Hello folks. I lack a great deal of knowledge in this area, but have cobbled together something of a solution to automatically open and close the door of our henhouse at dawn and dusk. Here's a rough diagram.
The setup comprises a small 12v battery, a solar panel to charge it, a retail dawn-dusk light sensitive switch, a DPDT relay and a linear actuator.
The problem I have is the LDR switch closes a few lumens too soon of an evening. I chose the retail device as it's housed in a moulded IP68 housing, but the downside is I can't open it up to modify it.
I'd like to be able to delay the signal to the DPDT relay from the LDR switch by maybe five minutes, and my hazy recollection of electronics from school suggests I could possibly use a resistor and cap between the LDR switch and the relay, but quite how I have no idea.
Can anyone suggest a simple solution here?
Thanks,
Alex
The setup comprises a small 12v battery, a solar panel to charge it, a retail dawn-dusk light sensitive switch, a DPDT relay and a linear actuator.
The problem I have is the LDR switch closes a few lumens too soon of an evening. I chose the retail device as it's housed in a moulded IP68 housing, but the downside is I can't open it up to modify it.
I'd like to be able to delay the signal to the DPDT relay from the LDR switch by maybe five minutes, and my hazy recollection of electronics from school suggests I could possibly use a resistor and cap between the LDR switch and the relay, but quite how I have no idea.
Can anyone suggest a simple solution here?
Thanks,
Alex