Solar Cell Battery Chargers

Solar Panals are basically a current limited device. Therefore the output voltage will pull down accordingly, as the load increases.

ANTISLEEP ALARM FOR STUDENTS

This circuit saves both time and electricity for students. It helps to prevent them from
dozing off while studying, by sounding a beep at a fixed time interval, say, 30 minutes. If the student is awake during the beep, he can reset the circuit to beep in the next 30 minutes. If the timer is not reset during this time, it means the student is in deep sleep or not in the room, and the circuit switches off the light and fan in the room, thus preventing the wastage of electricity. The circuit is built around Schmitt-trigger NAND gate IC CD4093 (IC1), timer IC CD4020 (IC2), transistors BC547, relay RL1 and buzzer. The Schmitt-trigger NAND gate (IC1) is configured as an astable multivibrator to generate clock for the timer (IC2). The time period can be calculated as T=1.38XRXC. If R=R1+VR1=15 kilo-ohms and C=C2=10 CD4020 (IC2) is a F, you'll get 'T' as 0.21 second. Timer IC 14-stage ripple counter.

Around half an hour after the reset of IC1, transistors T1, T2 and T3 drive the buzzer to sound an intermediate beep. If IC2 is not reset through S1 at that time, around one minute later the output of gate N4 goes high and transistor T4 conducts. As the output of gate N4 is connected to the clock input (pin 10) of IC2 through diode D3, further counting stops and relay RL1 energises to deactivate all the appliances. This state changes only when IC1 is reset by pressing switch S1. Assemble the circuit on a general-purpose PCB and enclose it in a suitable cabinet. Mount switch S1 and the buzzer on the front panel and the relay at the back side of the box. Place the 12V battery in the cabinet for powering the circuit. In place of the battery, you can also use a 12V DC adaptor.

PYROELECTRIC FIRE ALARM

Here is an ultra-sensitive fire sensor that exploits the direct piezoelectric property of an
ordinary piezo element to detect fire. The lead zirconate titanate crystals in the piezo element have the property to deform and generate an electric potential when heated, thus converting the piezo element into a heat sensor. The circuit described here is very sensitive. It gives a warning alarm if the room temperature increases more than 10C. The entire circuit has two sectionsthe sensor and the power supply section. Sensor side circuit. Fig. 1 shows the fire sensor circuit. The front end of the circuit has a sensitive signal amplifier built around IC1 (CA3130). It gives a high output when temperature near the piezo element increases. IC CA3130 is a CMOS operational amplifier with gate protected p-channel MOSFETs in the inputs. It has high speed of performance and low input current requirements. There are two inputs- the non-inverting input (pin 3) connected to the piezo element through diode D7 (OA71) that carries the voltage signal from the piezo element and the inverting input (pin 2) that gets a preset voltage through VR1.

Fig. 1: Pyroelectric fire sensor By adjusting VR1, it is easy to set the reference voltage level at pin 2. In normal condition, IC1 gives a low output and the remaining circuitry is in a standby state. Capacitor C2 keeps the non-inverting input of IC1 stable, so that even a slight change in voltage level in the inputs can change the output to high. Normally, IC1 gives a low output, keeping transistor T1 non-conducting. Reseting pin 12 of IC2 (CD4060) connected to the collector of transistor T1 gets a high voltage through R5 and IC2 remains disabled. When the piezo element gets heat from fire, asymmetry in its crystals causes a potential change, enabling capacitor C2 to discharge. It momentarily changes the voltage level at pin 3 of IC1 and its output swings high. Transistor T1 conducts taking the reset pin 12 of IC2 to ground. IC2 is now enabled and starts oscillating. With the shown values of the oscillating components C3 (0.22) and R6 1M), the first output (Q3) turns high after a few seconds and a red LED2 starts flashing. If heat near the piezo persists, Q7 (pin 14) output of IC2 becomes high after one minute, and the alarm starts beeping. If heat continues, Q9 (pin 15) turns high after four minutes and turns on the relay driver transistor T2. At the same time, diode D8 conducts and IC2 stops oscillating and toggles. The solenoid pump connected to the N/O (normally opened) contact of the relay starts spraying the fire-ceasing foam or water to the possible sites of fire.

Power supply circuit. Power supply section (Fig. 2) comprises a 0-12V, 1A step-down transformer with a standard full-wave rectifier formed by D1 through D4 and filter capacitor C1. A battery backup is provided if the mains supply is cut-off due to short-circuit and fire. A 12V, 4.5Ah rechargeable battery is used for backup to give sufficient current to the solenoid pump. When mains power is available, diode D5 forward biases. It provides power to the circuit and also charges the battery through resistor R2, and it limits the charging current to 120 mA. When power fails, diode D5 reverse biases and diode D6 forward biases, giving instant backup to the circuit. LED1 indicates the availability of mains power.

