>
> My first message to PICLIST, and it bounced it as a "dup'"... hmmm.
> Well, I'll try again, as it doesn't seem like it could possibly be
> a duplicate when I've never sent one before...

Hey Russ,

Glad to see you're hanging around this list. I've been a loyal reader
of Circuit Cellar since like forever!

BTW the list software is having a couple of problems:

1) It's sends a nastygram no matter what you send to it.
2) It doesn't show any messages you send to the list. There is a option
   you can send to the list so that it'll resend anything it sends out
   to the constituency back to you. I've simply started using the nastygram
   as a confirmation of receipt.

>
>
> Greetings!
>
> A few people have inquired about a source for light sensors which are
> usable with PIC's.  I have done some work in this area, and have found
> the TI "light-to-frequency" chips quite useful.  These 8-pin DIP's
> output a variable pulse rate depending upon the light level they see.
> It is a simple matter to connect their digital output to a PIC input
> bit and measure the frequency of the pulse train, and hence the light
> level.

Can I ask a dumb question? If one was in a hurry and wanted to just
detect large gradations of light and dark, hard hard would it be to
just set up a 555 in astable mode with the sensor as the feed resistor
from V+ to pin 7? Then the lighter it gets the faster the astable runs right?
It's less than $5 of Rat Shack parts.

Just a thought,

BAJ