CIRCUIT
IDEAS
5-BAND GRAPHIC EQUALISER
 SOMEN GHOSH
T
his equaliser uses low-cost
op-amps. Good-quality op-
amps powered by a single volt-
age supply are readily available in the
market. The op-amp should have a
noise density of less than 24nV/√Hz,
slew rate of more than 5V/µs and gain-
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
bandwidth product greater than 3
MHz. The NE5532 or LM833 used in
this circuit meets these requirements.
Equaliser circuits typically divide
the audio spectrum into separate fre-
quency bands and have independent
gain control for each band. The out-
put of each band is mixed at IC4(A)
and then fed to an audio power am-
R. SUNDAR
A KUMAR
plifier. Proper quality factor (Q) needs
to be selected to avoid overlap in ad-
jacent bands as this introduces
colouration into the audio signal.
We have used the multiple-feed-
back bandpass filter topology shown
in left-most corner at the bottom of the
figure. This is a circuit for single-chan-
nel bandpass filter. If the capacitors are
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • MAY 2007 • 87
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
amplifier with a gain of ‘2.’ The input
Component Values for 5-band Equaliser signal is divided by ‘2’ by the resistive
Centre C Ra Rb Rc Gain (A) Quality (Q) network comprising R3 and R4. Hence
frequency (μF) (kilo- (kilo- (kilo-
the net gain of this amplifier is unity.
fo (Hz) ohms) ohms) ohms)
Two 100k resistors (R1 and R2) are
60 C4=C5=0.1 R9=11 R11=27 R10=91 4.1 1.7 used as a voltage divider and the junc-
250 C7=C8=0.1 R14=2.7 R15=6.3 R13=22 4.1 1.7 tion voltage is fed to its
1000 C10=C11=0.047 R18=1.5 R19=3.3 R17=11 3.7 1.6 positive input through R6. This
4000 C13=C14=0.0022 R22=7.5 R23=18 R21=63 4.2 1.7 divider has enough power to feed all
16000 C16=C17=0.0022 R26=2 R27=4.3 R25=15 4.2 1.7 other op-amps directly. Resistor Ro
(R8=R12=R16=R20=R24=R28=R30=100Ω)
of the same value, the calculations are the octave division, application and has the dual function of noise reduc-
fairly simple. For calculating the com- some degree of manufacturers’ prefer- tion and resistive isolation of capaci-
ponent values, use the following for- ence, but nearly all share the basic oc- tive load. It may be varied between 50
mulae: tave boundaries that are based on a and 150 ohms depending on the noise
Centre frequency (fo) : 1/2πC√(Ra||Rb)Rc centre frequency of 1000 Hz. in the circuit.
Bandwidth (B) : 1/πCRc A balance between the number of The potmeters (VR1 through VR5)
Quality factor (Q) : fo/B = πfoCRc filters and bandwidth need to be ob- are in the signal path and hence should
Gain (A) : –Rc/2Ra served. It is possible to use a wider be of the best quality possible. Wrap
These can be combined to give the bandwidth and fewer filters, or nar- the body of the pots with bare copper
following formulae: rower bandwidth and more filters. wire and solder the other end of the
Ra = Q/2πfoAC Anything narrower than 1/3 octave is wire to ground. Since the filters are
Rb = Q/2πfoC (2Q2–A) rare, since the complexity of the filters very sensitive, all resistances should
Rc = Q/πfoC increases for higher values of ‘Q.’ This be metal-film type and the capacitors
Begin the calculations by choosing can get rather expensive and in reality should be polyester type.
a large value of capacitance (~0.1F) and is of limited use for most applications Each stage of the op-amp needs to
smaller value of resistances. Increasing in audio systems. be capacitively coupled to the next
the capacitance decreases resistances National Semiconductor lists the stage so that the DC does not get
(Ra, Rb and Rc). Care must be taken to following mid-frequencies for a 10- propagated and amplified. For a good
avoid overloading on the input buffer band graphic equaliser: 32, 64, 125, 250, low-frequency response, this coupling
op-amp. Note that stray capacitances 500, 1k, 2k, 4k, 8k and 16k. It also rec- capacitor should be greater than 1 µF.
on the board reduces the value of ‘C.’ ommends a ‘Q’ of 1.7 for equalisers. A 10µF, 16V capacitor is used in each
The bandwidth and gain do not de- The table lists the component val- stage of the circuit here.
pend on Rb. Hence, Rb can be used to ues for different centre frequencies of The circuit is powered by a 12V
modify the mid-frequency without af- the equaliser. We used ‘Q’ of 1.7 and DC regulated supply. A well-regulated
fecting the bandwidth and gain. gain (A) of 4. supply using 7812 is recommended.
For equalisers, there are standard The circuit for the 5-band equaliser Ground the Vcc pin of each op-amp
mid-frequencies that are normally uses IC1 (A) LM833 as the buffer stage with a 0.1µF ceramic disk capacitor to
used. The exact frequencies depend on for the equaliser. It is a non-inverting bypass the noise. 

