Hallway night lights

[sloav]

I was wondering has anyone automated inwall "night lights"? I'm doing an addition with about a 20ft hallway, and I was looking into permanent wall night lights, but wanted to see which ones people were using. I have no drywall up, and still haven't done my electrical inspection, so my options are open. I also have 3 steps going up around halfway in the hallway. Would it look too comercial if I put lights in the stairs as well? I'd most likely put a motion sensor at each side of the hallway to turn them on, or if I could set a "night" sensor for them to turn on that would probably work as well. Thanks everyone.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Not automated, but FYI, I just recently added two of these night lights incorporated into outlets and I'm happy with them.

 

[sloav]

Thanks BSR, how well does the sensor work on them? Or are they light and not motion sensitive?

 

[michelkenny]

I have ones similar to the above (although Leviton) and they work well. They are ambient light based. Only wish would be if you could adjust the night light brightness in full darkness for use in a room.

 

[ano]

I have not automated night lights, but my house has many niches where you can place art, so I have automated those.  The one thing I will pass along is that if you are planing to automate nightlights like these with motion sensors going through a panel, then a lighting technology like UPB, there is some delay which might take longer than you expect.  What I had to do is anticipate a path and light all the possible values BEFORE you get there. It works well. But its wrong more than its right, and I can live with that.

 

[Desert_AIP]

I use these

 

[Neurorad]

I also happen to be shopping for path lights, to light stairway steps at night.

If I had outlets in the stairway, I'd try the combo devices mentioned above. I think you should buy one to try out now, before committing.

I have existing louvered incandescent fixtures in the stairwell drywall. They're called step lights, but are used for all pathway lighting. Hard to find ones that aren't too bright - can't really assess brightness from a web page, for LEDs. Most manufacturers don't provide lumens.

 

[tmbrown97]

I also put in those half-outlet/half LED lights - Mine are Leviton as well; they're LED and they get brighter as the room gets darker - but they're never really bright - just enough to see where you're going.  Note - they also make those in a full single gang with no outlet if you like that better.
 
In a previous house I had the louvered openings in the stairwells - for some reason it blew through those night-light bulbs every 3 months or so, so I finally bought some 3W LED night lights - they were so sensitive you could seem them glowing even when the mechanical switch was off (no way for them to have a hot connection). They were perfect for that application and low enough wattage to just always have them on at night.

 

[sic0048]

My parents have these stairway lights in their home.  They are very unobtrusive and also light the stairs very effectively - I bet they would look OK in a hall as well.  With the right bulb technology, I bet you could dim the lights as well.  
 

 

 

[Neurorad]

Brian, those are very similar to the lights I'm replacing, with the louvered face.  Problem is, when you're at the bottom of the stairs, the louvers don't function - very bright light shining in your eyes.  I'll probably end up with step lights that have lenses.
 

 

[apostolakisl]

I put path lights on my stairs.  They are solid wood treads and I routed out a groove on the bottom of the tread where it sits proud of the riser (before it was installed).  The groove runs backwards where it runs over the top of a hole in the subfloor part of the step and the wire comes out under the stairs.  I used 12vdc led lights then mounted under the tread in that groove.  It is completely invisible during the day.  The wires are LV so not much issues with code.  They all come together and enter a split HV/LV box on the LV sidein a closet.  I have an Insteon lamplinc with a 12v transformer plugged into it which then wires to the stairs.  The lamplinc is programmed to turn on at dusk and off at dawn using my ISY.  You could also use motion detectors to turn them on or whatever.
 
I considered doing something similar in the base molding along paths I would walk at night, but it was just one too many projects while the house was being built.  I was considering drilling a hole just big enough for an led bulb to poke its head just flush with the surface.  Put one of those every couple feet and run the LV wires like I did for the stairs.  The nice thing with this is it would be almost invisible during the day.  Plus it is very cheap.  I used 12v LED bulbs that are intended for "mood" lighting on cars and other 12v stuff.  They can be had on ebay.  I have had one bulb fail but it is pretty simple to pull out and replace.

 

[tmbrown97]

I put path lights on my stairs.  They are solid wood treads and I routed out a groove on the bottom of the tread where it sits proud of the riser (before it was installed).  The groove runs backwards where it runs over the top of a hole in the subfloor part of the step and the wire comes out under the stairs.  I used 12vdc led lights then mounted under the tread in that groove.  It is completely invisible during the day.  The wires are LV so not much issues with code.  They all come together and enter a split HV/LV box on the LV sidein a closet.  I have an Insteon lamplinc with a 12v transformer plugged into it which then wires to the stairs.  The lamplinc is programmed to turn on at dusk and off at dawn using my ISY.  You could also use motion detectors to turn them on or whatever.

