John Rumm wrote:
Franko wrote:
Hi, I've found another document with a photo of the circuit board, the
address is:
http://www.mooload.com/new/file.php?...cument.pdf&s=t

I'm a bit disappointed that the output is only rated at 40w so any
help to allow me to use more powerful lights is much appreciated. I
have access to other sources of power as the drive is adjacent to my
shed with power and light installed.


OK, well it seems that the controller board has a relay for the courtesy
light output, which is good, because our "new" relay would most likely
not provide enough load for a triac to work properly.

It seems that the relay is soldered in to the board, so hacking the
board would not be a good idea (in creepage and clearance) if you
are not very sure about what you're doing. I suspect that an additional
relay (poss. on a timer to increase on-time) is the order of the day.

You would need to use the controllers lamp output to switch a relay, and
then that would in turn switch a higher load if required. If you
selected lights with integral dusk sensors then they would only light
when it is actually dark.



John, I think you would find that "lights with integral dusk sensors"
would most likely need a permanent live feed to allow the electronics to
settle down as these items have a hysteresis period of (probably in the
order of) 30 mins. I don't think you can fire them up from cold and
expect an instant "it's dark so switch lamp on/it's day so don't switch
lamp on" response. As Owain has already indicated, it would likely be
best to use a permanently powered dusk/dawn sensor and use a relay
contact in the switched live output from the dusk/dawn sensor to only
switch the courtesy light on when it is both dark and the gate operates.