Here comes OSRAM Nightlux

After using the Ikea DIODER light for a while, I am starting to feel that sensor activated lights can be pretty useful, especially if it is battery powered as it can be extremely convenient to set-up and there is no need for any unsightly cabling.

And so, I was searching for a motion-sensor activated light to shed some light to commonly used places such as the toilet. I think it is quite wasteful to power up florescent tubes only for 1-2 mins at a time at night especially when the lifespan of florescent tubes depend partially on the number of on-off cycles. Current LED technology is good enough to offer relatively usable light output while using little electricity and this makes it practical to use batteries to power them.

So, here comes the OSRAM Nightlux. Its not a new product. A date stamp on mine has the year 2007 on it. Got it for $19.90 from AMK hub's fairprice. It is by no means cheap for a product with only 3 ultra-low power LEDs but it is worth the price. As I shall explain below:

 

Yeah, I was so excited that I ripped it out without taking a picture first. As mentioned in the packaging, it uses 3x AAA batteries, operates by sensor and knows to turn on only when there is low light. I have to say that the light sensor is pretty good. My toilet is rather dark even in the day but it doesn't waste energy by turning on in the day. The motion sensor has quite a good range too. It switches on the moment I walk into the toilet. I didn't have to find some strategic spot to place it so that it can detect me.

 Of course, its a far cry from my main toilet lighting it is good enough for me to do anything I need to do in a toilet.

 Yep, its on! The lights are rather directional and can be swiveled up and down. The LEDs are not bright enough if designed to be a "floody" light. Hence, the reflectors make the beam slightly focused so that the light only goes to where you need it to. Its a slight trade off but its a well thought out design.

 Here's the back of the light where there is a switch for OFF, 10sec, 60sec and constant ON. I would prefer if there is a 30sec option, but I'm fine with it being on for 60sec. A word of caution, after it switches off, it takes about 3sec to turn on again.

 The back plate contains a strong magnet for sticking on to metallic objects. It comes included with a metallic plate with sticky tape on it. Unfortunately, the sticky tape isn't sticky enough. Mine dropped from a height of about 1 metre. Sob Sob.

The magnetic back plating.

Yep, it doesn't switch on in the day. The finish and build is very sturdy and it is a nice addition to a clean tiled wall. The 3 LEDs take a total of 0.3W(rated) which means the batteries should last about 13 hours of continuous usage. Again, if I were to activate it 10 times a day, I mean night, then it should last about 2 and a half months, which is pretty good.

I will be fixing this to the ceiling once I get my hands on stronger sticky tape. If it works well then maybe I'll get more of these for other parts of my house


UPDATE:

After 7 months of using this, I decided that it was time to get another one to light up my room. It is particularly useful for me because at times I needed to enter my room simply to take something out of there. Previously, I would have to switch on my fluorescent lamps for less than a minute before switching them off. Fluorescent lamps don't like on-off cycles as it reduces their lifespan.

Using this to provide just enough light for me to get around my room reduces the need to switch my main lights on.

There are also several things that I have noted along the way:

Changing 3x AAA is a chore
Devices that use odd numbers of batteries make it difficult for battery changes as there will always be 1 lone battery sitting out from the rest. This is annoying because that lone battery will have to be used separately from the batch it came with so you can't "pair" up capacities together.

It works even under very low voltage
Since I didn't always use 3 similar batteries in the Nightlux, I turned to mixing and matching batteries. When it became dimmer again, I checked the batteries with my voltmeter to see which one was the culprit. At times, I found the dead battery to be less than 0.5v. Surprising that the Nightlux could operate even with such a significant voltage drop. It is difficult to notice the drop in brightness since I use it only for very basic purposes. I consider this its strength and also its weakness because on one hand, the circuitry is very versatile, but on the other, it will damage rechargeable batteries if they was allowed to run this low before charging. Hence, I strongly recommend against using rechargables in this product. If only there was a low-voltage warning light...

The light sensor is very smart
Most motion sensor lights would simply turn on when they sense motion, regardless of the brightness of the location. You know the designer of this product have thought long and hard when coming up with this little thing.

If it was using AA batteries instead...
The Nightlux would last about 6 months per battery change. This is more economical considering that AAs have more than 2x the capacity as AAAs but comes at a similar price.