The improved BF5 Sunshine Sensor is a versatile, multi-purpose solar radiation sensor. It uses an array of photodiodes with a unique computer-generated shading pattern to measure incident solar radiation. A microprocessor calculates the global and diffuse components of the radiation and determines the sunshine state. The BF5 is protected by patents EP 1012633 and US 6417500.

Two analogue voltage outputs give global and diffuse radiation, from which direct and diffuse radiation are derived. The sunshine state is represented by a digital output. The three outputs can be connected to appropriate channels on the GP1 or DL2e data loggers, or other loggers commonly used for environmental monitoring.

• Measures global and diffuse radiation, and sunshine duration
• PAR reference sensor for SunScan System
• No moving parts, shade rings or motorised tracking
• Outputs can be PAR (mmol.m-2.s-1), Energy (W.m-2) or Lux
• New model includes heater as standard