Outside Lighted Pathway Idea

Projects General Guidance
1

Hey,

I'm a big fan of practical projects (Projects not just for fun, but that will be useful). I thought of one, and would like some input.

Background:
So my mother gets home from work late. It's always dark when she gets home. We have a pathway from our driveway to the front door. This pathway has a bunch of plants and trees near it, and she's not a big fan of bugs/insects/lizards/snakes/etc...

Idea:
My idea was to have a rmote-controlled set of timed lights along the pathway. That she could use something like this when she pulls up, and the lights would turn on for a short period of time. After that period of time, the lights would turn off.

The path is about 2ft wide, is arc-shaped, and is about 16ft from the driveway to the front door.

Does anybody have any other input regarding:

  • Wiring
  • Water/Rain considerations
  • Light Selection (The path needs to be lit well)
  • Anything else i should take into consideration

If someone has done any outdoor projects, feel free to share.

2

Light Selection (The path needs to be lit well)

I think that you'll find that it doesn't need to be lit that well. In the dark, a 3 watt LED is going to seem very bright.

Wiring

Low voltage wiring, in conduit.

Water/Rain considerations

Keep them out. 8)

Anything else i should take into consideration

Perhaps some LED strips (Adafruit sells them) instead. Fancy colors, changing as Mom walks along the path.

Perhaps even better than the key fob would be a ping sensor that triggered turning the lights on automatically.

3

Buy a solar powered outdoor PIR activated light. Use the voltage across the LED light to wake up a sleeping Arduino that then drives a sequence of lights along the path then goes back to sleep.