YCA1030 Dusk to Dawn Sensor, Hard-Wired Post Eye Photocell Sensor for Outdoor Lights, Automatic Light Control Switch, UL Listed

Replaced our old broken photocell with this one for $9.99! Easy install and it works great. No brainer!

Worked perfectly

This worked well for my dual to dawn lamp post. Easy to wire up and works well. Comes on within seconds if you cover it up and shuts off when exposed to light.

Update- the seller is vey responsive and resolved my issues. The light sensor for reliability and glitches after 2-3 years service. The sensor starts kicking on and off recently and glitches all day and nights. Powered off and waited for a while longer than 1 minute and power on and daylight or night or dawn . The glitch noises are loud noticeably.

Ease of installation depends upon if one is simply replacing a sensor that is essentially identical or installing the sensor in an enclosure that was not originally a photo sensor controlled fixture. The sensor eye is a threaded 5/8" plastic extension from the sensor body; this exceeds the 1/2" usually contained in most drill sets. Therefore, one must drill a 1/2" hole in the fixture and either enlarge it with a circular file or buy either a 5/8" drill or a step drill. In addition, the location of the sensor is important. If it is located where it is exposed to the fixture's light itself, it will cycle on and off every few seconds after dusk; this is normal function of the sensor. The solution is to mask the sensor from the fixture's bulbs leaving enough exposure of the sensor to an area where daylight would turn off the sensor. This can be done by constructions a small metal enclosure from thin sheet metal or by some other means. For those who have not faced this problem, a short note in the package would prevent one from concluding that the product was defective if it cycled on & off after dusk

This photocell looks good, and fits the location of the old photocell on my yard post light. Installed per the old photocell, and this product's instructions. Worked as expected for 2.5 weeks, and then failed. Now, during daylight, the photocell does not turn off the yard post light. Contacted manufacturer via email per Amazon's website instructions. No response from the manufacturer. Update July 28, 2024: J.Lumi Support responded to my email one day after this not-positive review was posted, which was eight days after my email was sent to J.Lumi. J.Lumi offered to reimburse the cost of ordering a replacement photocell - Thank You. The replacement photocell was installed yesterday, and is working as expected. Update Aug. 25, 2024: the replacement photocell has worked as expected for one month. J.Lumi did as promised - reimbursed the cost of a replacement photocell. Hopefully the replacement photocell continues to work as intended. Thus, I'm revising the overall rating to 4 stars (from 3). Docking one star for the hassle of ordering and installing a replacement photocell because the first one from J.Lumi lasted only a couple weeks. Update Dec. 16, 2024: the replacement photocell failed after a bit less than 5 months of use. Revising rating to 1 star because the photocells I received fail too soon after installation.

Most photocells, Amazon, retail, and otherwise, use Cadmium-Sulfide based LDRs (light dependent resistor) which have been around for decades. These are easily identifiable by the brown/red squiggly object inside the lens. Unfortunately over time these are prone to drift, meaning their light sensitivity weakens to the point where the light stays on longer than it should and eventually fails altogether. I specifically purchased these because they use phototransistor/photodiode technology which is not only more precise, but is not subject to the drifting issues like CdS sensors. Internally these use modern electronics and relays which are more reliable to control the load as opposed to a thermal bimetal switch which is the older way of switching loads on and off. This was installed in the pole light in my front yard. The old one was a CdS and bimetal switch variant which came on way too early, so it was due for replacement. This was identical physically and wiring wise. Upon first power up, there is about a 10-11s delay with the light switched on. After this, the sensor has about a 3s delay after “dark” to turn on, and about a 5-6s delay after “light” to turn off. Long enough to prevent false triggering, and short enough to not be waiting forever. It is also UL listed so this is safe to use. Not all off brand products carry this, so I was happy to see it.

Fit is great, works perfect, wiring was easy, love the protective lens over the photocell. Turned on around 830pm and turned off around 630am. Perfect!