IR detectors are specially filtered for Infrared light, they are not good at detecting visible light. On the other hand, photocells are good at detecting yellow/green visible light, not good at IR light
IR detectors have a?demodulator inside that looks for modulated IR at 38 kHz. Just shining an IR LED won’t be detected, it has to be PWM blinking at 38KHz. Photocells do not have any sort of demodulator and can detect any frequency (including DC) within the response speed of the photocell (which is about 1KHz)
IR detectors are digital out – either they detect 38KHz IR signal and output low (0V) or they do not detect any and output high (5V). Photocells act like resistors, the resistance changes depending on how much light they are exposed to
Output:?0V (low) on detection of 38KHz carrier, 5V (high) otherwise
Sensitivity range:?800nm to 1100nm with a peak response at 940nm. Frequency range is 35KHz to 41KHz with peak detection at 38KHz
