Combining a light activated switch with a 24hour timer delay for garden lighting.

[Duncan morgan]

Hi there, I want to setup my garden lighting to come on when it's getting dark, but always turn off around 11:30pm.
Obviously in the winter that may mean they come on at 5pm ish, whilst in summer that could be around 9pm I guess. But I don't want to turn them on manually all the time and neither do I want a straight up timer that would potentially turn lights on when your still sunbathing. Is this something that can be done? I appreciate any help. Thankyou.

 

[telectrix]

feed first to a timer.set for on at 4p.m. and off at 11.30pm. from timer to photocell then to lights. so that both timer and photocell need to say "on" for the lights to come on.

 

[Timbo]

feed first to a timer.set for on at 4p.m. and off at 11.30pm. from timer to photocell then to lights. so that both timer and photocell need to say "on" for the lights to come on.

Exactly what I did with our front lights. Set on time to 1500 and off to 2230. Just change the hour on clock twice a year.

 

[Marvo]

You also get a timer called an 'astronomical' timer switch, sometimes called an 'Astro' or 'Solar' timer depending on the manufacturer. It constantly calculates the time it goes dark and changes its on/off times accordingly. Some astronomical timers can be set to switch on at sunset and off at a pre programmed time.

The downside is they're not cheap and I used to suspect they got their name because of their high price... That said they've come down in price over the years so it might be an option.

https://www.timeguard.com/products/time/theben-top2-din-rail-timeswitches/solar-timeswitch