Daylight Detector

Daylight Detector

Type	Block Entity
Requirements	None
Physics	No
Transparency	Yes
Luminance	No
Blast resistance	1
Hardness	0.2
Tool
Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No, but catches fire from lava
First appearances	See History
Drops	Itself
Block entity id	?
Data values	See Data values
Name	See Data values

	“	We're big fans of the daylight sensor, seeing as it can sense when night falls and automatically close your doors, stopping mobs from getting in. Very handy if you're crafting in your basement and lose track of time!	„
		— Tom Stone

A daylight detector^{[Java Edition only]} or daylight sensor^{[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]} is a block that outputs a redstone signal based on sunlight (or lack thereof).

Obtaining

Daylight sensors can be broken fairly easily by hand, but can be broken faster by using an axe. Inverted daylight sensors cannot be collected directly, and they will drop a regular daylight sensor.

Block	Daylight Sensor
Hardness	0.2
Tool
Breaking time
Hand	0.35
Wooden	0.2
Stone	0.1
Iron	0.05
Diamond	0.05
Golden	0.05

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Glass + Nether Quartz + Any wood Slab

Usage

See also: Tutorials/Daylight sensor

Redstone component

Graphed daylight sensor output in clear weather.

See also: Redstone circuit

A daylight sensor can be used to produce redstone power in proportion to the daylight or night time.

A daylight sensor is 0.375 blocks high (3/8ths of a block). Daylight sensors cannot be moved by pistons.^{[Java and Legacy Console editions only]} Water and lava will flow around daylight sensors without affecting them.

Placement

To place a daylight sensor, use the "Use Item/Place Block" control (right-click, by default).

A daylight sensor can be "inverted", which reverses the power levels produced by the daylight sensor. To invert a daylight sensor, use the "Use Item/Place Block" control (right-click, by default).

Activation

A daylight sensor activates when exposed to sufficient daylight (daylight detector mode) or when its sky light level drops to 0 ( inverted daylight detector mode).

An inverted daylight sensor activates when exposure to daylight is low enough (inverted daylight detector mode).

Sources of block light (torches, glowstone, etc.) cannot activate a daylight sensor.

Behavior

An active daylight sensor:

• powers adjacent redstone dust, including below it, and redstone comparators facing away from the daylight sensor, to a power level that depends on the time of day, the weather, and the daylight sensor's sky light level (see tables below)
• powers adjacent redstone repeaters facing away from the daylight sensor to power level 15
• activates adjacent redstone mechanisms, including above and below, such as pistons, redstone lamps, etc.

A daylight sensor has no effect on other adjacent blocks (for example, it cannot power a block the way a repeater can).

Daylight Sensor

If a daylight sensor has an opaque block above it, then it will emit a weaker signal, or none at all, as it is directly proportional to the sky light.

The daylight sensor power level should be 0 from time 13680 to 22340.

Daylight sensor power levels

Power	Clear			Rain			Thunder
	Time reached	Time dissipates	Light levels	Time reached	Time dissipates	Light levels	Time reached	Time dissipates	Light levels
0	N/A	N/A	4–5	N/A	N/A	4–5	N/A	N/A	4–5
1	22340	13680	4–7	22340	13680	4–7	22340	13680	4–6
2	22800	13220	7–9	22800	13220	6–8	22960	13060	6–8
3	23080	12940	9–11	23240	12780	8–10	23360	12660	7–8
4	23300	12720	11–12	23520	12500	9–11	23700	12300	8–10
5	23540	12480	12–13	23760	12260	10–12	60	11940	10
6	23780	12240	13–14	0	12020	11–12	460	11560	10
7	23960	12040	15	400	11620	12	1040	10980	10
8	180	11840	15	900	11120	12	1740	10280	10
9	540	11480	15	1440	10580	12	2620	9400	10
10	940	11080	15	2080	9940	12	3960	8060	10
11	1380	10640	15	2880	9140	12	N/A	N/A	N/A
12	1880	10140	15	4120	7900	12	N/A	N/A	N/A
13	2460	9560	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
14	3180	8840	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
15	4300	7720	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Inverted Daylight Sensor

Using a daylight sensor will invert it. However, the output of the inverted sensor is not a simple inversion of the daylight sensor's output; it uses a much simpler algorithm that depends only on the level of light from the sky. Specifically, it outputs a signal strength of 15 minus the current light level, meaning that an inverted daylight sensor will actually output a strength of 11 at midnight, if it has line of sight with the sky. The effects of shade are applied before inverting, so shade increases the signal strength when it isn't already full, and prevents it from reaching zero.

The inverted daylight sensor cannot be obtained as an item. Mining an inverted daylight sensor will simply drop a regular daylight sensor.

Fuel

Daylight sensors can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 1.5 items per block.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Block	ID Name
Daylight Detector	daylight_detector

Bedrock Edition:

Block	ID Name	Numeral ID
Daylight Sensor	daylight_detector	151
Inverted Daylight Sensor	daylight_detector_inverted	178

Block data

See also: Data values

In Bedrock Edition, a daylight sensor's block data stores its power level:

Bits	Values
0x1 0x2 0x4 0x8	Four bits storing a value from 0 to 15 representing the daylight sensor's current redstone power level.

Block state

See also: Block states

Name	Value	Description
inverted	true false	If true, the daylight detector is inverted.
power	0–15	The current redstone power level produced by the daylight sensor.

Block entity

See also: Block entity format

A daylight sensor has a block entity associated with it which stores only its entity id and position (the minimum data for a block entity). Although the daylight sensor's block entity stores no additional data, the block entity ensures that the daylight sensor is updated every game tick. The block's block entity ID is daylight_detector.

• 
  Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template

Video

Note: This video is outdated, as it was made before 14w31a where daylight sensors could be inverted.

History

Alpha
July 6, 2010					Notch suggests that he may implement daylight sensors.
Java Edition
November 24, 2012					Jeb stated that there may be a daylight detector.
January 2, 2013					Jeb tweeted an image of the daylight detector.
1.5			13w01a		Daylight sensors were added to the game.
1.8			14w31a		Daylight sensors can now be toggled between day/night by using them.
1.9			15w47a		Daylight sensors no longer emit signal during the night when sufficiently shaded.
					Inverted daylight sensor now emits a variable signal at night.
1.11			16w32a		The block entity ID is changed from DLDetector to daylight_detector.
1.13			17w47a		The different block IDs for the daylight detector got merged into one ID.
					Added inverted block state.
					Renamed to daylight detector.
					Prior to The Flattening, these blocks' numeral IDs were 151 and 178.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.13.0			build 1		Added daylight sensors.
0.15.0			build 1		Daylight sensors can now be moved by pistons.
Legacy Console Edition
TU19	CU7	1.12	Patch 1		Added daylight sensors.
TU25	CU14	1.17			Daylight sensors can now be toggled between day/night by using them.

Gallery

• 

  The 13w01a snapshot image released by Mojang.

Issues

Issues relating to "Daylight Detector" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

References

Redstone

View at: Template:Redstone/content [edit]

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]