88 • MAY 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU WWW.EFYMAG.COM


ANTI-COLLISION REAR LIGHT
 ASHOK K. DOCTOR
D
uring poor visibility, i.e.,
when there is fog, or at dawn
or dusk, or when your ve-
hicle gets stalled on a lonely stretch of
a highway, this flashing light will pro-
vide safety and attract the attention of
people to help you out. It uses high-
brightness yellow LEDs.
The circuit uses a dual binary
counter CD4520, quadruple 2-input
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
NAND schmitt trigger CD4093, 8-stage
shift-and-store bus register CD4094
and some descrete components.
An oscillator is built around gate A,
whose frequency can be varied through
preset VR1 when required. The output
of the oscillator is fed to IC1 and IC3.
When the circuit is switched on, the
oscillator starts oscillating, the counter
starts counting through IC1 and the
data is shifted on positive-going clock
through IC3. As a result, the four groups
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • JUNE 2007 • 83
CIRCUIT
IDEAS
S.C. DW
IVEDI
of LEDs flash one by one.
All the LEDs will then glow for
some time and switch off for some
time, and the cycle will repeat. Input
pins 12 and 13 of the unused gate D
must be tied to ground and pin 11 left
open. Preset VR1 should be of cermet
type and used to change the flashing
rate of each group of LEDs.
The circuit works off regulated
12V. Assemble it on a general-purpose
PCB and house suitably. 
circuit
ideas
Antisleep Alarm for Students
 Suresh Kumar K.B.
T
his 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 wast-
age of electricity.
The circuit is built around Schmitt-
trigger NAND gate IC CD4093 (IC1),
timer IC CD4020 (IC2), transistors
9 8 • M a r c h 2 0 1 0 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
BC547, relay RL1 and buzzer.
The Schmitt-trigger NAND gate
(IC1) is configured as an astable multi-
vibrator to generate clock for the timer
(IC2). The time period can be calcu-
lated as T=1.38×R×C. If R=R1+VR1=15
kilo-ohms and C=C2=10 µF, you’ll get
‘T’ as 0.21 second. Timer IC CD4020
(IC2) is a 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
edi
s.c. dwiv
D3, further counting stops and relay
RL1 energises to deactivate all the ap-
pliances. 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 suit-
able 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. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas
Aquarium Probe
 D. Mohan Kumar
A
number of environmental
factors including light and
temperature affect fish culture.
The temperature of water has profound
effect because fish cannot breed above
or below the critical temperature lim-
its. Temperature between 24°C and
33°C is found to be the best to induce
spawning in fishes. This particular
temperature range is also necessary
for the healthy growth of nursery fish
fries (young fishes). Rise of water tem-
perature due to sunlight may adversely
affect the fish rearing process.
Fig. 1: Circuit for aquarium probe
The circuit of aquatic probe de-
scribed here can monitor the tem-
perature of water and indicate the
rise in temperature through audio-
visual indicators. A readily available
signal diode 1N34 is used in the
circuit as the temperature sensing
probe. The resistance of the diode
depends on the temperature in its
vicinity.
Typically, the diode can gener-
ate around 600 mV when a potential
difference is applied to its terminals.
For each degree centigrade rise in
9 2 • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
s.c. dwiv
edi
temperature, the diode generates 2mV
output voltage. That is, at 5°C, it is 10
mV, which rises to 70 mV when the
temperature is 35°C. This property
is exploited in the circuit to sense the
temperature variation in aquarium
water. Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram
of the aquarium probe.
Since the output from the diode
sensor is too low, a high-gain invert-
ing DC amplifier is used to amplify
the voltage. CA3140 (IC1) is the CMOS
version op-amp that can operate down
to zero-volt output. The highest output
available from IC1 is 2.25V less than
the input voltage at pin 7. With resistor
R4 and
VR2, the
variation
in diode
Fig. 2: Diode sensor assembly voltage
can be
amplified to the required level. Resis-
tor R1 restricts current flow through
diode D1 and preset VR1 (1-kilo-ohm)
sets the input voltage at pin 3. IC3
(7805) provides regulated 5 volts to the
inputs of IC1, so that the input voltage
is stable for accurate measurement of
temperature.
The output from IC1 is fed to
display driver LM3915 (IC2) through
preset VR3 (50-kilo-ohm). With
careful adjustments, the wiper of
VR3 can provide 0-400 millivolts
to the input of IC2. The highly sensi-
tive input of IC2 accepts as low as
50 mV if the reference voltage at its
pin 7 is adjusted using a variable
resistor. To increase the sensitivity
of IC2, preset VR4 is connected at
one end to ‘reference voltage end’
pin 7 and its wiper is connected to
‘high end’ pin 6 of the internal resis-
tor chain.
When approximately 70 mV is
provided to the input of IC2 by adjust-
ing preset VR3, LED1 (green) lights
up to indicate that the temperature is
approximately 35°C, which is the cross-
ing point. When the input receives 100
mV, LED2 (red) lights up to indicate
approximately 50°C.
Finally, the buzzer
starts beeping if the
input receives 130
mV corresponding
to a temperature of
65°C.
In short, LEDs
and the buzzer re-
main standby when
the temperature of the
water is below 35°C
(normal). With each
step increase of 30
mV in the input (cor-
responding to 15°C
rise in temperature),
LEDs and the buzzer
become active.
Pin 16 of IC2 is
used to drive the pi-
ezobuzzer through transistor T1. When
pin 16 of IC2 becomes low, T1 conducts
to beep the piezobuzzer. Resistor R7
keeps the base of transistor T1 high to
avoid false alarm. IC4 provides regu-
lated 9V DC to the circuit.
Assemble the circuit on a common
PCB and enclose in a suitable case.
Glass signal diode D1 is immersed
in water to sense the temperature
of water. Its leads should be coated
with enamel paint to avoid shorting
in water. Alternatively, enclose the
diode in a small glass tube or test
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

