jtaylor said:
Is there any chance I could aim a diode laser at the sensor on top of the
local streetlight and trigger the sensor into thinking it was daytime?
Would sure beat shinnying up the pole and duct-taping a maglight to it...
Yes. The problem is that the sensors are far more sensitive to green
light than to red light. At least the ones in my area are. I use a green
laser pointer and it knocks them out immediately. A red pointer has no
chance of doing it. However, I would that that if you went to the flea
market, bought about 5 to 10 of them and placed the beams to focus into one
dot, you could do it. Red lasers are dirt cheap and cost about $2 US apiece
these days with the batteries.
Hint: measure the operating current of the laser directly from its
batteries- then place an inline resistor to limit the current to that value
when using some other power supply. This will keep the laser from smoking.
They go dim real fast when applied to an unrestricted 3 volt supply (or 4.5,
based on the type you have). As it is, the cheap laser pointers use the
internal resistance of the batteries to limit the current they can draw.
Without a current limiting resistor in series, they die.
You know, you might even pulse the things to make the streetlight stay
off. They have quite a dwell time. A pulse every second ot so whould be
enough to keep it off indefinitely, once you get a bundle of red lasers that
work as one.
Cheers!
Sir Charles W. Shults III