Control options for driveway lighting HELP

[Jabamusic]

Hi Folks,

I would be interested to hear how others have set up control of their external, driveway lighting; in particular their activation.
I would like to consider PIR but am concerned about them being set off by animals, trees etc. Also and probably more keen on them being set to self activate at pre-determined times ie nightfall and going off at say mid-night?
Has anybody done anythign more creative ie using remote control with gates etc?
Any ideas, thoughts and if so what will I need to consider wiring wise to do it beyond what is already there (I do realise you won't know what is already there !!!)
Jaba

[hornydragon]

Budget? With dimmers and a control device you can do some cool stuff like have lights on DIm at dusk but raise the level when gates open welcoming you home. They can come on at Dusk and go off at 12 but still come on when gates open then stay on for 5 min slowly dimming

[Jabamusic]

Very cool.........any more info/details of control devices?
Am very interested.

I do however plan to use LEDS's so dimming will be an issue.

[hornydragon]

Rako RAMB1 time clock with DMX driver (this allows control of Tri colour and 4 wire LEDS through the use of a 3rd party DMX interfaxe) The RAMB1 has a feature where you select he lonitude of your location and it works out sun rise and set based on location not on a timer. Connect the trigger out of the gates to the time clock to recall a specific lighting scene when the gates open etc

[Jabamusic]

Thanks "Hornydragon"

OK..well that has set the upper benchmark !!
It does however appear to be a bit more than I need and would seem to be able to control most the the rest of the house/street!

Any thoughts what would be the lower benchmark and I'll then work upwards!!

To add more detail on need... I would like as a basic procedure to simply activate the driveway lights at a pre-determined time, )say 5pm thru 11.00pm. However, that appears crude for obvious reasons. The (an) alternative seems to me to be to have some form of active activation i.e. PIR- but that raises the problems of animals, trees etc.

Another idea is to utilise the control commands on the gates (if this is possible?) At this point in time I haven't purchased gate activation/motors but have simply wired my Airphone door control/CCTV system out to the gates themselves in preparation.
Would it be possible to activate lights in the same process as opening the gates? However an override would be required when the gates are left open?

Am I asking for too much?

Any further ideas/suggestions.

Jaba

[hornydragon]

HI Jaba yes the RAMB1 will do alot of stuff your application only scratches the surface. There may well be a cheaper control optionI would look at combining a dusk sensor (turns ligths on when it gets dark (this is normal or outside lights) with a an external trigger input from gates controller. A more advanced gate controller with timer and dusk senosr could be an option. Have a look at FAAC operators, and BFT. WIthout going to a full lighting solution it may be tricky. Where abouts are you? and what are the overall details fo the project? IS it just drive lights and gates your installing or is that part of a larger project? Which access phone system have you wired for?

[Jabamusic]

Hi.

I already have an installed Airphone MK-2MCD and have run a two core out to the gates intending to operate the gate release via the inbuilt "door release" button that is on the Airphone handset. This will (hopefully) allow me to open the gates from inside the house when visitors arrive who won't have a plip (unlike family).
I have also runout 3 core 2.5 Hi Tuff for power for the gates with separate circuits for lighting which will be 6 LED wall mounted lamps + a couple of bollards.
That is the extent of this project; I do not intend to do anything clever with internal lighting, so it appears that what I should be looking for is a basic dusk to dawn controller OR install an (internal) timer controller at the meter board? OR BOTH/EITHER?
Seems a shame that there isn't an affordable method of doing this.

Do you agree?

Jaba

[hornydragon]

IF you were to operate the lights using a Relay then you could use:
a: ) timer to operate the relay
b: ) Photocell to operate the relay
c: ) Gate operation to operate the relay

If you get clever you could use the timer to operate the photocell and photocell the lights

[Jabamusic]

Looks like you're on our own with this one Horny!! Hope you don't mind taking me thru this!

This is beginning to sound interesting, I was wondering if you could elaborate more on the options?
I assume you are talking about a CdS cell?
If I was to consider the timer operating the photocell, that would work wouldn't it. Anything you know off the shelf?

Jaba

[hornydragon]

There may be a better way to do it but if you use a simple DIN rail timer to control the supply to the photocell (needs to be a photocell that with no feed will leave lights off) then when timer is active ie "on" photocell will control lights relative to day light level. but when timer shuts down the lights go off. ie you can have dusk till 11:00PM all year. I need to run some ideas on paper and do a few diagrams. I would if you were thinking of running an activation function as well look at using relays to operate the lights and the timer/photocell and gates to run the Relay. It will be like 2 way switching using relays instead of switches i think.

PS where roughly are you?

[neilball]

No need to time control the PIR or photocell directly, simply wire the switched live output (mains switching) of all of the control devices in series - all control devices have to then be on for the power to reach the lights. If any one of them is in the off state then the lights stay off. Makes combining timers, PIRs, Photocells etc quite straight forward and allows simply mix & match approach. However it does mean that the cabling may need re-configuring if PIRs or beam-break sensors are to be used as there needs to be cabling to & from the local sensors.

[Jabamusic]

Hi All
I do appreciate the thought you are putting into this - I thought it would be straightforward but clearly it isn't.

Apart from thr suggestions above, how do "normal" people wire up their driveway lights !!! Maybe I am overcomplicating it?

Jaba

[hornydragon]

normal people have aswitch or at most a dumb timer I like neils ides but it doesnt give an override function for when you come home at 3 AM and normally turn lights off at 12AM The logic is simple (Timer and Photocell) or (gate operation (needs run down timer) and photocell) = lights on

[neilball]

You're right in that case then some relay logic to cover the requirements is all that is needed - sounds complicated but reasonably simple electrically.

[Jabamusic]

Hi

Between the two of you you seem to have come to a consensus of opinion; any chance of either/both of you telling me exactly what I would need to tell the sparks to achieve the desired effect
Cheers

Jaba