tube having sufficient internal space
to fit the diode as shown in Fig. 2.
Make the sensor assembly waterproof
using wax.
Take care while calibrating and
setting the circuit. With 5V DC sup-
ply to diode D1 and an ambient tem-
perature of about 35°C, D1 generates
around 70 mV. Adjust VR3 until the
voltage in its wiper increases to 70
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
mV, so that the input of IC2 (pin 5)
receives 70 mV corresponding to the
diode output voltage at 35°C. At this
stage, green LED1 should turn on.
If it doesn’t, adjust VR4 until LED1
just lights up. Immerse the diode
in temperature-adjusted hot water
(35°C) and adjust VR3 and VR4 until
green LED1 lights up. Increase the
water temperature to 50°C by adding
circuit
ideas
hot water. Now red LED2 will glow.
At this position, the voltage at pin 6
of IC1 will be around 100 mV. When
the temperature of water increases
further to 65°C, the buzzer starts
beeping. After calibration, immerse
the diode assembly in the aquarium
tank just below the water surface
and fix it permanently to avoid float-
ing. 
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • 9 3
circuit
ideas

Automated Alarm Circuits s.c. dwiv

edi

Pallabi Sarkar and Normally, when the door is closed,

Anirban Sengupta reed switch S1 is closed, transistor T1
conducts and the monostable multivi- When the door is opened, reed

T
wo alarm circuits are presented brator (IC1) remains in standby mode switch S1 gets disconnected, T1 stops
here. One produces bird-chirp- with ‘low’ output at pin 10. conducting and low-to-high pulse at pin
ing sound and the other British
police siren tone.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the bird-
chirping-sound alarm unit along with
the circuit of the control unit. Fig. 2
shows the circuit of only the British
police siren tone generator, which has
to be integrated with the control circuit
portion of Fig. 1 at points A and B to
complete the circuit diagram of auto-
mated alarm.
The control unit is built around ICs
CD4047 and CD4027 (as shown on the
left side of the dotted line in Fig. 1). As
mentioned earlier, it is common to both
the alarm circuits. IC CD4047 (IC1)
is wired in positive-edge-triggering
monostable multivibrator mode to set
and reset IC CD4027 (IC2). The output
pulse width of IC1 depends on the
values of capacitor C2 and resistor R3
connected to its pins 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 2: Alarm circuit that generates police siren tone

Fig. 1: Alarm circuit that generates bird-chirping sound

9 6 • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m

8 of IC1 triggers the monostable and a
short-duration positive pulse of about
10 seconds is available as Q output at
pin 10. At the same time, complementary
output Q goes low at pin 11. The output
from IC1 is used to set and reset IC2.
IC2 is a low-power, dual J-K mas-
ter/slave flip-flop having independ-
ent J, K, set, reset and clock inputs.
The flip-flops change states on the
positive-going transition of the clock
pulses. IC2 is wired such that its Q
output turns ‘high’ when reset pin 4
receives a high pulse. When set pin 7
receives a high pulse, Q output goes
low and Q output goes high. This
lights up LED2 and drives transistor
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
T2 (BC548), which enables the alarm
circuit.
The output at point A is used to
enable the alarm tone generator circuit
(on the right side of the dotted line)
consisting of two 555 timer ICs marked
as IC3 and IC4. The R-C network de-
termines the frequency of the sound
produced. The triangular waveform
of the astable multivibrator is taken
out from the junction of pins 2 and
6 of IC3. This waveform is fed as the
control voltage at pin 5 of IC4 through
resistor R18. The output received from
pin 3 of IC4 is fed to the base of transis-
tor T3 to drive an 8-ohm loudspeaker
(LS1), which generates the bird-chirp-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • F e b r ua ry 2 0 0 9 • 9 7
circuit
ideas
ing sound.
For the chirping-sound alarm gen-
erator, assemble the circuit shown in
Fig. 1 on a separate general-purpose
PCB and enclose in a small box. And if
you want an alarm circuit with British
police siren tone, assemble the circuit
shown in Fig. 2 on another general-
purpose PCB and connect it to points
A and B of the control unit shown in
Fig. 1 after removing the circuit on the
right side of the dotted line. Use a 9V,
500mA standard adaptor to power the
circuit.
This circuit may be used as a secu-
rity alarm in banks, households and
motorcars. 
circuit
ideas
Automatic Light Controller
Using 7806
 M.K. Chandra Mouleeswaran
V
oltage regulator ICs (78xx se-
ries) provide a steady output
voltage, as against a widely
fluctuating input supply, when the
common terminal is grounded. Any
voltage about zero volt (ground) con-
nected in the common terminal is add-
ed to the output voltage. That means
the increase in the common terminal
voltage is reflected at the output. On
the other hand, if the common terminal
is disconnected from the ground, the
full input voltage is available at the
output.
This characteristic is utilised in the
present circuit. When the common
terminal is connected to the ground,
the regulator output is equivalent to
the rated voltage, and as soon as the
terminal is disconnected from the
ground, the output increases up to the
input voltage.
The common terminal is control-
led by a transistor, which works as a
switch on the terminal. For automatic
control of light, a light-dependent re-
sistor (LDR1) is connected to the base
9 2 • A p r i l 2 0 1 0 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
of the transistor. In this way, the volt-
age regulator is able to operate a light
bulb automatically as per the ambient
light.
To derive the power supply for
the circuit, the 50Hz, 230V AC mains
is stepped down by transformer X1
to deliver a secondary output of 12V,
250 mA. The secondary output of the
transformer is applied to a bridge rec-
tifier comprising diodes D1 through
D4, filtered by capacitor C1 and fed
to the input terminal of the regulator
(IC1).
The common terminal (pin 2) of IC1
is connected to the ground line of the
circuit through transistor BC557 (T1).
The transistor is biased by R2, R3, VR1
and LDR1. The grounding of IC1 is
controlled by transistor T1, while light
is sensed by LDR1. Using preset VR1,
you can adjust the light-sensing level
of transistor T1.
The output of IC1 is fed to the base
of transistor T2 (through resistor R4
and zener diode ZD1) and relay RL1.
LED1 connected across the positive
and ground supply lines acts as a
power-‘on’ indicator.
s.c. dwiv
edi
Normally, the resistance of LDR1
is low during daytime and high dur-
ing nighttime. During daytime, when
light falls on LDR1, pnp transistor T1
conducts. The common terminal of IC1
connects to the ground and IC1 outputs
6V. As a result, transistor T2 does not
conduct and the relay remains de-en-
ergised. The light bulb remains ‘off’ as
the mains connection is not completed
through the relay contacts.
During nighttime, when no light
falls on LDR1, it offers a high resist-
ance at the base junction of transistor
T1. So the bias is greatly reduced and
T1 doesn’t conduct. Effectively, this
removes the common terminal of IC1
from ground and it directs the full
input DC to the output. Transistor T2
conducts and the relay energises to
light up the bulb as mains connection
completes through the relay contacts.
As LDR1 is in parallel to VR1+R3
combination, it effectively applies
only half of the total resistance of
the network formed by R3, VR1 and
LDR1 to the junction at T1 in total
darkness. In bright light, it greatly
reduces the total effective resistance
at the junction.
The circuit is
simple and can be
assembled on a small
general-purpose
PCB. Use a heat-sink
for IC1. Make sure
that LDR1 and the
light bulb are well
separated.
The circuit can be
used for streetlights,
tubelights or any
other home electri-
cal lighting system
that needs to be au-
tomated. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

