Yes my dark sensor for the porch light lasted nearly 20 years before it
eventually wore out its relay and all the capacitors needed to be changed.
Too much work so bought one ready built but to me its not as adjustable.
Brian

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The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

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"T i m" wrote in message
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On 3 Feb 2019 09:58:07 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

snip

So, any recommendations for basic and more advanced kits that won't break
the bank? At the moment looking at a cheap Tesla coil kit on eBay.


Not advanced and not particularly educational but something we
typically used every day since our daughter assembled it when she was
a kid ... and she's 28 now! ;-)

https://preview.tinyurl.com/ycgvtof2

It's a simple led countdown timer so lots of LED's to solder in the
right way round (and not damaging them) and is controlled by just one
button. Unfortunately, it worked the first time so we couldn't do any
faultfinding.

Press multiple times to increment the led's up in time (1-10,15,20,25
mins etc) and then once run-down, it starts to beep with increasing
volume / tone once triggered (it ramps up in stages). I can hear it on
the first level in the kitchen when I'm watching TV in the lounge a
room away (but noting stopping you taking it with you etc). When I'm
cooking round my Mums I miss it to the point that I might get daughter
to oversee her niece building one (or two) more. ;-)

Press the button again to cancel the alarm or leave it and it will
eventually cancel itself (probably after 30 seconds). Press and hold
to cancel the time set (of up make a mistake etc).

The 3 AAA's seem to last for ever and my only criticism is that some
of the numbers aren't that easy to see (with my eyes anyway). It could
probably be enhanced with some paint in the moldings.

I have always enjoyed building / assembling things and the cherry on
the cake is when you then carry on using it (and even relying on it)
every day. ;-)

Cheers, T i m