This is basically a Schmitt Trigger circuit which receives input from
a cadmium sulfide photo cell and controls a relay that can be used to
switch off and on a street lamp at dawn and dusk. I have built the
circuit with a 120 ohm/12 volt relay and monitored performance using a
lamp dimmer, but did not connect the relay to an outside light.
The photo cell should be shielded from the lamp to prevent feedback
and is usually mounted above the light on top of a reflector and
pointed upward at the sky so the lamp light does not strike the
photo cell and switch off the lamp.
The photo cell is wired in series with a potentiometer so the voltage
at the junction (and base of transistor) can be adjusted to about half
the supply, at the desired ambient light level. The two PNP transistors
are connected with a common emitter resistor for positive feedback so as
one transistor turns on, the other will turn off, and visa versa.
Under dark conditions, the photo cell resistance will be higher than
the potentiometer producing a voltage at Q1 that is higher than the
base voltage at Q2 which causes Q2 to conduct and activate the relay.
The switching points are about 8 volts and 4 volts using the resistor
values shown but could be brought closer together by using a lower
value for the 7.5K resistor. 3.3K would move the levels to about
3.5 and 5.5 for a range of 2 volts instead of 4 so the relay turns
on and off closer to the same ambient light level. The potentiometer
would need to be readjusted so that the voltage is around 4.5 at the
desired ambient condition.
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