Hi,

I have an outside light I am going to install on my patio. I am hoping
to wire in a photocell switch to it so that it comes on automatically
at night. Could anyone tell me where the cheapest place I could buy one
would be and also is there anything I should watch out for, its a
standard 240v exterior light.

One I have seen is here
http://www.toolstation.com/search.ht...hstr=photocell (second one
down) - any good?

Cheers

Tom

Thomarse wrote:
Hi,

I have an outside light I am going to install on my patio. I am hoping
to wire in a photocell switch to it so that it comes on automatically
at night. Could anyone tell me where the cheapest place I could buy one
would be and also is there anything I should watch out for, its a
standard 240v exterior light.

One I have seen is here
http://www.toolstation.com/search.ht...hstr=photocell (second one
down) - any good?

Cheers

Tom

Hi Thomarse,

You could be lazy and just use one of these instead:
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...01164&ts=19987

Alternatively I've just put one of these in my outside light:
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/TLPS40.html
I drilled a 20mm hole in the (plastic) case for it - took me about two
mins to fit it and wire it. It comes with some gaskets and nuts which
seal up the whole. It doesn't have an IP rating (to show to what extent
it's resistant to dust and water ingress), but I think that's because
it depends on what you install it into. Having fitted it, it seems to
be at least as watertight as the (rather cheap) IP54 plastic light
itself.

Personally I preferred this route because it's neater than having a
separate photocell screwed to the wall. If you follow suit do make sure
you fit the photocell so that it points up at the sky - even then I
find they always seem to switch on too early and off too late.

Martin

Thomarse presented the following explanation :
Hi,

I have an outside light I am going to install on my patio. I am hoping
to wire in a photocell switch to it so that it comes on automatically
at night. Could anyone tell me where the cheapest place I could buy one
would be and also is there anything I should watch out for, its a
standard 240v exterior light.

One I have seen is here
http://www.toolstation.com/search.ht...hstr=photocell (second one
down) - any good?

Cheers

Tom

That is about the usual cost, but you could pick one up over the
counter at any electrical wholesaler - City Electrical, N&E etc.. Look
in the yellow pages under Electrical Wholesalers.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk