After using Home Assistant for a couple of years I decided that I wanted a way to turn my exterior lighting ON and OFF based upon the light level outside. Up to this point I had been using Home Assistant's Sun integration to detect Sunrise and Sunset and set my exterior lighting accordingly.

But like anything related to home automation I began to think of improvements and decided it would be even better if the exterior lighting would turn ON and OFF based on the outdoor light level. This would allow the lights to come ON when a storm was brewing and the sky became cloudy and dark. Or have the lighting turn OFF a bit later when there was an early morning rain storm with cloudy skies.

So, I decided to piece together a simple LUX Sensor that I could integrate into Home Assistant. Having used the ESPHome integration with Home Assistant for other projects I thought this would be another fun project.

I purchased some new parts and used other parts that I already had in my spare parts collection and came up with a LUX Sensor that sits on a window sill and observes the light level outdoors.