Hi
I have recently made a simple sensor light for the garage, operated by a picaxe 18A on a CHI 030 high power protoboard. The 12volt PIR detector power is connected to one of the FETs to save power so that I can program it only to run at night. Light levels are sensed by an L.D.R.
The protoboard has obviously had the resistor cut as to run the FETs off 12volt. The picaxe is running on 5volt through a voltage regulator, as the main power source is a 12volt battery.
Light is provided by a 12volt 50watt halogen light controlled by a relay.
...Thats the technical specs
The problem I have had is, once programmed , with my laptop still plugged in (on site with all lights etc plugged into the protoboard) The light works fine (switches on when I walk in front of it etc) However when I unplug my computer the program stops working...
The picaxe seems to run without the computer plugged in on more simple programs but just not the most recent one. It seems like it needs to be plugged it when using the L.D.R? As the other programs I have tested not using the L.D.R seem to work.
Does anyone know what effect the computer could be having on the circuit? I am not sure what the next step is as I know the program works, as it runs fine when my computer is plugged in?
Thanks very much for your help.
I have recently made a simple sensor light for the garage, operated by a picaxe 18A on a CHI 030 high power protoboard. The 12volt PIR detector power is connected to one of the FETs to save power so that I can program it only to run at night. Light levels are sensed by an L.D.R.
The protoboard has obviously had the resistor cut as to run the FETs off 12volt. The picaxe is running on 5volt through a voltage regulator, as the main power source is a 12volt battery.
Light is provided by a 12volt 50watt halogen light controlled by a relay.
...Thats the technical specs
The problem I have had is, once programmed , with my laptop still plugged in (on site with all lights etc plugged into the protoboard) The light works fine (switches on when I walk in front of it etc) However when I unplug my computer the program stops working...
The picaxe seems to run without the computer plugged in on more simple programs but just not the most recent one. It seems like it needs to be plugged it when using the L.D.R? As the other programs I have tested not using the L.D.R seem to work.
Does anyone know what effect the computer could be having on the circuit? I am not sure what the next step is as I know the program works, as it runs fine when my computer is plugged in?
Thanks very much for your help.