That's awesome - I've wanted to do this exact same thing!  Or on carpeted stairs, carve a groove in the moulding that goes up the side and lay a solid LED strip with an opaque "lens" fitted over the top to make it basically invisible in white-painted moulding.

 

[Big517]

Or skip the groove part and tac a piece of molding above the strip that protrudes out enough to block the strip from view. That will also direct the light only to the stairs and keep the strip out of sight.
I plan to do that to my crown molding and the trim below the strip will direct the light up while hiding the led strip

 

[gatchel]

That's awesome - I've wanted to do this exact same thing!  Or on carpeted stairs, carve a groove in the moulding that goes up the side and lay a solid LED strip with an opaque "lens" fitted over the top to make it basically invisible in white-painted moulding.

 I too have used the LED strip lights to do this sort of thing. Mainly in closets but a nicely engineered piece of trim does/would hide them and look very clean.

 

[sloav]

 I too have used the LED strip lights to do this sort of thing. Mainly in closets but a nicely engineered piece of trim does/would hide them and look very clean.

Getchel - Do you have any photos of this, sounds interesting?

I put path lights on my stairs.  They are solid wood treads and I routed out a groove on the bottom of the tread where it sits proud of the riser (before it was installed).  The groove runs backwards where it runs over the top of a hole in the subfloor part of the step and the wire comes out under the stairs.  I used 12vdc led lights then mounted under the tread in that groove.  It is completely invisible during the day.  The wires are LV so not much issues with code.  They all come together and enter a split HV/LV box on the LV sidein a closet.  I have an Insteon lamplinc with a 12v transformer plugged into it which then wires to the stairs.  The lamplinc is programmed to turn on at dusk and off at dawn using my ISY.  You could also use motion detectors to turn them on or whatever.

Lou - That sounds great, do you have any photos of them?

> 

I have not automated night lights, but my house has many niches where you can place art, so I have automated those.  The one thing I will pass along is that if you are planing to automate nightlights like these with motion sensors going through a panel, then a lighting technology like UPB, there is some delay which might take longer than you expect.  What I had to do is anticipate a path and light all the possible values BEFORE you get there. It works well. But its wrong more than its right, and I can live with that.

I was curious about that, did you have to put sensors before the art to give you enough time?
 

>I use these

This may sound like a stupid question, but is the middle part a light switch or a sensor?
 

I also happen to be shopping for path lights, to light stairway steps at night.

If I had outlets in the stairway, I'd try the combo devices mentioned above. I think you should buy one to try out now, before committing.

I have existing louvered incandescent fixtures in the stairwell drywall. They're called step lights, but are used for all pathway lighting. Hard to find ones that aren't too bright - can't really assess brightness from a web page, for LEDs. Most manufacturers don't provide lumens.

Neurorad, do you have photos of what you have done? I haven't been on AVS as much, are there photos there? There are a couple outlets already, but I can still easily add/move them, as my dad and myself(helping), are doing all the electrical work. We still have a couple weeks until the electrical inspection.
 

I also put in those half-outlet/half LED lights - Mine are Leviton as well; they're LED and they get brighter as the room gets darker - but they're never really bright - just enough to see where you're going.  Note - they also make those in a full single gang with no outlet if you like that better.
 
In a previous house I had the louvered openings in the stairwells - for some reason it blew through those night-light bulbs every 3 months or so, so I finally bought some 3W LED night lights - they were so sensitive you could seem them glowing even when the mechanical switch was off (no way for them to have a hot connection). They were perfect for that application and low enough wattage to just always have them on at night.

 
Work2play, would you rebuy the Levitons that you have now? Do you wish you went with the doubles, or is just the single light enough?

My parents have these stairway lights in their home.  They are very unobtrusive and also light the stairs very effectively - I bet they would look OK in a hall as well.  With the right bulb technology, I bet you could dim the lights as well.  
 

 
Which ones are those?
 
I considered doing something similar in the base molding along paths I would walk at night, but it was just one too many projects while the house was being built.  I was considering drilling a hole just big enough for an led bulb to poke its head just flush with the surface.  Put one of those every couple feet and run the LV wires like I did for the stairs.  The nice thing with this is it would be almost invisible during the day.  Plus it is very cheap.  I used 12v LED bulbs that are intended for "mood" lighting on cars and other 12v stuff.  They can be had on ebay.  I have had one bulb fail but it is pretty simple to pull out and replace.

What did you end up using the 12v LED bulbs for?

 
Thank you everyone,