the quality of this light, I'm going to add a couple more to the rig and house. I'll probably put the smaller step light in the bathroom for a slightly dimmer light for night time trips.

[Warpath]

To answer the question about an on/off switch, no none of the Mr Beam products have them.

I installed one on the steps of my Vectra and put it just below the step cover, this way if it did come on I would not see it. It worked perfectly. I now have it on my Cambria and since the steps are behind me I do not notice it if it is activated.

Here is the Vectra Install, with this position it shead light on the outside steps as well as the upper steps, although the photo doesn't really show it.