Hello,
In my little Garden behind my house I have a lamp that works fantastically, problem: my girlfriend has a mini fountain which needs electricity. I would like to wire up the lamp and the fountain so that during the day the fountain is on and when it gets dark the photo restistor tells the light to turn on. Would it be possible to wire it so that as soon as light turns on all of the electricity runs to the lamp and the mini fountain turnes off?
Thank you,
Ralf

 

Sounds like you need a changeover photocell switch, so in the Day fountain on light off, and Vice versa at night.

Or you can use an ordinary nema photocell and a mains slave relay.

http://theledspecialist.co.uk/knigh...MIytHnyseR2gIV6p3tCh0W5w92EAQYASABEgIrOPD_BwE

 

Sounds like you need a changeover photocell switch, so in the Day fountain on light off, and Vice versa at night.

Or you can use an ordinary nema photocell and a mains slave relay.

http://theledspecialist.co.uk/knigh...MIytHnyseR2gIV6p3tCh0W5w92EAQYASABEgIrOPD_BwE

Thank you, only problem is that i dont have acsess to the existing photocell. Wouldn’t it be possible to connect the + and - of the fountain the light and the electricity going to the light and put a timer on it or another photocell?

 

Not sure about what you mean by no access to the photocell. BUT here is a concept that only needs access to the light that comes on when it gets dark: Arrange another similar photocell controller so that the only light it gets is from the light that comes on when it gets dark. THEN, connect the power controlled by that sensor to power the AC power connection for the pump. During daylight, the light will be off and so the second sensor will switch on and run the fountain. Then, when it gets dark, the light will switch on and the second sensor, seeing light, will switch off. The beauty is that you don't need to get into any circuits or even open the housings, although you will need to connect to the output of the second sensor to power the fountain. But if you are using a typical three wire sensor, (White, Black, and Red) it will not be difficult. This would aklso be probably the cheapest way to go.

 

Not sure about what you mean by no access to the photocell. BUT here is a concept that only needs access to the light that comes on when it gets dark: Arrange another similar photocell controller so that the only light it gets is from the light that comes on when it gets dark. THEN, connect the power controlled by that sensor to power the AC power connection for the pump. During daylight, the light will be off and so the second sensor will switch on and run the fountain. Then, when it gets dark, the light will switch on and the second sensor, seeing light, will switch off. The beauty is that you don't need to get into any circuits or even open the housings, although you will need to connect to the output of the second sensor to power the fountain. But if you are using a typical three wire sensor, (White, Black, and Red) it will not be difficult. This would aklso be probably the cheapest way to go.

Fantastic, how would you connect the pump, would you join the three positive wires and the three negative wires (pump, power in, Lamp) together and then when the water fountain turns off all the power goes to the lamp?

 

Fantastic, how would you connect the pump, would you join the three positive wires and the three negative wires (pump, power in, Lamp) together and then when the water fountain turns off all the power goes to the lamp?

NO!!! I was presuming that the pump was powered by an AC power supply at some point, and that the setup would be controlling the AC power feeding that power supply. None of what I described is suitable for low voltage DC use. I was also presuming that the light power supply was the AC mains connection. Sorry if I mislead you. But if you can use the photo-relay sensors to control both mains feeds then it can work very well.

 

Thank you, only problem is that i dont have acsess to the existing photocell. Wouldn’t it be possible to connect the + and - of the fountain the light and the electricity going to the light and put a timer on it or another photocell?

You're confusing everything , what voltage are the fountain and the lamp AC or DC?

 

Ok so to clarify, the power for the light and for the fountain both come from my trailer house whicht is powered by solar panels, the reason why i can’t pull more electricity, I only have one wire going there (25m). I now would lime to have a automatic switch so that during the day the fountain is running and when jt gets dark my garden looks nice. I would like to have that be automatic. The simplest way posible would be fantastic. The lamp is Dc but i habe a converter (Dc to Ac). Could i maybe wire the three + and - wires in a special way and add a timer so it turns off the fountain at 8pm and on at like 7am?
Thank you for all your suggestions!

 

Ok so to clarify, the power for the light and for the fountain both come from my trailer house whicht is powered by solar panels, the reason why i can’t pull more electricity, I only have one wire going there (25m). I now would lime to have a automatic switch so that during the day the fountain is running and when jt gets dark my garden looks nice. I would like to have that be automatic. The simplest way posible would be fantastic. The lamp is Dc but i habe a converter (Dc to Ac). Could i maybe wire the three + and - wires in a special way and add a timer so it turns off the fountain at 8pm and on at like 7am?
Thank you for all your suggestions!

OK, now it makes more sense. It might be that there are similar controllers available for DC applications. If you have one for the light already you are half way there. For the second controller, the supply commons will all be tied, and then the positive supply will power the second controller electronics and it's relay input, and the pump would connect to the relay controlled output terminal. But since I have no idea as to what your controller is, my description is not very detailed .

 

OK, now it makes more sense. It might be that there are similar controllers available for DC applications. If you have one for the light already you are half way there. For the second controller, the supply commons will all be tied, and then the positive supply will power the second controller electronics and it's relay input, and the pump would connect to the relay controlled output terminal. But since I have no idea as to what your controller is, my description is not very detailed .

Sorry, I have a Streetlamp that i got and repaired I dont know what kind of photo cell is on it. I have DC current running directly into the original connectors. I would like to steal some power of it. Is there a way to have a t connector or something? So that i pull power when the light is off and if i turn off the fountain the. The electricity goes to the bulb?
Ralf

 

At this point it seems like a current operated switch in series with the light set so that when the light is on the pump is off will be a good choice, since the whole system is low voltage DC. I had originally presumed it was 230 volts AC, a very different arrangement. The series current sensor would require a reed switch able to carry the pump current, and a small magnet to bias the reed switch "ON". Then there would be a coil of a few turns of wire around the reed switch that would carry the current for the light. The operation would be that when the light is off and not drawing any current the pump would be switched on by the action of the small magnet, but when the light is on the magnetic field from the coil will cancel the magnetic field from the magnet and the reed switch will be off. It sounds complex but with only a very few parts it should not be so very difficult. The big question is how much current does that pump require. Do you know that?