Arduino Light Sensors


Posted on Feb 7, 2014

I`ve been working on a project that will allow me to determine the number of sun hours available in a given spot, and track that over time, as a component of solar power installation design. The idea is to get a light detector in the sun, record the number of hours it is lit at full intensity, and map that to photovoltaic equivalence.


Arduino Light Sensors
Click here to download the full size of the above Circuit.

One could use a pv cell, but there are other alternatives. The CdS cell, photodiode and others come to mind. We will try each of these methods and post our results, meanwhile, here is a great tutorial on the options: Light Sensors are used to measure the radiant energy that exists in a very narrow range of frequencies basically called "light", and which ranges in frequency from "Infrared" to "Visible" up to "Ultraviolet" light. Light sensors are passive devices that convert this "light energy" whether visible or in the infrared parts of the spectrum into an electrical signal output. Light sensors are more commonly known as "Photoelectric Devices" or "Photosensors" which can be grouped into two main categories, those which generate electricity when illuminated, such as Photovoltaics or Photoemissives etc, and those which change their electrical properties such as Photoresistors or Photoconductors. This leads to the following classification of devices.




Leave Comment

characters left:

Related Circuits

  • New Circuits

    .

     


    Popular Circuits

    Modulated light-beam circuit
    Symmetry Feedback Maximizes Function Generators Linear Sweep Range
    pid controller Building a temperature-controlled water bath
    5x10 vu meter
    Tesl coil design
    IN8510 and power motor driver circuit composed of DAC7520
    Automatic lighting switch circuit
    By ASIC delay lamp circuit
    Pyroelectric infrared processing chip BISS0001 and pyroelectric elements D204B
    Blinker circuit 2



    Top