Lock and Light

There are times I need to get a key to this particular lock and it is quite dark out. The odd coloration around the keyhole is not corrosion. It’s a mix of clear nail polish and glow-in-the-dark powder. This helped, some, but even with the modern (not the old zinc sulfide) glow powder, it was considerably less than ideal.

Thus the item above the lock. It’s a “motion sensor” (not really, it’s Passive Infra-Red like most everything called ‘motion sense’ that uses dry cells) light. Get close and body heat will trip it, if it’s dark out – in daylight it doesn’t trip – and some LED’s come on for a minute or so. This is quite enough make guiding a key easy. The thing takes one AA cell. And even with the standby PIR and daylight sensing uses it well.

How well? I had to check when I bought it: December 2019. And yesterday morning I replaced the AA cell for the first time. It lasted all of 2020 and 2021, including northern Winters. It didn’t seem to even get dim, save slightly in Truly Cold weather, but brightened right up again when things warmed up a bit. But a couple nights ago I noticed it came on… and, after a few bright seconds faded rather badly over several seconds. So, it was finally time. 28+ months on one cell is not bad at all. Assuming the replacement AA is as good as the first, I can expect to need to change it again… sometime in September 2024 or thereabouts.