SUNlight sensor? 🌞

Hardware
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Does anyone know where I can get a light sensor that will know the difference between indirect sunlight and direct sunlight?

I’m trying to automate my blinds. I like it very bright but during certain times of day the sun is very directly in my face and that sucks.

I don’t think trying to calculate all the elevations and azimuths of the sun and how that interacts with all my different Windows makes sense. A simple “is the sun shining directly into this sensor” would do the trick.

1 Like
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Obviously, you’ll get very much more lux in direct sunlight than in indirect…

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Wemos D1 Mini with a BH1750 ambient light sensor shield.
Brightest daylight is well over 7,000 lux, as high as 15,000-to-20,000 lux.
Indirect daylight is typically lower than 5,000 lux.

ESPHome makes it a simple, easy, and fun project.

image
image1728Ă—720 109 KB 

esphome:
  name: ambientlight
  platform: ESP8266
  board: d1_mini_pro
  
wifi:
  networks:
  - ssid: IOT
    password: !secret
  domain: .local
  use_address: ambientlight.local
  power_save_mode: NONE
  reboot_timeout: 5min
  
i2c:
  sda: D2
  scl: D1
  scan: True
  
sensor:
  - platform: bh1750
    name: "BH1750 Illuminance"
    address: 0x23
    update_interval: 30s
    accuracy_decimals: 0
    
logger:
  logs: {}
  level: DEBUG
  
api:
  password: !secret
  reboot_timeout: 5min
  port: 6053
  
ota:
  password: !secret
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