-->September 6th, 2025<--
Thank you to GolfCharlie and Claude Code for fixing the code to work with the newly changed FAA API! They have saved a lot of time. A new image has been created and will be uploaded today and available later tonight. If you don't want or need the image, you can visit https://github.com/markyharris/livesectional and incorporate the changes into your board now.
--->September 5th, 2025<--
There has been another change to the FAA API which has again broke the map. We are currently working on this. Check back for fix. If you have the fix please post it. - Mark
Hi, I recently ordered a light sensor to dim/brighten my sectional when the lights are turned on/off. Unfortunately, even after adjusting the potentiometer, the ambient light difference between having my lights on in the day and off at night does not appear to be enough to trigger a "dark" signal. Only by shining a flashlight directly at the diode can I trigger a response. Perhaps I just have a defective unit (in which case perhaps someone can suggest a better alternative), but seeing as the sensor has both digital and analog outputs, is there a way to reconfigure the LiveSectional code to turn the lights off when ambient light is below a certain (analog) value as opposed to a digital 0/1? If so, how would I go about doing that?
Hi dhacks,
There is a little screw on the unit that you can turn to control the sensitivity. And two LED's one power indicator and one for sensitivity adjustment. So monitor that LED while turning the little screw to set it where you would like it.
Also, if you want to turn the lights off then you can change the settings under 'Sectional Map Settings'. Towards the bottom is a setting called 'Low Brightness' that the software uses when it sees low ambient light as sensed by the ambient light sensor. So put that down to 0. No need to change the code itself. - Mark
@liveadmin @markyharris thanks for the quick responses. Unfortunately I have already tried adjusting the potentiometer, and even if I tune the LED so that it is barely on in ambient light, it stays on even in pitch black. My sensor does look a bit different to the one you attached, however:
Perhaps I need a different sensor?
I've not used this style. But I can tell you that you need to be using the DO (digital out) terminal and not the AO (analog out) for the software to work. So if by chance you have wired it via the AO, change it to DO and see what happens. If this doesn't achieve the desired results, then get one like what we list from Amazon. - Mark
