On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 01:29:52 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
"Kris" writes:
We live in a small village and have one of the few old mercury lamps
right outside the bedroom.

It used to come on at dusk and go off just after midnight.
Something has gone wrong or been adjusted because it now
stays on until 2.30 am.

Does anyone know how they work ? I assume the switch on is
light sensitive and the off a timer. About 6 in the area seem to be
linked to the same timings.

It's probably just timer driven, but using an automatic daylight
adjustment for the 'on' time, which is a standard feature of
timeswitches which used to be used before photocells took over.
It sounds like the timeswitch has lost 2½ hours. They usually
had a spring backup to cover powercuts, but that will run down
eventually.

Can I just ask the council to readjust something before I purchase
some blackout curtains ! ?

Yes. They probably subcontract it out, but they'll know who the
subcontractor is. They might just swap it for a photocell, in
which case it will be on all night.

Err, no, there are such things as 1/2 night controllers......
--
the dot wanderer at tesco dot net