AUTOMATIC PHASE CHANGER
 MUHAMMAD AJMAL P.
I
n three-phase applications, if low
voltage is available in any one or
two phases, and you want your
equipment to work on normal voltage,
this circuit will solve your problem.
However, a proper-rating fuse needs
to be used in the input lines (R, Y and
B) of each phase. The circuit provides
correct voltage in the same power sup-
ply lines through relays from the other
phase where correct voltage is avail-
able. Using it you can operate all your
equipment even when correct voltage
is available on a single phase in the
building.
The circuit is built around a trans-
former, comparator, transistor and re-
lay. Three identical sets of this circuit,
one each for three phases, are used.
Let us now consider the working of
the circuit connecting red cable (call it
‘R’ phase).
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
The mains power supply phase R
is stepped down by transformer X1 to
deliver 12V, 300 mA, which is recti-
fied by diode D1 and filtered by ca-
pacitor C1 to produce the operating
voltage for the operational amplifier
(IC1). The voltage at inverting pin 2 of
oprational amplifier IC1 is taken from
the voltage divider circuit of resistor
R1 and preset resistor VR1. VR1 is used
to set the reference voltage according
to the requirement. The reference volt-
age at non-inverting pin 3 is fixed to
5.1V through zener diode ZD1.
Till the supply voltage available in
phase R is in the range of 200V-230V,
the voltage at inverting pin 2 of IC1
remains high, i.e., more than reference
voltage of 5.1V, and its output pin 6
also remains high. As a result, transis-
tor T1 does not conduct, relay RL1 re-
mains de-energised and phase ‘R’ sup-
plies power to load L1 via normally-
closed (N/C) contact of relay RL1.
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • JULY 2007 • 93
CIRCUIT
IDEAS
S.C. DW
IVEDI
As soon as phase-R voltage goes
below 200V, the voltage at inverting
pin 2 of IC1 goes below reference volt-
age of 5.1V, and its output goes low.
As a result, transistor T1 conducts and
relay RL1 energises and load L1 is
disconnected from phase ‘R’ and
connected to phase ‘Y’ through relay
RL2.
Similarly, the auto phase-change of
the remaining two phases, viz, phase
‘Y’ and phase ‘B,’ can be explained.
Switch S1 is mains power ‘on’/’off’
switch.
Use relay contacts of proper rating
and fuses should be able to take-on
the load when transferred from other
phases. While wiring, assembly and in-
stallation of the circuit, make sure that
you:
1. Use good-quality, multi-strand
insulated copper wire suitable for your
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
current requirement.
2. Use good-quality relays with
proper contact and current rating.
3. Mount the transformer(s) and re-
lays on a suitable cabinet. Use a Tag
Block (TB) for incoming/outgoing con-
94 • JULY 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
nections from mains.
EFY Note: 1. During testing in the
lab, we used a 12V, 200-ohm, single-
phase changeover relay with 6A cur-
rent rating. Similarly, ampere-rated
fuses were used.
2. If the input voltage is low in two
phases, loads L1 and L2 may also be
connected to the third phase. In that
situation, a high-rating fuse will be re-
quired at the input of the third phase
which is taking the total load. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
circuit
ideas
Constant-Current
Battery Charger
 Monoj Das
T
here are many ways of battery
charging but constant-current
charging, in particular, is a
popular method for lead-acid and Ni-
Cd batteries. In this circuit, the battery
is charged with a constant current that
is generally one-tenth of the battery
capacity in ampere-hours. So for a
4.5Ah battery, constant charging cur-
rent would be 450 mA.
This battery charger has the follow-
ing features:
1. It can charge 6V, 9V and 12V bat-
teries. Batteries rated at other voltages
can be charged by changing the values
of zener diodes ZD1 and ZD2.
2. Constant current can be set as
per the battery capacity by using a
potmeter and multimeter in series with
the battery.
3. Once the battery is fully charged,
it will attain certain voltage level (e.g.
1 1 4 • Au g u s t 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
13.5-14.2V in the case of a 12V battery),
give indication and the charger will
switch off automatically. You need not
remove the battery from the circuit.
4. If the battery is discharged be-
low a limit, it will give deep-discharge
indication.
5. Quiescent current is less than 5
mA and mostly due to zeners.
6. DC source voltage (VCC) ranges
from 9V to 24V.
7. The charger is short-circuit pro-
tected.
D1 is a low-forward-drop schottky
diode SB560 having peak reverse volt-
age (PRV) of 60V at 5A or a 1N5822
diode having 40V PRV at 3A. Nor-
mally, the minimum DC source volt-
age should be ‘D1 drop+Full charged
battery voltage+VDSS+ R2 drop,’ which
is approximately ‘Full charged battery
voltage+5V.’ For example, if we take
full-charge voltage as 14V for a 12V
battery, the source voltage should be
s.c. dwiv
edi
14+5=19V.
For the sake of simplicity, this con-
stant-current battery charger circuit is
divided into three sections: constant-
current source, overcharge protection
and deep-discharge protection sec-
tions.
The constant-current source is
built around MOSFET T5, transistor
T1, diodes D1 and D2, resistors R1, R2,
R10 and R11, and potmeter VR1. Diode
D2 is a low-temperature-coefficient,
highly stable reference diode LM236-5.
LM336-5 can also be used with reduced
operating temperature range of 0 to
+70°C. Gate-source voltage (VGS) of T5
is set by adjusting VR1 slightly above
4V. By setting VGS, charging current
can be fixed depending on the battery
capacity. First, decide the charging
current (one-tenth of the battery’s Ah
capacity) and then calculate the nearest
standard value of R2 as follows:
R2 = 0.7/Safe fault current
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

