Use case: Above an outside stairwell in a “walk out” basement, where the door to the basement is below ground level (ie top of the door is ground level). Goal is to light the stairs / doorway as needed via a regular indoor switch (and stay on until we manually turn it off), plus have the motion detection and camera active at night and when we are out of town. The stairwell is about 4 feet from our sun porch so I don’t want to get alerts every time someone is on the sun porch (ie I would like to be able to limit the motion detection to only the stairwell).
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Can both the spotlight and the floodlight meet this use case?
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Does the spotlight give sufficient light to light a whole staircase?
Currently, we have a regular, not motion activated floodlight above the door, with one light removed so it doesn’t shine in to the sun porch.
Hi @HeidiGoLightly. Looks like I saw this post after I responded to your other post! I’m happy to help on this concern as well, and give you the perspective on the difference for the camera options, as it seems like this post is geared more towards the differences between the Floodlight Cam and the Spotlight Cam Wired.
If this assumption is correct, I do want to point out that the Floodlight Cam and Spotlight Cam Wired both work in the same way the Smart Lighting did, as they cannot be hooked up to a switch that turns on/off the device. Since the cameras are wifi enabled devices, they need to have a constant supply of power to them for whenever motion is detected and the camera need to turn on the lights and then turn on the video recording. You can set motion schedules for the alerts the same way you can with the Smart Lighting as I described in my other post. You can also utilize the new Modes features for the camera version of these devices (Modes not available for Smart Lighting).
If you get the Floodlight Cam or the Spotlight Cam Wired, they both come with 3 customizable zones that you can create for motion detection, as shown here. This can help you work around the sun porch when it comes to the camera triggering in this area. Although, you may see the lights still come on. While the camera has the customizable zones, the PIR zone for the motion detection for the lights to come on is much larger, and less customizable. You can learn about how the controls for the lights work here for the Floodlight Cam and here for the Spotlight Cam Wired.
In all, the Spotlight Cam Wired and the Floodlight Cam Wired are very similar in settings and usage. The major differences are that the Spotlight Cam Wired has a plug in for power, and the Floodlight Cam is hardwired to an existing junction box, and a bit more of a complex power setup, most times requiring an electrician to ensure the wiring is done properly if you have no previous experience. You may be interested more in the Smart Lighting ability for the lights and how to use them, and then get a different camera, that can be set up outside and that doesn’t have lights attached to it. Please note that while your current Floodlight Cam can have one of those bulbs removed, you cannot remove any lights from any of our product’s fixtures.
Hi Chelsea. I was trying to compare the Floodlight Cam to the Spotlight Cam Mount (which is hardwired) to see if the spotlight could sufficiently light the stairwell. My assumption is the Floodlight is overkill.
In any case, if you absolutely can’t control either one with a regular switch for when you want the light just “on,” neither one is likely to work for us. Thanks.
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