Sensor for illuminated house sign

"Unit can be set to turn off after a period of time rather than run from dusk to dawn."

No use at all for anyone who has the incredibly common requirement of "On when it gets dark, off at (eg) 01:00")
 
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Why are you people obsessed with needless complexity?
 
Why are you people obsessed with needless complexity?
I'm not sure that I'd call a timeswitch plus a photocell (or even a device which combined both functions, if they exist) particularly complex. What would be your 'non-complex' solution to what seems to be a common functional requirement (other than trying to remember to do it all manually every day)?

Kind Regards, John
 
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Why not consider a solar powered unit.
The issue isn't about where the power comes from. Even if it were solar powered, there would still need to be some sort of controls to make it come on and off ant the desired times. If one's concerns were only about {very trivial} electricity cost saving, one could just leave a solar-powered one on all the time - but, (in the more general case, not just a 'house sign') for at least some of us (including me), there are other reasons for not wanting outside lights to be on all the time.

Kind Regards, John
 
On when its dark, off when it's light.
That might be fine for the OP's house sign. However, in the more general case of outside lights which we've moved on to discuss, I, for one, do not want 'outside lights', even porch lights, to stay on throughout all of the "when it's dark" period.

Kind Regards, John
 
why?


Most people are happy with a light that comes on when it's dark, or with a lamp that comes on when a person or vehicle approaches, or a combination of the two.


What's so special about your desires?
 
why? ... Most people are happy with a light that comes on when it's dark, or with a lamp that comes on when a person or vehicle approaches, or a combination of the two. .... What's so special about your desires?
It's not just me. I wheel out the description of what I do every time someone expresses a desire to have similar functionality.

In fact, to further feed your view about 'complexity', I actually have three modes of control of my outside lights! I have (a) a photocell which switches the lights on "when it's dark", but with (b) a timeswitch over-riding that during those hours of darkness when I don't want the lights to be routinely on, and also (c) PIRs which over-ride all that if they detect movement during hours of darkness when the timeswitch has switched the lights off!

As for having lights which are always on when it's dark, there are several reasons why people might not want that - lights shining on (one's own or neighbours') bedroom windows, 'environmental light pollution', running costs etc. PIR(s) (alone) might be a alternative solution to avoid those issues, but wouldn't suit everyone.

Kind Regards, John
 
You need to install the relay of the time switch in to the switched live from the photocell.
This avoids the warm up period during daylight hours.
:mrgreen:
 
Why not consider a solar powered unit.
The issue isn't about where the power comes from. Even if it were solar powered, there would still need to be some sort of controls to make it come on and off ant the desired times. If one's concerns were only about {very trivial} electricity cost saving, one could just leave a solar-powered one on all the time - but, (in the more general case, not just a 'house sign') for at least some of us (including me), there are other reasons for not wanting outside lights to be on all the time.

Kind Regards, John
My reply was meant for the man who wants his house number lit. Didn't mean to get involved in pedantics.
 
You need to install the relay of the time switch in to the switched live from the photocell.
This avoids the warm up period during daylight hours.
:mrgreen:
Thats what i do.
But I recall theres a reason JohnW2 opted not to do that :)
 
You need to install the relay of the time switch in to the switched live from the photocell. This avoids the warm up period during daylight hours.:mrgreen:
Thats what i do. But I recall theres a reason JohnW2 opted not to do that :)
Yes, there was a reason, at least with an electromechanical time switch. If one has a time switch which provides separate access to its relay contacts, then it would be better to do as gman76 suggests. However, if, like me, one uses a 'standard' time switch (like, for example, an 'immersion timer'), there is just a single L/N feed and a switched L (and N) output from the internally wired relay. With one of those, if one put the timeswitch downstream of the photocell, then (certainly if it were an electromechanical one, as mine is - the only type available when I first installed the system), its clock would stop whenever there was daylight!

Even with an electronic time switch with battery backup, I'm not sure that it would necessarily work, particularly during summer - with (in my case) the relay having to be powered for anything up to ~7 hours per day whilst it was running on its battery alone.

Kind Regards, John
 
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