R2 and T1 limit the charging cur-
rent if something fails or battery termi-
nals get short-circuited accidentally.
To set a charging current, while
a multimeter is connected in series
with the battery and source supply is
present, adjust potmeter VR1 slowly
until the charging current reaches its
required value.
Overcharge and deep-discharge
protection have been shown in dotted
areas of the circuit diagram. All com-
ponents in these areas are subjected to
a maximum of the battery voltage and
not the DC source voltage. This makes
the circuit work under a wide range of
source voltages and without any influ-
ence from the charging current value.
Set overcharge and deep-discharge
voltage of the battery using potmeters
VR1 and VR2 before charging the bat-
tery.
In overcharge protection, zener
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
diode ZD1 starts conducting after
its breakdown voltage is reached,
i.e., it conducts when the battery
voltage goes beyond a prefixed high
level. Adjust VR2 when the battery
is fully charged (say, 13.5V in case of
a 12V battery) so that VGS of T5 is set
to zero and hence charging current
stops flowing to the battery. LED1
glows to indicate that the battery is
fully charged. When LED1 glows, the
internal LED of the optocoupler also
glows and the internal transistor con-
ducts. As a result, gate-source voltage
(VGS) of MOSFET T5 becomes zero and
charging stops.
Normally, zener diode ZD2 con-
ducts to drive transistor T3 into con-
duction and thus make transistor T4
cut-off. If the battery terminal voltage
drops to, say, 11V in case of a 12V bat-
tery, adjust potmeter VR3 such that
transistor T3 is cut-off and T4 conducts.
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • Au g u s t 2 0 0 9 • 1 1 5
circuit
ideas
LED2 will glow to indicate that the bat-
tery voltage is low.
Values of zener diodes ZD1 and
ZD2 will be the same for 6V, 9V and
12V batteries. For other voltages, you
need to suitably change the values of
ZD1 and ZD2. Charging current pro-
vided by this circuit is 1 mA to 1 A, and
no heat-sink is required for T5. If the
maximum charging current required is
5A, put another LM236-5 in series with
diode D2, change the value of R11 to 1
kilo-ohm, replace D1 with two SB560
devices in parallel and provide a good
heat-sink for MOSFET T1. TO-220 pack-
age of IRF540 can handle up to 50W.
Assemble the circuit on a gen-
eral-purpose PCB and enclose in a
box after setting the charging current,
overcharge voltage and deep-discharge
voltage. Mount potmeters VR1, VR2
and VR3 on the front panel of the
box. 
circuit
ideas
Battery-level indicator
 Aniruddh K.S.
N
ormally, in mobile phones,
the battery level is shown in
dot or bar form. This lets you
easily recognise the battery level. Here
we present a circuit that lets you know
the battery level of a device from the
number of LEDs that are glowing. It
uses ten LEDs in all. So if three LEDs
glow, it indicates battery capacity of
30 per cent. Unlike in mobile phones
where the battery-level indicator func-
tion is integrated with other functions,
here only one comparator IC (LM3914)
does it all.
The LM3914 uses ten comparators,
which are internally assembled in the
voltage divider network based on the
current-division rule. So it divides the
battery level into ten parts.
The circuit derives the power
supply for its operation from the
battery of the device itself. It uses
ten LEDs wired in a 10-dot mode.
The use of different coloured LEDs
8 4 • D E C e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
makes it easier to recognise the
voltage level on the basis of the
calibration made. Red LEDs (LED1
through LED3) indicate battery
capacity of less than 40 per cent.
Orange LEDs (LED4 through LED6)
indicate battery capacity of 40 to
less than 70 per cent and green
LEDs (LED7 through LED10) indi-
cate battery capacity of 70 to under
100 per cent. The brightness of the
LEDs can be adjusted by varying the
value of preset VR2 between pins 6
and 7.
Diode D1 prevents the circuit
from reverse-polarity battery con-
nection. The tenth LED glows only
when the battery capacity is full,
i.e., the battery is fully charged.
When the battery is fully charged,
relay-driver transistor T1 conducts
to energise relay RL1. This stops the
charging through normally-open
(N/O) contacts of relay RL1.
For calibration, connect 15V vari-
able, regulated power supply and
edi
s.c. dwiv
initially set it at 3V. Slowly adjust VR1
until LED1 glows. Now, increase the
input voltage to 15V in steps of 1.2V
until the corresponding LED (LED2
through LED10) lights up.
Now the circuit is ready to show
any voltage value with respect to the
maximum voltage. As the number of
LEDs is ten, we can easily consider one
LED for 10 per cent of the maximum
voltage.
Connect the voltage from any
battery to be tested at the input
probes of the circuit. By examining
the number of LEDs glowing you
can easily know the status of the bat-
tery. Suppose five LEDs are glowing.
In this case, the battery capacity is
50 to 59 per cent of its maximum
value.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB. Calibrate it and then en-
close in a box. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