Fig. 2: Power supply with battery backup Assemble the circuit on a general-purpose PCB and enclose it in a suitable case. Connect the piezo element to the circuit using a thin insulated wire. Glue the flat side of the piezo element on a 30X 30cm aluminium sheet to increase its sensitivity. Fix the sheet with the piezo sensor to the site where protection is needed. The remaining circuit can be fixed at a suitable place. If only the alarm generator is needed, omit the relay driver section.

Night Alert Idea of this circuit came to me a midnight when my pet dog started barking continuously
on sensing a moving shadow, perhaps that of an intruder. Dogs have a night adaptation capability to maximise the sensitivity of vision in low light. They are well adapted to see moving objects rather than stationary ones in darkness. This circuit turns a lamp on for a short duration when the dog barks, giving an impression that the occupant have been alerted.The condenser microphone fitted in the dogs cage senses barking sound and generates AC signals, which pass through DC blocking capacitor C1 to the base of transistor BC549 (T1). Transistor T1 along with transistor T2 amplifies the sound signals and provides current pulses from the collector of T2. The input trigger pulse is applied to the collector of transistor T3 and coupled by capacitor C3 to the base of transistor T4 causing T4 to cut off. The collector voltage of transistor T4 forward biases transistor T3 via resistor R8. Transistor T1 conducts and capacitor C3 discharges to keep transistor T4 cut-off. Transistor T4 remains cut-off until capacitor C3 charges enough to enable it to conduct. When transistor T4 conducts, its collector voltage goes low to drive transistor T3 into cut-off state. Resistor R9 and capacitor C3 are timing components. When fully charged, capacitor C3 takes about two minutes to discharge. So when sound is produced in front of the condenser mic, triac1 (BT136) fires and the bulb (B1) glows for about two minutes. Assemble the circuit on a general purpose PCB and enclose in a plastic cabinet. Power to the circuit can be derived from a 12V, 500mA step-down transformer with rectifier and smoothing capacitor. Solder the triac ensuring sufficient spacing between the pins to avoid short circuit. Fix the unit in the dogs cage, with the lamp inside or outside as desired.Connect the microphone to the circuit using a short length of shielded wire. Enclose the microphone in a tube to increase its sensitivity.

Caution. Since the circuit uses 230V AC, many of its points are at AC mains voltage. It could give you lethal shock if you are not careful. So if you dont know much about working with line voltages, do not attempt to construct this circuit. EFY will not be responsible for any kind of resulting loss or damage.

FIRE ALARM

With the onset of summer, chances of fire accidents increase. Such fire accidents can be
prevented if timely alarms are available. The circuit presented here warns the user against such fire accidents. The circuit should be placed in fire-prone areas such as a kitchen.

Everyone is aware that when anything catches fire, smoke is produced. When this smoke passes between a bulb and an LDR, the amount of light falling on the LDR decreases. This causes the resistance of LDR to increase and the voltage at pin 2 of IC 555 goes below 1/3 Vcc. thus triggering IC 555 which is used here in bistable mode. As a result the voltage of pin 3 goes high. This high voltage (approximately +9V) completes the supply to the COB (chip-on-board). Different COBs are available in the market to generate different sounds. However, one may select a COB which generates sound such as aag lag gai hai. The signal generated by COB is amplified by an audio amplifier. In this circuit, the audio power amplifier is wired around IC2 TDA 2002. The sensitivity of the circuit depends on the distance between bulb and LDR as well as setting of preset VR1. Thus by placing the bulb and the LDR at appropriate distances, one may vary preset VR1 to get optimum sensitivity. Reset switch S1 is provided in the circuit to switch off the alarm after the fire has been noticed by the user.

FIRE ALARM USING THERMISTOR

In this fire alarm circuit, a thermistor works as the heat sensor. When temperature
increases, its resistance decreases, and vice versa. At normal temperature, the resistance of the thermistor (TH1) is approximately 10 kilo-ohms, which reduces to a few ohms as the temperature increases beyond 100C. The circuit uses readily available components and can be easily constructed on any general-purpose PCB.

