Timeswitch with daylight savings to Control Outside Lamposts

[JohnW2]

If used with a timeswitch the photocell will turn it on and the timeswitch can turn it off. Unfortunately most time switches have to be adjusted twice per year when the clocks go forward and then back again by 1 hour. In non critical situations an hours variation is not a problem but either switching off 1 hour early or staying on until 1am is not desirable for a venue with an entertainments licence as it disrupts either the hirers who are plunged into the dark at 11:00 or disrupts the neighbours sleep until 1:00 am.

Fair enough. As I said, for my domestic application, the 1 hour change in off time with a photocell+timeswitch combination is acceptable, but I can understand that it might not be in the situation you are describing.

However the Steinel Nightmatic 3000 on the face of it looks like it will fit the bill and at less than £30 is worth trying. If it works as suggested this would resolve a problem with other external lights too.

If you do decide to go down that route, please do report back on your experiences. As we've been discussing, it almost sounds too good to be true, and we can't really work out how it does 'what it says on the tin' - so we'd be fascinated to know whether it really does!

I'm not sure whether anyone has suggested this, but it's occurred to me that one approach would be to replace the present timeswitch with some sort of 'remote controlled switch', then you could have your timeswitches/whatever somewhere easily accessible to change the clock etc.

Kind Regards, John

 

[FozzieBear]

Hi John,
Yes will most definitely feed back my experiences if we use the Nightmatic. Like you without a clock I can't see how the internal processor can calculate the time from the ambient light conditions but maybe it has the processing power to do just that. As is supposedly claimed there is more processing power in a digital watch than NASA used to put a man on the moon

Fozzie

 

[JohnW2]

Hi John, Yes will most definitely feed back my experiences if we use the Nightmatic. Like you without a clock I can't see how the internal processor can calculate the time from the ambient light conditions but maybe it has the processing power to do just that. As is supposedly claimed there is more processing power in a digital watch than NASA used to put a man on the moon

Yes, that's true. As I wrote before, I can imagine that it could work out roughly the time of year from length of day, hence estimate the clock time of dusk and use that as means of estimating when 1:30 (or midnight, or whatever) was. However, given the English weather, I don't think any of that could be relied upon to give an accurate off-time, since 'apparent dusk' could easily come a few hours earlier than it should on some days!!

I also wonder whether it will be capable of one of your main requirements - to recognise that the 'midnight' you want suddenly changes (relative to 'sun time') by an hour twice a year. Even if it's clever enough to do that, I would have thought the chances of it effecting the change on exactly the right day would be pretty low (if it's got no clock/calendar, and is working only from light levels)!

Kind Regards, John

 

[OwainDIYer]

Is anyone aware of any time switches (electronic??) which have a built in daylight saving setting to avoid having to change the times twice per year?

Yes, Videx 701
http://www.louis-grace.co.uk/more/on/details/0101

Low voltage switching only (it's intended for door entry service buttons) so would need a relay to switch mains, or be wired to other low voltage controls. However this may not be acceptable if you've already rejected using a central heating controller which switches low current (but still mains switching).

 

[pjcomp]

The most effective - but far and away the most expensive - would be to go the "home automation" route - then the computerised timer is programmed with your latitude and longitude so it "knows" when daylight comes and goes every day, adjusting for daylight saving automatically. Bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, though.

PJ

 

[bernardgreen]

I suspect it has an internal clock function to measure time periods but not as hours and minutes so not able to drive a display of showing real time as hours and minutes.

 

[JohnW2]

I suspect it has an internal clock function to measure time periods but not as hours and minutes so not able to drive a display of showing real time as hours and minutes.

[assuming this refers to my comments regarding the Nightmatic 3000]. Yes, as you will realise, that's exactly what I was suggesting. However, as I implied, given that the there is no provision for 'setting' that clock, it would be reliant upon the sort of gussestimating I mentioned to work out when, say, 1:30am ('human clock time') occurred. As I also said, I rather doubt that it makes (or attempts to make) the GMT/BST adjustment which is central to the OP's requirement (or, if it does try, whether it necessarily gets the gusestimate of date correct!).

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Yes will most definitely feed back my experiences if we use the Nightmatic. Like you without a clock I can't see how the internal processor can calculate the time from the ambient light conditions but maybe it has the processing power to do just that.

Raspberry Pi... WiFi dongle... NTP...

Or Raspberry Pi + an add-on real-time-clock module.

 

[Adam_151]

Have a look at the theben luna 120 top2.

Make sure you are sat down when you get the price on them though

 

[ban-all-sheds]

£24 inc.

 

[Taylortwocities]

£24 inc.

Yes, but you'll plus a whole heap more hardware (relay, PHOTOCELL, power supply, box etc) plus time at £/hour to programme etc.

In any case the Steinel nighthawk is only £22.50 +VAT

 

[JohnW2]

We have two lamp posts at the front of our Village Hall ... They are currently controlled by a basic Sangamo mechanical time switch ... This is a pain in the **s as the time switch is not easily accessible and it really needs changing more regularly during the summer. ... I assume you could use a combination of a PIR to turn on the lights and time switch to turn them off at midnight but the time switch would still require changing twice a year when the clocks change.

Going back to square one, just in case (I doubt it!) all the technotalk is unnecessary, do I take it that the timeswitch (or whatever) has to remain in a place which is difficult to access? If it were possible, the existing timeswitch could simply be 'bypassed' with a straight-through connection (or, indeed, simply left there with no 'offs' programmed), and the supply currently going to the lamps (via timeswitch) could be interrupted in a more convenient place for insertion of timeswitch and photocell.

If there is a supply which goes just to these two lamps, and not to anything else that needs separate switching, then the above approach would almost certainly be possible. If the power feeds several different things which require separate switching, it might not be so easy/possible.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Click-Sure]

Fitted one of these a couple of weeks ago. Works like a charm.

Clicky

http://www.grasslin-controls.co.uk/talento751-752pro.html

 

[bernardgreen]

as the time switch is not easily accessible and it really needs changing more regularly during the summer.~~~ ~~~
I did consider remote management

Reading that again this idea came to mind. Replace the time switch with a contactor. Install a 3 core plus earth cable to a convenient location where the time switch can be installed. Either the existing one or a new one.

The time switch controls the contactor by switching live to the contactor's coil..

Cable has

core 1 Permanent live to the time switch in new location
core 2 Neutral to the time switch
core 3 Switched live from time switch to the contactor coil

 

[JohnW2]

Reading that again this idea came to mind. Replace the time switch with a contactor. Install a 3 core plus earth cable to a convenient location where the time switch can be installed. Either the existing one or a new one.

Indeed, which is why I think all this talk about microprocessors etc. is probably way OTT for the OP's needs. They, too, would require that the present timeswitch be replaced with some sort of relay/contactor - but, once that's done, as you say, one might as well just use a timeswitch (maybe plus photocell), quite probably the existing one, rather than resort to the clever electronics. If the photocell option were used, the timeswitch would only need changing twice per year, which would hardly be an imposition if it were easily accessible!

Kind Regards, John