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Nightlight Photocell located away from the LED

Former Member

I am new to electronics.

I want to set up a Photocell with a night light (LED).  The unique aspect is that I want the Photocell to be four feet (4') away from the LED.  Where the night light is locted, it is always dark (so the night light stays on); however, the room is light -- so, I want the photo cell to be about four feet (4') away from the night light (the photocell will be located where is will be affected by the actual light in the room).

Is it possible to put the photocell four feet (4') away?  If so, what kind of wire do I use?

Thanks for your input!

Richard

  • 0

    Hi Richard,

    It sounds like you want the night light to only turn on when the room 4 feet away goes dark.

    If your night light is already light sensitive you could carefully separate the light sensor part of it and extend the wires to the sensor by 4 feet using any extension cord wire, speaker wire or even 22 gage hook-up wire. Just be sure each contact on the sensor is connected to the same place on the night light as before (via individual 4 foot wires) Then mount the sensor in the room, leaving the rest of the night light in its desired location.

    If your night light has no sensor, you can obtain a light controlled switch to mount in the room and then run a 4 foot extension cord from the switch to your night light.

    Doug

  • 0

    As Doug said, you basically just need to ensure that you match the original connections exactly. I would recommend going with a fairly small gauge wire, and I would also recommend at least heat shrinking each end for a bit of strain relief, not to mention it'll look a bit better image

     

    Buying some sort of shielded wire is a good idea as well. Actually you can probably easily harvest some from some old electronics. Look for wire that contains two or more smaller wires withing -- multicondutor wire, we call it.

     

    Good luck! Feel free to ask more questions, if you have design-related questions be sure to post pictures.

  • 0 in reply to mraureliusr

    Hi Richard, Like Doug and others already wrote, it is possible to extend the wires. Most plug in night lights are not isolated from the mains voltage. For safety the extension wire and the connections at the light and at the sensor must have reliable insulation.