Indoor/Outdoor Light Level Sensor

I have been looking at clipsal site and I could not find any documentation on the outdoor light level sensor (5031PEWPGY).

I would like to install a light level sensors to switch some external lights at night. I was thinking of installing two, one on the eastern side of the house and one on the west, and using an and logic to turn the external lights on.

Can this be better done using 5031PE (Indoor).
What is common practice/best way of doing this?

 

Josh

What you're proposing sounds fine. You will get your outside lights turning on if either sensor's light level is below the set threshold in that unit.

The Indoor and Outdoor Light Level Sensors are functionally equivalent, it's just the packaging that changes in each case to suit the environment.

Below is a link to the installation instructions for the Indoor version: http://www.clipsal.com/cis/pdf_files/F1448_-_5031PE_INSTALLATION_INSTRUCTION.pdf

Hope that helps

 

Josh, Just make sure that the Light Level Sensors are not mounted too close to the lights they are controlling other wise it gets dark and the LLS turns on the lights, the lights shine onto the LLS which then turns the Lights off and so on and so forth. Plus if you want two LLS to both control the same channel(s) of a relay(s) or dimmer(s) then don't use the same Group Address in each. Use a different one for each LLS then use AND (or MAX -for a dimmer) logic in the relay channel to give you the situation where if one LLS says on and the other says off they don't fight over the status of the light (say for example that one LLS is on a wall facing away from the Sun set and the other LLS is on the wall facing towards the Sun set). By doing it this way if either of the LLS says on the load will be on irrespective of the state of the other LLS. Get really sophisto and use the Level field in the LLS and set the (perhaps) multiple relay channels that are switching on the outside lights and give them all a different On Trigger Threshold so the lights will stagger on over a 60 second period as the sun goes down.

 

Thanks for your response Newman, it helps.

UncleDick, I like the idea of using On Trigger Threshold.

 

Another question regarding the external Light Level Sensor, does it require a light switch box on the external wall or is it just mounted directly on the wall?

Installation instructions on the external version would help.

 

http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=557

Of 362 people viewing that page, 11 bothered to answer the poll.

No wonder this product is till listed as a "special" and not a standard of the
shelf product.

To the 11 people that voted , thank you for the effort.

quote>
The product has been available for a number of years ( 2-3 ), and has been
mentioned twice in various CIS Newsletters ( available from CIS Website).
end quote>

http://www.clipsal.com/cis/lit_installtraining_news.php3

dimensions supplied in the newsletters, unit is a 5031PE stuck in a clipsal
56E1 enclosure.

 

Thanks Coppo,

I had a look at the newsletters. Bought the enclosure and will get the 5031PE later on. Thanks for your help.

 

I got the sensors, they were supplied with an eclosure, if only I knew.

The only issue(not really an issue) is that in Toolkit 1.1.7, Under the network view, Serial number is blank, although the Database shows the correct entered serial numbers. Is this an issue with the firmware?

 

Firmware for the 5031PE does not support serial numbers

Don

 

Hi,

I m using light level sensor to control external lights but dont know how to switch light level GA off after it ramps down to 1%.

Kindly suggest how to do it..as cant leave lights on 1% it will burn and fuse them.

 

The Light Level Sensor regulates the level of a group address between 1% and 100% in response to the measured ambient light level. If you want to turn the group address it's controlling off you need to disable the sensor (turn off the Enable group) and turn off the Light Level group.

This can be done in a few different ways:

• The easiest is to use a key on a key unit so that, when pressed, it toggles the Light Level group and the Enable Group on and off. If you don't want the Light Level group to go to 100% you can use the Memory Toggle key function and just toggle the two groups between 1% and 100%. The Light Level Sensor will take it from there.
• If you want to have this happen automatically then you could use a PAC or a Touch Screen with Logic to turn these groups on/off at a certain time of day, or at sunrise/sunset.
• A "lower tech" way of doing it would be to use the Sunset feature of a standard PIR so that the Light Level group and Enable Group get automatically turned on when the ambient light level is below the threshold set on the unit.

 

Manual Switch off

Thanks newman, we have used lux level enabled/disbaled group and client manaully switch it off in morning. Not a very smart solution but working fine with client.