iPhone 11, iPad Air 4th generation for daily shooting and Honor Magic5 for shooting street lights and outdoor lighting.

I have replaced all the devices. Now I'm using the new iPhone 17 Pro and Sony Alpha 9M2 to take both photos and videos(Sony for HID run-up tests and iPhone for other videos). Since my camera is also used to take pictures of trains, I chose one that has a faster shutter speed and a relatively lower price.

Switzerland is banning all HID lamps after February 2027. The national ChemRVV directive concerning the Mercury content in lamps is not going to be extended after that date. That means all imports of HID lamps will be ceased.

Ok, now I have reached pure anxiety!

Last month, Philips and its CFLi OEM, Yankon Lighting, stopped producing CFLi at the same time. China Customs also issued an announcement stating that the import and export of such products will be prohibited in 2026. As the existing stock depleting, it will become increasingly difficult to buy CFLs with built-in circuits from well-known brands domestically or from foreign countries. Apart from China, Japan and several other nearby countries have announced similar production halt regulations. I’m not sure which countries still sell them currently.

I want to tap the output of the chip directly, triggering the relay through a MOSFET to avoid overloading the IC.

Depends what exactly the chip outputs, it may not be possible to tap it directly.
The chip may be a clone of the common LM8560 (as it was extremely popular and many clones under various names were made over the nearly half century since it was introduced), but also may be something completely different.
So we really need the circuit around the alarm output/control.

Also take into consideration, most clock radios do not have any real buzzer, but use the audio amplifier section of the radio for that function, that is why I asked also for the part controlling the power for the radio.


In an example of a very common circuit used with the LM8560 we would be looking for the D14, R16(?), C22 and Q3 - these are responsible for switching power to the radio. And also here the "buzzer" function goes via the radio chip by injecting the AL_OUT signal into the power amplifier input via C37 and R29.
Something similar I would also expect in your device, so you need to redraw the related circuitry...

I want to tap the output of the chip directly, triggering the relay through a MOSFET to avoid overloading the IC.

Okay, so we understand your *intentions* but what is the actual question?

Chip that is used seems to be obscure on the internet so no luck. You *have* to do some reverse engineering. Power supply voltage, polarity. Draw the circuit around alarm pin output, the switch, and buzzer. That's all rather simple.

Then that’s what we are doing!

Here I would say two smaller ones. The efficiency will be slightly lower, but as long as you have enough lamps it won't matter.

Alright, I think that's what I'll go with.

It looks like LM8560 style output, so with the output generating the 900Hz signal, gated by 2Hz to generate the beeping...
In the radio control path there will be some kind of filter, turning the 900Hz into a solid steady voltage. You may need something similar for the relay. The time constant depends whether you want the light solid ON (then it needs to cover more than 0.5s) or flashing (cover just the 2ms).
Example is drawn in the page 4 of the LM8560 datasheet (assume it is its clone or something with similar output).

Off topic for a sec: I'm into sportcars, muscle cars, various trucks and motorcycles. I do own a custom Hyundai Genesis Coupe that I've owned since 2021.
Not a daily car by any means, but certainly fast and fun, when warranted. (Racing, shifting through the gears, insane turbo sounds on the highway... etc.)
What BMW do you have, @SussexEuroSOX?
Back on topic: I did not get the Sweet Potato Pie, but I will likely be on the journey for one, tomorrow morning, taking the Genesis. I've never tried
the Sweet Potato Pie from Meijers, so I'm interested in going there tomorrow to pick one up and try it out, reporting my results here.
Pumpkin pie also sounds delicious right now as well, also with whipped cream.