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I'm installing a 24V sliding gate motor (Powertech 500) and was hoping to power two 12V LED wall lights of it as the gate opens. Unfortunately the motor doesn't have an input connection for lights but does for a flashing light. This connection gives out an alternating voltage as the gate opens/ closes which causes the light to flash. Now with my limited knowledge of electronics and from the guy at the gate shop reckons, I thought I could wire the lights into this connection with a latching relay, which would trigger the lights to come on a stay on for a period of time.

This would be good... but I also don't need the lights to come on during daytime so I'm wondering if there are there latching relays with 24hr timers that will only operate during certain periods? I can't seem to find anything.

otherwise, can a separate timer be included in the wiring to achieve this? I'm not sure what I should be looking for is any of this going to work? and is there a better alternative??? the motor comes with 2 battery backup but not sure how I could wire into this....

Obviously I come with little knowledge of how this works so any help would be appreciated.

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    \$\begingroup\$ If this is just a matter of shopping for commercial devices, it's likely to be closed. Are you prepared to design this? To me, unless you live on the equator, this sounds like not so much a timer issue but a light-level issue. Also, since you have a pulsing source, just convert it to a steady state using a so-called "one-shot." Easily done with BJTs. But you want more. So you'll need something with hysteresis to observe ambient light levels and also a one-shot plus some logic to combine preliminary signals into a final signal to operate the light, plus a driver for the light. \$\endgroup\$
    – jonk
    Commented Jun 29, 2020 at 23:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ you can wire the two 12V LEDs in series with a diode bridge from across the +-24Vdc Motor and don't worry about daylight. The LED's dont use much power. \$\endgroup\$
    – D.A.S.
    Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 1:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ @jonk the fact that 60% of that went over my head means I'm definitely not prepared to design it. I was hoping there was an off-the-shelf (and probably expensive) solution \$\endgroup\$
    – Op.Ivy
    Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 2:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Op.Ivy Sounds like "shopping" then. This group is for wanna be and/or designers or hobbyists, mostly I think. I don't set the rules, so I don't care if this is a shopping question. All I can say is that either there is a product already, or not. I know how it might be assembled from a few basic ideas. But as you say, those are mostly beyond your ken. But what you want is something like this. Just FYI. \$\endgroup\$
    – jonk
    Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 3:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Fair enough, but I was mainly trying to find out if this does exist \$\endgroup\$
    – Op.Ivy
    Commented Jun 30, 2020 at 6:41

3 Answers 3

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A alternative approach would be to install an industrial limit switch, positioned so that it is open-circuit when the gate is fully closed. Use this to control your lights, which will be on whenever the gate is open.

There would be no daylight disable function, however.

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Most of the functionality that you describe is performed by a standard off-the-shelf "security" light with PIR sensor. It comes on for a set amount of time when thermal movement is detected, and it disables itself if the ambient light level is too high.

All you need to do is take the pulsing output from the gate motor and connect it to a small resistor taped to the front of the PIR sensor. Select the value of the resistor such that it reaches about 40°C when pulsed — some experimentation may be required. If this is outdoors, you may need to add some margin to account for wide variations in ambient temperature.

It needs to be physically small so that it has a small thermal mass, heating and cooling quickly with the pulsing, creating the AC signal that the sensor is looking for.

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Dude, Go to home depot and buy two solar powered, motion sensing, light sensing yard lights. They are cheap. Mount them up so the motion of the gate moving or even the light flashing turns them on. They will only come on at night.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This won't work. PIR sensors won't detect the gate moving if it is at ambient temperature, and they're also designed to ignore things like flashing lights. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dave Tweed
    Commented Apr 30, 2021 at 12:29

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