Bicycle Indicator
 T.K. Hareendran
T
he electronic bicycle signaling
unit described here uses low-
cost components and is a good
Fig. 1: Circuit of bi-cycle indicator
Fig. 2: Suggested enclosure (master unit)
substitute to many commercially avail-
able versions. It works in an extremely
different manner and is convenient to
operate.
The circuit works off a 9V PP3
(alkaline-type) battery and is basically
a set of two independent free-running
oscillators (astable multivibrators) built
around four low-power transistors
and a few passive components. Both
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
the square-wave oscillators (one built
around T1 and T2 and the other built
around T3 and T4) drive four red LEDs
(LED1 and LED2, and LED5 and LED6,
respectively), which blink to indicate
Fig. 3: Suggested enclosure (indicators)
the direction of turn. Ad-
ditional steady-glow LEDs
(LED3 and LED4) are in-
corporated to indicate the
working status.
The working of the cir-
cuit is straightforward. When
switch S1 is flipped to ‘on’ po-
sition, DC supply from
the battery is extended to the oscil-
lator circuit formed by transistors
T1 and T2. Now the left-side oscil-
lator starts oscillating and the visual
indicators at the front left (FL) and
rear left (RL) start blinking at a rate
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • j u ly 2 0 0 8 • 9 5
circuit
ideas
edi
s.c. dwiv
determined by timing capacitors C1
and C2. Resistors R2 and R3 limit the
operating current of LEDs (LED1
and LED2). At the same time, the
green LED (LED3) starts glowing
to indicate the present direction
status.
Similar action happens in the
next oscillator circuit built around
transistors T3 and T4 when switch
S2 is flipped to ‘on’ position. Indi-
cators at the front right (FR) and
rear right (RR) start blinking, and
at the same time the green LED
(LED4) glows to indicate the direc-
tion status.
Switch S3 is used for emergency
indication. When it is flipped to ‘on’
position, both the oscillators get
power supply through diodes D1
and D2. As a result, LED1 through
LED6 start working simultaneous-
ly. In this condition, all
the LEDs blink, except
LED3 and LED4, which
glow steadily.
After assembling
the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB, enclose
it in a suitable cabinet
as shown in Fig. 2 and
mount on the handle
bar of the bicycle, pref-
erably at the mechani-
cal centre point. Con-
nect switch S1 at the left-hand side, S2
at the right-hand side and emergency
switch S3 in the middle of the master
unit. Now place this master unit at
the top of the handle bar and do the
essential interconnections using flex-
ible wires. Connect the front indica-
tors (LED1 and LED5) to the left and
right side of the handle and similarly
rear indicators (LED2 and LED6) can
be mounted in the carrier frame of
the bicycle. For the direction indica-
tor, you can use the symbol shown in
Fig. 3 and place it at the centre of the
handle. 
 blown fuse indicator
G
enerally, when an equipment in-
dicates no power, the cause may
be just a blown fuse. Here is a
circuit that shows the condition of fuse
through LEDs. This compact circuit is
very useful and reliable. It uses very few
components, which makes it inexpensive
too.
Under normal conditions (when fuse
is alright), voltage drop in first arm
is 2V + (2 x 0.7V) = 3.4V, whereas in
12 ELECTRONICS PROJECTS Vol. 22
second arm it is only 2V. So current flows
through the second arm, i.e. through the
green LED, causing it to glow; whereas
the red LED remains off.
When the fuse blows off, the supply
to green LED gets blocked, and because
only one LED is in the circuit, the red LED
glows. In case of power failure, both LEDs
remain ‘off’.
This circuit can be easily modified to
produce a siren in fuse-blown condition
(see Fig. 2). An optocoupler is used to
trigger the siren. When the fuse blows, red
LED glows. Simultaneously it switches
‘on’ the siren.
In place of a bicolour LED, two LEDs
of red and green colour can be used.
Similarly, only one diode in place of D1
and D2 may be used. Two diodes are used
to increase the voltage drop, since the
two LEDs may produce different voltage
drops.
 circuit
ideas