Timer IC NE555 (IC1) is wired as an astable multivibrator oscillating in audio frequency band. Switching transistors T1 and T2 drive multivibrator NE555 (IC1). The output of IC1 is connected to npn transistor T3, which drives the loudspeaker (LS1) to generate sound. The frequency of IC1 depends on the values of resistors R5 and R6 and capacitor C2. When thermistor TH1 becomes hot, it provides a low-resistance path to extend positive voltage to the base of transistor T1 via diode D1 and resistor R2. Capacitor C1 charges up to the positive voltage and increases the on time of alarm. The higher the value of capacitor C1, the higher the forward voltage applied to the base of transistor T1 (BC548). Since the collector of transistor T1 is connected to the base of transistor T2, transistor T2 provides positive voltage to reset pin 4 of IC1 (NE555). Resistor R4 is used such that IC1 remains inactive in the absence of positive voltage. Diode D1 stops discharging of capacitor C1 when the thermistor connected to the positive supply cools down and provides a highresistance (10-kilo-ohm) path. It also stops the conduction of T1. To prevent the thermistor from melting, wrap it up in mica tape. The circuit works off a 6V-12V regulated power supply. LED1 is used to indicate that power to the circuit is switched on.

MOBILE CELLPHONE CHARGER

C harging of the cellphone battery is a big problem while travelling as

power supply

source is not generally accessible. If you keep your cellphone switched on continuously, its battery will go flat within five to six hours, making the cellphone useless. A fully charged battery becomes necessary especially when your distance from the nearest relay station increases. Heres a simple charger that replenishes the cellphone battery within two to three hours.

Basically, the charger is a current-limited voltage source. Generally, cellphone battery packs require 3.6-6V DC and 180-200mA current for charging. These usually contain three NiCd cells, each having 1.2V rating. Current of 100mA is sufficient for charging the cellphone battery at a slow rate. A 12V battery containing eight pen cells gives sufficient current (1.8A) to charge the battery connected across the output terminals. The circuit also monitors the voltage level of the battery. It automatically cuts off the charging process when its output terminal voltage increases above the predetermined voltage level. Timer IC NE555 is used to charge and monitor the voltage level in the battery. Control voltage pin 5 of IC1 is provided with a reference voltage of 5.6V by zener diode ZD1. Threshold pin 6 is supplied with a voltage set by VR1 and trigger pin 2 is supplied with a voltage set by VR2.

When the discharged cellphone battery is connected to the circuit, the voltage given to trigger pin 2 of IC1 is below 1/3Vcc and hence the flip-flop in the IC is switched on to take output pin 3 high. When the battery is fully charged, the output terminal voltage increases the voltage at pin 2 of IC1 above the trigger point threshold. This switches off the flip-flop and the output goes low to terminate the charging process. Threshold pin 6 of IC1 is referenced at 2/3Vcc set by VR1. Transistor T1 is used to enhance the charging current. Value of R3 is critical in providing the required current for charging. With the given value of 39-ohm the charging current is around 180 mA. The circuit can be constructed on a small general-purpose PCB. For calibration of cut-off voltage level, use a variable DC power source. Connect the output terminals of the circuit to the variable power supply set at 7V. Adjust VR1 in the middle position and slowly adjust VR2 until LED1 goes off, indicating low output. LED1 should turn on when the voltage of the variable power supply reduces below 5V. Enclose the circuit in a small plastic case and use suitable connector for connecting to the cellphone battery. Note. At EFY lab, the circuit was tested with a Motorola make cellphone battery rated at 3.6V, 320 mAH. In place of 5.6V zener, a 3.3V zener diode was used. The charging current measured was about 200 mA.The status of LED1 is shown in the table.

Telephone Amplifier
While talking to a distant sub- scriber on telephone, quite often we feel frustrated when the voice of the distant subscriber is so faint that it is barely intelligible. To overcome the problem, circuit of an inexpensive amplifier is presented here. It can be assembled and tested easily. There is no extra power source needed to power up the circuit, as it draws power from the telephone line itself. The amplifier will provide fairly good volume for the telephone conversation to be properly heard in a living room. A volume control is included to adjust the volume as desired. The circuit is built around IC LM386. Diodes D6 and D7 are used to limit the input signal strength. Transformer X1 is a transistor radios output transformer used in reverse. As original secondary (output) winding is connected in series with the telephone lines, the speech signals passing through the lines cause change in the magnetic flux in the core of transformer and thereby induce signal voltage across the primary winding. This audio signal is used as input for IC LM386. Diodes D2 through D5 connected in bridge configuration constitute a polarity guard so that the amplifier is powered with correct polarity, irrespective of the line polarity, Zener diode D1 may have any breakdown voltage between 6 and 12 volts range. There is no need of a separate power switch as the circuit energises (via the normally open contacts of the cradle switch) when one lifts the handset. The circuit may be wired on a general-purpose PCB or by etching a PCB for this circuit. The circuit can be easily tested by connecting a 6 volts supply to line terminals 1 and 2. A hissing sound will be heard from the loudspeaker. Now connect 6V AC from a transformer to terminals 1 and 2 and observe hum in the loudspeaker. The volume of the hum can be changed through potentiometer VR1. Diodes D6 and D7 limit the input below 700 mV. The circuit is to be connected to the telephone lines in series with the telephone instrument, as shown in the figure.