I am trying to use a light sensor to control a simple circuit: battery, current limiting resistor, LED. How could I use this light sensor http://pewa.panasonic.com/pcsd/product/sens/pdf/ams.pdf without passing the current through it (and thereby cooking it)? Essentially the sensor would act as a good old CdS photo resistor or photo diode.

Battery is 3.7v and supplies 20ma to the LED.

 

I am trying to use a light sensor to control a simple circuit: battery, current limiting resistor, LED. How could I use this light sensor http://pewa.panasonic.com/pcsd/product/sens/pdf/ams.pdf without passing the current through it (and thereby cooking it)? Essentially the sensor would act as a good old CdS photo resistor or photo diode.

Battery is 3.7v and supplies 20ma to the LED.

Use a transistor to detect the photocurrent and control your circuit.

 

A CDS with a current limiting resistor might do it as is, have you tried it? How much current are you planning on running through your LED? And when is it lit, when it's dark or bright?

 

I am not sure they make CdS's small enough for the footprint I am shooting for, but I have an old pack from the shack and their size might be workable--needless to say the have no parameters on the packaging. The resistor I have matched with the LED allows 18ma to the light.

As for the light vs. dark...when the ambient light is very low or non-existent I would like the LED to be on.

 

From the data-sheet: "Photocurrent is proportional to illumination." So you'll want the LED on when current through the plight sensor is at minimum current, and off when the light sensor is above a certain threshold.

I would do something like this:

R1 would be sized to develop gate threshold value at your chosen light level threshold. Experimentation ahead of time with the SD211 (or whichever MOSFET you choose) will pin down the needed gate voltage, and therefore the needed resistor value.