Car Anti-theft Guard s.c. dwiv

edi

 T.K. Hareendran tor R1, which prevents transistor T1

from conducting. In this position, anti-

H
ere is an easy-to-build car theft guard cir-
anti-theft guard. The circuit, cuit is in sleep
shown in Fig. 1, is simple and mode.
easy to understand. When key-oper- W h e n
ated switch S2 of the car is turned on, someone opens
12V DC supply from the car battery is the car door,
extended to the entire circuit through switch S1 be-
polarity-guard diode D5. Blinking comes ‘off’ as
LED1 flashes to indicate that the guard shown in Fig.
circuit is enabled. It works off 12V 2. As a result,
power supply along with current-limit- transistor T1
ing resistor R4 in series. conducts to fire
When the car door is closed, door r e l a y - d r i v e r Fig. 2: Wiring diagram for door switch (S1)
switch S1 is in ‘on’ position and 12V SCR1 (BT169)
power supply is available across resis- after a short delay introduced by ca- pacitor C1. Electromagnetic relay RL1
energises and its N/O
contact connects the
power supply to pi-
ezobuzzer PZ1, which
starts sounding to in-
dicate that someone
is trying to steal your
car. To reset the circuit,
turn off switch S2 using
car key. This will cut-
off the power supply to
the circuit and stop the
buzzer sound.
Assemble the cir-
cuit on a general-pur-
pose PCB and house
in a small box. Con-
nect switch S1 to the
car door and keep pi-
ezobuzzer PZ1 at an
appropriate place in
Fig. 1: Circuit of car anti-theft guard the car. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 8 • 7 5
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
CLOCK TIMER
 D. MOHAN KUMAR
W
ith this simple clock-
controlled timer, you will
never again miss your
favourite TV or radio programme. The
TV or radio will switch on automati-
cally at the time preset by you and
will remain ‘on’ until the power sup-
ply fails or is disconnected.
The circuit uses the AC signals gen-
erated at the buzzer terminals of an
alarm clock. The AC signals are am-
plified by transistors T1 and T2 and
the amplified output from the emitter
of T2 is fed to the inverting input of
negative-voltage comparator IC LM311
(IC1). The non-inverting input of IC1
gets a presettable voltage through pre-
96 • FEBRUARY 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
IVEDI
S.C. DW
set VR1. The inverting and non-invert-
ing inputs of LM311 are different from
other op-amps and it outputs sink cur-
rent through pin 7 or source current
through pin 1.
When pin 3 of IC1 is at a higher
voltage than pin 2, its output sinks
as indicated by LED1. This gives a
short negative pulse to the monostable
wired around timer NE555. Resistor
R5 keeps trigger pin 2 of IC2 high.
The short-interval monostable outputs
a high signal for a brief period to the
gate of SCR1 (BT169) and relay RL1
energises. The latching action of SCR1
keeps the relay pulled even when the
output of the monostable turns low.
The relay can be de-energised by dis-
connecting the supply to the circuit
via switch S1.
The circuit works off a 9V bat-
tery. Assemble it on a general-pur-
pose PCB and enclose in a suitable
cabinet. Provide an AC outlet in the
cabinet to switch on the appliance us-
ing the circuit. As mentioned earlier,
the input signal is obtained from the
buzzer terminals of the clock. Remove
the small buzzer of the clock and con-
nect point ‘A’ to the positive termi-
nal and point ‘B’ to the negative ter-
minal of the buzzer. Connect the
mains AC terminal outlet to the nor-
mally-opened (N/O) contact of relay
RL1. So when the relay energises,
230V AC operates the connected ap-
pliance.
Set the desired time in the clock by
adjusting the alarm set-up and switch
on the circuit. When the set time
reaches, the appliance will switch on
automatically. The circuit can also be
connected to digital clocks. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
CURRENT SENSOR
 D. MOHAN KUMAR
H
igh-wattage appliances like
electric irons, ovens and heat-
ers result in unnecessary
power loss if left ‘on’ for hours unno-
ticed. Here is a circuit that senses the
flow of current through the appliances
and gives audible beeps every fifteen
minutes to remind you of power-’on’
status.
This is a non-contact version of cur-
rent monitor and can sense the flow
of current in high-current appliances
from a distance of up to 30 cm . It uses
a standard step-down transformer (0-
9V, 500mA) as the current sensor. Its
secondary winding is left open, while
the primary winding ends are used to
detect the current. The primary ends
of the transformer are connected to a
full-wave bridge rectifier comprising
diodes D1 through D4. The rectified
output is connected to the non-invert-
ing input of IC CA3140 (IC1).
IC CA3140 is a 4.5MHz BIMOS op-
erational amplifier with MOSFET in-
put and bipolar transistor output. It
has gate-protected MOSFET (PMOS)
94 • DECEMBER 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
transistors in the input to provide very
high input impedance (1.5 T-ohms),
