Investigation Into Light, OPT101 Sensor

Looking into the well illuminated but hidden world of light with an OPT101 optical sensor. Fast enough that you can see LED flicker well over 20khz. Use as a calibrated sun sensor to record daily illumination. Use this to control devices and loads based on the sun intensity. Gain is controlled by feedback resistor. A good way to determine how much flicker is present in LED lighting. Just compare the AC component with the DC. Does the supply have good filtering, operated by DC or is it pulsed to get intensity. The flashlight was pulsed at just under 500Hz and the lighted magnifier at 21KHZ. If you had a windmill, the sun could be sighted thru the blades to see the pulses. Data sheet can be downloaded as a OPT101 or OP101. Supply is 3-36V, gain must be adjusted so you don't get too close to the supply voltage. 12V supply would be appropriate for 0-10V output. The output is linear with light intensity. Like most light sensors, it is red sensitive.

[@opera5714]

Looking into the well illuminated but hidden world of light with an OPT101 optical sensor. Fast enough that you can see LED flicker well over 20khz. Use as a calibrated sun sensor to record daily illumination. Use this to control devices and loads based on the sun intensity. Gain is controlled by feedback resistor. A good way to determine how much flicker is present in LED lighting. Just compare the AC component with the DC. Does the supply have good filtering, operated by DC or is it pulsed to get intensity. The flashlight was pulsed at just under 500Hz and the lighted magnifier at 21KHZ. If you had a windmill, the sun could be sighted thru the blades to see the pulses. Data sheet can be downloaded as a OPT101 or OP101. Supply is 3-36V, gain must be adjusted so you don't get too close to the supply voltage. 12V supply would be appropriate for 0-10V output. The output is linear with light intensity. Like most light sensors, it is red sensitive.

[@sleepydog6595]

Cascade of four heating elements switched on according to available sunlight -> pseudo MPPT PV water heater :-) 👍
I like this idea.

[@opera5714]

This works well for inverter dumps much better than timer solutions. In direct connect it doesn't work as well as it sounds. Immediately when another heater is switched in, the power will drop. Having a high number of elements makes this better. Overall daily production will increase. Current based switching is best for direct connect matching. I bought five low cost current monitor and was going to demonstrate putting them in parallel for a staged system.

[@solargloater8059]

I just subscribed. You seem to know what I need to know. 😊