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How to Craft Daylight Detector in Minecraft

Daylight Detector in Minecraft, drawn from the game's own block model. Emitting redstone signal based on time of day.

Stand at a Crafting Table with 3 Glass, 3 Nether Quartz, and 3 Wooden Slabs and you can make a Daylight Detector. Copy this shape: three Glass filling the top row, three Nether Quartz filling the middle row, and three Wooden Slabs filling the bottom row. One go makes 1 Daylight Detector. Short on coal? 300 ticks each means 43 Daylight Detectors smelt 64 items.

Daylight Detector Item ID and Give Command

The item ID for Daylight Detector is minecraft:daylight_detector. In commands the namespace may be left off, so daylight_detector works too. Checked against Minecraft Java 26.2.

Give yourself one
/give @p daylight_detector
Give a full stack of 64
/give @p daylight_detector 64
Give it to a named player
/give Steve daylight_detector 1

Cheats have to be on for Daylight Detector to appear this way, and the same command works on Bedrock Edition, where the name is written the same.

Overview

Daylight Detectors emit redstone signals based on sunlight level. Right-click to switch between day and night mode. Daylight Detector uses a shaped recipe: the ingredients only work in the pattern shown.

The daylight detector was already in the game in Minecraft 1.12, the release that first filed recipes as data, so this recipe is at least that old.

The materials come together from a few sources: you will be working with glass (smelt sand), nether quartz (mine in the Nether), and wooden slab (craft from planks).

The Stack Arithmetic

Bring 64 glass, leave with 21 daylight detectors, after 21 rounds of 3 for 1. The recipe wants 63 nether quartz beside it. You keep 1 glass for later.

Materials Needed

ItemAmountWhere to Find
Glass3xSmelt sand
Nether QuartzNether QuartzNether Quartz3xMine in the Nether
Wooden Slab3xCraft from planks

Collect 3x Glass (smelt sand), 3x Nether Quartz (mine in the Nether), and 3x Wooden Slab (craft from planks) first; the Crafting Table does the rest.

The Full Chain

3 Sand makes 3 Glass, the one part of this you craft rather than gather. All in: 3 Nether Quartz, 3 Wooden Slab and 3 Sand.

  1. 1
    33GlassFurnace, repeat 3x
  2. 2
    Daylight Detectorthis page

Gather this first

Nether QuartzNether Quartz3Nether Quartz3Wooden Slab3Sand

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    3x Glass

  2. 2

    Nether QuartzNether Quartz3x Nether Quartz

  3. 3

    3x Wooden Slab

  4. 4

    Daylight Detector

Minecraft crafting recipe for Daylight Detector: 3 x Glass, 3 x Nether Quartz, 3 x Wooden Slab in a crafting table, making 1 Daylight Detector.

Tips & Notes

  • Line up 3x Glass, 3x Nether Quartz, and 3x Wooden Slab before you open the Crafting Table. Glass: smelt sand.

Uses for Daylight Detector

  • Emitting redstone signal based on time of day
  • Automatic lighting systems

View detailed item stats, durability and properties for Daylight Detector on the Astroworld Items Database.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to craft a Daylight Detector in Minecraft?
a Daylight Detector asks for 3 Glass, 3 Nether Quartz and 3 Wooden Slabs, and the work happens at a Crafting Table. The pattern above is exact, so match it square by square, and one craft produces one Daylight Detector.
What do you need to make a Daylight Detector from scratch?
Starting with nothing, a Daylight Detector costs 3 Nether Quartz, 3 Wooden Slabs and 3 Sand. Everything else in the recipe is something you craft on the way there, over 2 crafts in total.
Can you craft a Daylight Detector without a crafting table?
Not this one: a Daylight Detector will not fit the inventory grid. It is laid out as three Glass filling the top row, three Nether Quartz filling the middle row, and three Wooden Slabs filling the bottom row, and that takes 3 rows, more than the 2x2 grid in your inventory can hold.
Where do you find the materials for a Daylight Detector?
Each ingredient in a Daylight Detector has its own source. Glass: smelt sand. Nether Quartz: mine in the Nether. Wooden Slab: craft from planks.
How many Daylight Detectors do you get from one craft?
The Daylight Detector recipe makes one Daylight Detector per craft.
What is the item ID for Daylight Detector in Minecraft?
The Daylight Detector item ID is minecraft:daylight_detector, and in a command you can drop the namespace and write daylight_detector on its own. Checked against Java 26.2.
What is the give command for Daylight Detector?
Use /give @p daylight_detector to put a Daylight Detector in your own inventory, or /give @p daylight_detector 64 for a full stack of 64. Cheats have to be on.
What version of Minecraft added the Daylight Detector?
The daylight detector was there from Minecraft 1.12, the release in which recipes were first written down at all, which puts it older than the record itself. The current release still makes a Daylight Detector exactly that way.

Sources

How far back it goes
Present in Minecraft Java 1.12, the oldest release whose recipes exist to check. From all 163 released Java clients, rd-132211 to 26.2.
Stack size, burn time
The Astroworld Items Database, built from the same jar.
The recipe book unlock
What unlocks it in the recipe book. Java 26.2.
The stack sum
Counted, not played: 1 Daylight Detector per craft against the stack size.

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