Wanting To Build Solar Street Light with Multiple Features

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vrbadesigns1986

New Member
Hello wanting to Build a Solar Powered Street Style Light
That will SLOWLY FADE ON in a 3 to 5 Minute Time Frame When Motion is Detected go from 0% light to 100% light in the specified time Frame on both the on side and off side
Then will SLOWLY FADE OFF in the same 3 to 5 Minute Time Frame

Time Between Fading Down and Last Motion to go off is again the 3 to 5 minute Time frame and would also light to have it photocell activated so it only comes on at dark

I would also like to have it be completely self contained I am just getting started in this and I have a specific need for this light and I can't find anything that meets this criteria so in all other things that i have done I just rather build it then try and buy it
 
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Needless to say, use a micro-controller, it would make your project hardware extremely simple and highly adaptable, at the cost of a little programming. For the PIR function, add an HC-SR501 (or similar) module.

The reason you can't find anything, is because it's basically something that no one wants (other than you)

It's also not a street style light, more a sort of crippled security light.

Personally I'd use a PIC to do the job, but it might be easier to use an Arduino Uno which is a complete development system, and has plenty of examples on-line which you could modify.
 
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All modern solar garden lights use the solar panel to turn them on and off because the old photocells got sunburned then soon failed.
You will need a huge, expensive solar panel and battery to produce enough power for a street light.
 
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Hi
I've done a similar traffic light project using arduino.
It was for my garage and used distance sensors to detect my vehicles approach.
The project will be more challenging than you think.
 
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eTech there are Led Street Lights on the Market right this second that are close just don't have the fade on and off time that I am looking for is there any way to take a light already made and add a module to make it fade on and off like i want
 
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Nigel Goodwin there are Led Security Lights on the Market right this second that are close just don't have the fade on and off time that I am looking for is there any way to take a light already made and add a module to make it fade on and off like i want also this would be a product that could be great for a particular problem but until i have it worked out would not like to market it to anyone or give away anything about the real purpose so if it does work​

 
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Is this for real security or for an art installation? If it takes 3-minutes to fade from nothing to maximum in a linear fashion, the first 30 seconds will have virtually no light to illuminate the intruder. Are you sure you want that? Or do you need to rewrite your specification?

Note, if it takes 5-minutes to come to full brightness, the intruder can be 1/4-mile away at normal walking speed by that point. Or, they can spend 2.5 minutes rifling through your property (mostly in the dark or a soft glow of light) and then another 2.5 minutes to get 1/8th mile away at normal walking speed.
 
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Obvious to me that this is for the esoteric who wants high-priced artsy luminaires but has no tech. skills.

Chinese build using $10 smart PIR to control say 100W LED street light will be beyond OPs ability. Solar Panel will need to be big umbrella or flat panel size.

R&D cost $3k is my estimate using a smart motion sensor network.

Using ucode to control a LED is trivial, but having the GUI interactive settings is not.
The most time is defining all the design specs with fault detection, prevention, etc. and specs for reliability.
 
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You will need solar panels, a rechargeable battery, LEDs, a motion sensor, LDR, and a microcontroller/Arduino for controlling the light. Write code for the microcontroller to control the fading effect of the LEDs. You'll need to program it to gradually increase or decrease the LED brightness over the specified time frame when motion is detected or when it becomes dark.
Here is a good design that you can implement and modify according to your demand.


You have to select a solar panel with appropriate wattage. Here is a guideline about how you can select the right one.

How to Determine What Wattage of Solar Panel I Need to Choose - The Engineering Projects

It is a complete article about a solar panel, its quality and the tips that should kept in mind while choosing the solar panel for you.
www.theengineeringprojects.com
 
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An ancient project that comes to mind is Dynadim, featured in an archived issue of Popular Electronics, September 1976, and found online at: schematicsforfree.com/files/Lights%20%26%20Lighting/Dimmers/Dynadim%20II%20Home%20Lighting%20Control.pdf
 
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