replace outside light photocell with smart timer

Timers also won’t be able to react to a rainy or cloudy day like a photocell would. Local sunrise and sunset patterns change over time and would have to be manually set, whereas a photocell will sense this automatically. But they lack the ability to work well with environmental factors. More complex timers are set up to allow input of multiple time configurations. Timers are useful for on-demand lighting controls, for example to turn off lights at a work site during set times. Timers and motion sensors are other types of controls that are sometimes used in conjunction with (or to replace) photocells. There are also photocells that work with a standard wall outlet and control a pass-through plug. The difference being that a photocell has to be installed into each individual socket. But there are also photocells that screw into light bulb sockets, allowing nearly any lamp or fixture to become a dusk-to-dawn lighting system. Photocells are most commonly hard-wired via 120-277V line voltage to control an entire electrical circuit that operates outdoor LED fixtures.

This results in maintenance-free energy efficiency in addition to providing the security of having lights on in the evening to deter intruders.

This allows for “Dusk-to-Dawn” light output.īeing that photocells sense ambient light levels, they will automatically adhere to seasonal changes and are not affected by daylight-savings time. As the light fades during the evening, the flow stops and the fixture is powered on. Some photocell sensors come adjustable, allowing you to choose the light level that will activate the semiconductor. When the semiconductor is exposed to a certain level of light, current starts to flow and the fixture will be shut off. There are numerous types of photocells in the market but the technology behind them is all the same, as they utilize semiconductors to control the electric current. This is primarily used to turn exterior lights off at dawn and back on when the sun sets. To this end, most quality outdoor LED fixtures now come equipped with a factory-installed photocell which tells the fixture when it should operate. As the push to cut energy usage continues, one method is to eliminate the use of light sources when they are not needed.

Replace outside light photocell with smart timer