Stick on LED lights with light sensor?

Um - so they turn on when it is dark or light? If when it is dark, then it will be on all the time the door is closed (unless it sees its own light in which case it switches off and then it gets dark agin so...) If it turns on when you open the door and let some light in then it will see its own light and stay on... You can buy them with a door switch (magnet) built in I think.

In message , Geo writes

My mum just bought one with a PIR or some similar sort of sensor, tiny little thing that she's put over the front door. It works very well, if interested I can ask if she still has the packaging or instructions...

chris French laid this down on his screen :

I don't quite see how this would work, a dawn to dusk sensor inside a dark cupboard?

Not a good power-saving measure :-) I assume the OP means to have a separate switch to control on/off, and the sensor dictates the level of supplemental lighting.

Oh, against my better judgement, I bought some cheap little stick-on closet lights the other day (incandescents though, running off a couple of AA's each). They're utterly crap and provide no useful light whatsoever - far less than what naturally illuminates the cupboard space via the open doors if the room light's turned on (which isn't much, but still better than these things).

Needless to say, I'll have to just do things properly and hard-wire some proper lights and a switch in there... cheers

Jules

No, just invert the logic of the dawn to dusk sensor light comes on when it's light enough. Can't help thinking that the power required to have the sensor circuit running all the time will mean the batteries are flat when ever you open the cupboard...

Get a bit of bell wire, an arm operated micro switch and a couple of screws to fix the switch. Microswitch is held off with the door closed. Place the microswitch in series with the units switch, you can then have manual control whilst in there or wanting to leave the door open for a while but it's impossible to leave on with the door shut and can be automatic.

Done this with mains lighting in a loft (switches off when hatch shut) and in a pantry (switches on with open door).

Yep - 3 of them for £3.99 +postage on ebay:-

I bought some in Costco last November, in packs of three for about £8.

Used in a dark cupboard, they sense a little light when the door is opened and switch on. There's also an override.

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

Indeed, I was talking a load of rubbish of course - whoops, brain fart :-)

I did mean of course a light sensor that would turn on when it got exposed to light. alternatively a little PIR sensor would do the job.

In message , Clint Sharp writes

I'm interested yes.

Maybe, but for a few quid I'm willing to give it a go.

Yeah I could do this, I did something similar in the pantry in the old house, but really I want something that doesn't require any roundtuits.

some have mentioned magnetic switches, which might be ok, though at the moment the door doesn't close properly (it needs planning down, another roundtuit.

anyway, thanks everybody for the suggestions.

Yes, Costco used to sell some that do exactly this. They have a directional light sensor that detects when a door is opened. The sensor has two sensitivity settings and seems to work well. Of course if you're opening the cupboard in the absense of any significant light outside the cupboard they won't turn on but they have a manual override.

I'm afraid ours have no makers name and the packaging is long gone but hopefully someone will know.

Tim

In message , chris French writes

Well, been looking more, still haven't found any with the light sensor, but, seem to be plenty with PIR, so will probably try those.

Two replies (including mine) have suggested that you look in Costco. I bought two 3-packs of LED lights with the light sensor at Costco in November. They work well.

Yup, and thanks, but I don't have a Costco anywhere near me

what you need tehn is a solar cell to recharge the batteries :)