Sensors that can detect sunlight have been around for some time in Minecraft, but thanks to the game's 1.8 update, you can easily turn them into night lights. This feature is also available on the console editions, but not on the Minecraft Pocket Edition or the beta edition for Windows 10.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Using a Photosensitive Sensor
Step 1. Dig some Underworld Quartz
The photosensitive sensor allows you to create a "night light" in a very simple way, but you have to open a portal to the Underworld to find the elements needed to create it. It is not difficult to find some Underworld quartz in that dimension, but be prepared to fight against fearsome opponents. Each sensor requires three crystals.
If you are still unable to venture into the Underworld, try the homemade sensor section below
Step 2. Build the photosensitive sensor
You need the following items:
- Three glass blocks in the first row
- Three Underworld quartzes in the middle row
- Three wooden slabs ("non" planks) in the lowest row
Step 3. Place the sensor
Put it wherever you like. It is a mid-height block, with a beige top surface. By default it provides power when it captures sunlight. The brighter the natural lighting, the stronger the signal.
Step 4. Transform the sensor to detect the arrival of night
There are two ways to do this:
- Surround it with opaque blocks. In this way the sensor sends energy only at night, peaking at midnight (time 17780–18240).
- Or right click to make it an inverted sensor (blue surface). This allows you to send a more powerful signal when it gets dark. Contrary to the night sensor, this device can also give energy during a thunderstorm or a rainy day.
Step 5. Connect the sensor to a red stone lamp
Use a redstone circuit to do this. According to the sensor used, the lamp will turn on at night or when the sensor is in the dark.
- To create a redstone lamp, surround a lightstone block with four redstone powders.
- Night sensors (but not inverted ones) light up intermittently if the lamp they are connected to is exposed to the sky or a window. Place the lamp in a windowless room to prevent this problem or right click on the sensor to reverse it.
Step 6. Adjust sensor firing times
These devices don't just have two states. They gradually increase and decrease their energy production over the course of the day and night. To make the lamp turn on a few minutes before sunset, shorten the red stone circuit that connects it to the sensor or insert repeaters to amplify the signal. To keep the lamp on longer at night, lengthen the circuit.
- To build a redstone repeater, place redstone in the center of the crafting grid with a redstone torch on each side, on top of three stone blocks.
- Redstone repeaters must be oriented. Make sure you place them so that the signal goes in the right direction.
Part 2 of 2: Project Examples for Photosensitive Sensors
Step 1. Create power lines from a single sensor
You can power any number of redstone lamps from a single photosensitive sensor. Right click to reverse the sensor, then draw a red stone line extending on either side of it. Start short sections of red stone from these lines and place a lamp at the end of each circuit. When you have reached the limit of the sensor (the red stone no longer lights up), insert a repeater into the circuit to continue.
Remember that the signal decreases as natural light increases. If the circuit is very long, the lamps furthest from the sensor will go out first when dawn arrives
Step 2. Build some street lights
Stack three or four fence posts to create a tall lamppost and top it off with a red stone lamp. Put some red stone on top of the lamp and a photosensitive sensor on top of the stone. Surround the red stone with more lamps to light up more, then right click on the sensor to reverse it.
Step 3. Make street lights without red stone
You can place redstone lamps directly next to a night sensor to power them, without having to use redstone "cables". Plunge the sensor two blocks into the floor, wall or ceiling to give the impression that the lamps are part of the room itself.
Advice
- The same system can be attached to any redstone powered object. Connect a photosensitive sensor to an iron gate that automatically closes when monsters arrive.
- Don't rely entirely on this lighting system. Also use other lights to avoid trouble in case monsters destroy your system.
