Being a home owner is so much fun :/ Since it is so bloody cold here, and due to the fact that I live in the land of convenience, I recently purchased a timer for our xmas lights.
The timer has a light sensor, so we set it to “come on when it is dark enough”.
I noticed that when dusk came around, the lights would start flashing. I wondered if there was a short somewhere, and then came to the following conclusion.
When dusk first hits, it is JUST dark enough to flip the bit on the photosensor. The lights are then triggered on, which brings more LIGHT, enough to make the sensor think it is light time.
The end result is that we get flashy lights until it gets dark enough that even with the lights on, the sensor is tricked back.
Ah, the small things.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Intentional or a design fault?