Low voltage lights

[Merv]

Hi all, I have a powerpack that has a light sensor on it that turns on my
outdoor lights at night, then I guess through electronics it turns it off in
4 or 6 hours whichever I choose. Only now it goes on at dusk but only stays
on for about 15 minutes. So my question is: does anyone know what electronic
part can be causing this? Is it a bad IC, capacitor, resistor, voltage
regulator, or what? My guess is its the IC what do you think?

 

[James Sweet]

"Merv" <Foosdawg-Hard@Play.ca> wrote in message
news:bnlp3r$cd7$1@nrc-news.nrc.ca...

Hi all, I have a powerpack that has a light sensor on it that turns on my
outdoor lights at night, then I guess through electronics it turns it off
in
4 or 6 hours whichever I choose. Only now it goes on at dusk but only
stays
on for about 15 minutes. So my question is: does anyone know what
electronic
part can be causing this? Is it a bad IC, capacitor, resistor, voltage
regulator, or what? My guess is its the IC what do you think?

It really depends how the circuit is wired, I have a screw in photocell
adapter that works like that but it has a microcontroller in it since the
time is programmable from 1-15 or so hours. Yours sounds like it might be
something much simpler but there's no way of telling without looking. Check
for cracked solder joints, that's about all you can do without some
troubleshooting skills and circuit understanding.

 

[Dave Moore]

Is the lamp a type that gets brighter as it warms up?

If so, perhaps some of this light is getting into the sensor
and shutting itself off.

However, I would think that this would cause the light to
cycle on and off periodically.

If so, perhaps you can mask the sensor better, or perhaps
there's an adjustment for sensitivity.

Or maybe there's a time delay adjustment potentiomer
that's dirty and could use a cleaning or simply a readjustment.


--
Regards,
Dave Moore
Products Foundry Support http://www.productsfoundry.com/
Innovative and ever improving software.



"Merv" <Foosdawg-Hard@Play.ca> wrote in message
news:bnlp3r$cd7$1@nrc-news.nrc.ca...

Hi all, I have a powerpack that has a light sensor on it that turns on my
outdoor lights at night, then I guess through electronics it turns it off
in
4 or 6 hours whichever I choose. Only now it goes on at dusk but only
stays
on for about 15 minutes. So my question is: does anyone know what
electronic
part can be causing this? Is it a bad IC, capacitor, resistor, voltage
regulator, or what? My guess is its the IC what do you think?

 

[James Sweet]

"Dave Moore" <novalves@N0$pamdatasync.com> wrote in message
news:bnpdkb$k32$1@news.datasync.com...

Is the lamp a type that gets brighter as it warms up?

If so, perhaps some of this light is getting into the sensor
and shutting itself off.

However, I would think that this would cause the light to
cycle on and off periodically.

If so, perhaps you can mask the sensor better, or perhaps
there's an adjustment for sensitivity.

Or maybe there's a time delay adjustment potentiomer
that's dirty and could use a cleaning or simply a readjustment.


--

This is one of those photocells that has a time delay to prevent exactly
what you mention, light from the fixture interfering with it, the idea (as
with my porch light photocell) is that the photocell triggers the light
which then stays on for a set amount of time regardless of what the
photocell sees.

 

[Merv]

Yes you are right James, what you said is what it is.
Anyway I was looking at some fix it websites and they were indicating that
the photo sensor turns it on and then through an electronic chip similar to
what is used in a watch, it is timed and turned off at a set time. So the IC
I believe that controls this has 18 pins and is marked TDC GR01 on it and I
can't find a cross ref for it. But who knows maybe it's the other components
effecting it. i.e. resistor or capacitors or rectifiers. I might even take
these things off the board and check their properties since there is only a
few of them.
Anyway for now I am bypassing the system by setting the unit to manual on
and using another timer to turn it off and on at set times, but still I
would like to fix the darn thing.

"James Sweet" <jamessweet@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:quXnb.59232$e01.164078@attbi_s02...

"Dave Moore" <novalves@N0$pamdatasync.com> wrote in message
news:bnpdkb$k32$1@news.datasync.com...
Is the lamp a type that gets brighter as it warms up?

If so, perhaps some of this light is getting into the sensor
and shutting itself off.

However, I would think that this would cause the light to
cycle on and off periodically.

If so, perhaps you can mask the sensor better, or perhaps
there's an adjustment for sensitivity.

Or maybe there's a time delay adjustment potentiomer
that's dirty and could use a cleaning or simply a readjustment.


--

This is one of those photocells that has a time delay to prevent exactly
what you mention, light from the fixture interfering with it, the idea (as
with my porch light photocell) is that the photocell triggers the light
which then stays on for a set amount of time regardless of what the
photocell sees.

 

[James Sweet]

"Merv" <Foosdawg-Hard@Play.ca> wrote in message
news:bnr2pu$ebt$1@nrc-news.nrc.ca...

Yes you are right James, what you said is what it is.
Anyway I was looking at some fix it websites and they were indicating that
the photo sensor turns it on and then through an electronic chip similar
to
what is used in a watch, it is timed and turned off at a set time. So the
IC
I believe that controls this has 18 pins and is marked TDC GR01 on it and
I
can't find a cross ref for it. But who knows maybe it's the other
components
effecting it. i.e. resistor or capacitors or rectifiers. I might even take
these things off the board and check their properties since there is only
a
few of them.
Anyway for now I am bypassing the system by setting the unit to manual on
and using another timer to turn it off and on at set times, but still I
would like to fix the darn thing.

Sounds like a house numbered chip, probably a custom microprocessor, if all
else fails you could buy one of these timed screw in photocells like I have
in my porch light and hack the guts into your transformer, it cost me less
than $10 at Home Depot.