I'm hoping we have some electric whizzes who can help me or guide me with some ideas... A local non-profit establishment with low funding and low staffing has garden and parking lot lights that operate on a timer. Some of the garden lights are the 'old-fashioned' kind that are wired to a box that plugs in. Some are regular 110V lights also on timers. And I'm not sure what the parking lot light is, but it's on a timer, too. The problem is that although they are on timers, they are not being updated with the seasons. Evening lights are still coming on at around 5pm, and it's currently light until 9pm. As a result, electricity is being wasted, never mind paying more for something that is not needed. Although I volunteer there, know where the timers are and know how to change them, I am already doing a ton of work. I could change the timers this time, but it will need to be done again in a few months. I'm hoping for an 'automatic' solution... I am wondering if there is such a thing as an inline light sensor or remote light sensor that could be used in conjunction with the timers. F. ex., if off-time is always 11pm, but on-time varies between 5 and 9pm, then I could set the timer to have the light on at 5 and off at 11, but then install the sensor so that the light won't actually come on until it's dusk, no matter whether that's 5pm, 7pm or whenever. Please don't suggest to save money and switch to solar... the location of many of the lights is under trees and they would not receive enough sun. Also, as a path the public can access, it needs to provide adequate light. Besides, there's no money... Since there's a lot of trees, I would probably mount the sensor on the roof, so it has to be able to withstand weather. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance... The current system works, but it could be so much more efficient.
They make "dusk to dawn" light sensors, I would suggest those. Here are some examples from a quick Google search. Dusk-To-Dawn Light Controls
Isn't the length of the day mathematically calculated such the sun comes up XX minutes earlier every day until Summer Solstice and then comes up later XX minutes afterwards? The same sort of thing for setting. Shouldn't there be a timer that adjusts accordingly automatically? I know that doesn't solve your problems right now but was just a thought.
Thank you, this might help in the couple of places where there's incandescent lights. Any thoughts on the low-voltage landscaping lights?
The low voltage lighting will have a transformer somewhere to step the mains down to the working voltage. You may be able to use one of the dusk to dawn devices on the primary (input side) of that, locating it outside of course. A word of caution however, make sure the timer is not part of the transformer, if it is, you will need to set it to all-wise on, of course with the dusk to dawn devices, you can eliminate all the timers entirely.
This is a fairly common scenario. It would be best to add a proper photocell control to the timer. I don't have experience with small photocontrol systems, this is the sort of stuff I'm familiar with .:Ripley Lighting Controls - A Division of SouthConn Technologies - 803.939.4700:. Hope this helps
The newest lighting timers are the electronic type you mentioned Lighting Control Unit - Lighting Controls .:Ripley Lighting Controls - A Division of SouthConn Technologies - 803.939.4700:. However, the vast majority of timers out there are the old fashioned mechanical clock style. You set on and off times, ensured the clock was set correctly, and hoped for the best. Some of the fancier mechanical timers even had season compensation, and were fairly close to what true sunrise/sunset was. Those timers were very expensive
I know they make what you want, because i have one that does something similar at home. Basically, it has a light sensor that turns it on at dusk, and it stays on for 4 hours. Great to use with the Christmas lights. At any rate, i can't find it online right now, but i got it at Home Depot, so is shouldn't be too difficult to find.
I think these two suggestions are talking about the same thing. I will look into this.. it sounds the most promising. Thanks. Close, but not exactly. The timer is nice in that you can define the offtime. The lights won't be needed after 11pm, so having it stay on for four hours in the summer is still a little overkill. And in winter when it's dark at 5pm, 4 hours is not enough... Thanks everyone. I will continue looking. It sounds like it can be done. I'll also need to look more closely at the transformer. Now that I'm thinking about it, I did have a landscaping lighting system like this years ago that had a remote light sensor like described above.
This topic is beyond me, but if you have any computers, tv, etc. Unplug when not in use. And good luck with your lights!
