ideal battery-powered under-counter lighting

November 6, 2019 11:53 PM

I bought a motion-detecting light set to attach under the upper kitchen counters. It will only light up when it's dark, because it turns out it's for closets. I want to be able to wave my hand under a small, bar-shaped, bright, batter-powered light and have it brighten for 10 or so minutes. Does this exist?

So I got this one (actually a set of three lights).

It's great, perfect, except it doesn't work when it's minimally bright in the room.

Does an alternative exist that meets my wish list?

- < $20 but that's flexible ish
- battery powered (ideally using the AAAs I already bought)
- small form factor, so I can just attach it with command strips
- will turn on without fussing with a switch - so, with motion sensor
- nice and bright so I can use it as task lighting

Thanks!

posted by amtho to Shopping (8 answers total)

I have these guys around the house: USB re-chargeable with a battery life of about 3 months. Motion activated lights. They will attach magnetically to metal surfaces and also come with their own stick on mounting for non metal ones.
posted by rongorongo at 12:55 AM on November 7, 2019

Have you tried covering the sensor on the one you have, to fool it into operating as if the room is always dark?
posted by jon1270 at 1:08 AM on November 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: rongorongo - Will those lights turn on even if the room lights are already on? I'm looking for supplemental lighting to make kitchen work areas really bright.
posted by amtho at 1:15 AM on November 7, 2019

amtho: I have these lights illuminating a stairwell. What I have found is that they will illuminate in the presence of movement for all conditions except where there is direct sunlight falling on them. So having some existing ambient light does not prevent them coming on. Therefore - they seem pretty good for providing supplemental light levels to me. However: there is no way of being able to adjust this setting. You will probably be OK - but you might find it worth searching for a model which does allow ambient light sensitivity adjustment. I would also maybe look to see if there are other models which could make the lighting levels "really bright" - these ones provide functional but not dazzling levels of illumination.
posted by rongorongo at 2:28 AM on November 7, 2019

Response by poster: Hmmm--- I think I looked at these previously. The description says, "Automatically light on when human movements are detected in the dark or at night,auto off after 20s if no more motions trigger again(Won't light on in very bright environment or at daytime)"
posted by amtho at 3:28 AM on November 7, 2019

As jon1270 suggests covering the light sensor in yours might work. Small peices of tape, sharpie marker, nail polish etc. Start with tape to make sure it works as expected.
posted by chasles at 4:31 AM on November 7, 2019

I have the same lights and mine work when the overhead lights are on, but they don’t stay lit for long so I have to wave at them a lot.
posted by OrangeVelour at 6:56 AM on November 7, 2019

Response by poster: OrangeVelour - the same as the ones I purchased, or the ones linked by rongorongo?
posted by amtho at 8:52 AM on November 7, 2019