very low input current (10 pA) and
high-speed switching performance.
The inverting input of IC1 is pre-
set with VR1. In the standby mode,
the primary of the transformer accepts
e.m.f. from the instrument or sur-
rounding atmosphere, which results in
low-voltage input to IC1. This low
voltage at the non-inverting input
keeps the output of IC1 low. Thus tran-
sistor T1 doesn’t conduct and pin 12
of IC2 goes high to disable IC2. As a
result, the remaining part of the cir-
cuit gets inactivated.
When a high-current appliance is
switched on, there will be a current
drain in the primary of the transformer
to the negative rail due to an increase
in the e.m.f. caused by the flow of cur-
rent through the appliance. This results
in voltage rise at the non-inverting in-
put and the output of IC1 becomes high.
This high output drives transistor T1
into conduction and the reset pin of
IC2 becomes low, which enables IC2.
IC CD4060 (IC2) is a 14-stage ripple
counter. It is used as a 15-minute timer
S.C. DW
IVEDI
by feeding Q9 output to the
piezobuzzer for aural alarm through
the intermediate circuitry. Resistors R5
and R6 along with capacitor C1 main-
tain the oscillations in IC2 as indicated
by blinking LED1. The high output
from IC2 is used to activate a simple
oscillator comprising transistors T2
and T3, resistors R8 and R10, and ca-
pacitor C2.
When the Q9 output of IC2 be-
comes high, zener diode ZD1 provides
3.1 volts to the base of transitor T2.
Since transistor T2 is biased by a high-
value resistor (R8), it will not conduct
immediately. Capacitor C2 slowly
charges and when the voltage at the
base of T2 increases above 0.6 volt, it
conducts. When T2 conducts, the base
of T3 turns low and it also conducts.
The piezobuzzer connected to the col-
lector of T3 gives a short beep as ca-
pacitor C2 discharges. This sequence
of IC2 output at Q9 becoming high and
conduction of transistors T2 and T3 re-
sulting in beep sound repeats at short
intervals. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
 DARKROOM TIMER
T
he timer circuit described here pro-
vides a pleasant musical tone in
your darkroom at 1-second inter-
vals. The circuit takes up very little space
and can be easily converted into a metro-
nome.
Unijunction transistor (UJT) T1 func-
tioning as a relaxation oscillator triggers
the phase-shift audio oscillator circuit
174 ELECTRONICS PROJECTS Vol. 22
built around transistor T2, turning it on sistor T2 is coupled to a small speaker
and off. As capacitor C1 is charged through a transistor-radio type output
through preset VR1 and resistor R1, the transformer.
emitter voltage of UJT rises toward the The 22-kilo-ohm value of resistor R3
supply voltage. represents a compromise between tone
When the emitter voltage becomes suf- duration and intensity. You can use re-
ficiently positive, the emitter becomes for- sistors having a value anywhere between
ward biased and discharges capacitor C1 10 kilo-ohms and 25 kilo-ohms for differ-
through the emitter-base 1 (B1) junction ent durations and intensities of the out-
and resistor R2. put signals.
The voltage drop Since the unijunction transistor is
across R2 forward functioning as the oscillator trigger,
biases transistor changing the values of one or more com-
T2 and turns it on. ponents in the UJT circuit will change
As capacitor C1 the rate of the tone burst. The tone fre-
becomes dis- quency can be varied by changing the
charged, the cur- value of any or more of capacitors C2
rent through re- through C4 and resistors R5 and R6 in
sistor R2 drops the phase-shift network.
and transistor T2 The primary winding of transformer
is cut off. X1 can be tuned for a slight increase in
A tone signal the output, using capacitor values between
is generated by 0.05 and 0.25 μF for C5 by trial-and-error
transistor T2 and method. Tone pulses should begin about
R-C coupled ten seconds after the unit is turned on.
phase-shift oscilla- After a minute or so, adjust preset VR1
tor. Part of the sig- for 1-second beats by comparing the tim-
nal taken from the ing of the beats with the seconds needle
collector of tran- on your wristwatch.
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
DESKTOP POWER SUPPLY

T.K. HAREENDRAN
U
seful for electronics hobbyists,
this linear workbench power
supply converts a high input
voltage (12V) from the SMPS of a PC
into low output voltage (1.25 to 9
volts). An adjustable three-pin voltage
regulator chip LM317T (IC1) is used
here to provide the required voltages.
The LM317T regulator, in TO-220 pack,
can handle current of up to 1 amp in
practice.
Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the desk-
Fig. 1: Circuit of desktop power supply
98 • SEPTEMBER 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
S.C. DW
IVEDI
top power supply.
Regulator IC LM317T tive load is
is arranged in its stan- connected at
dard application. Di- the output.
ode D1 guards against Similarly, ca-
polarity reversal and pacitor C3 sup-
capacitor C1 is an ad- presses any re-
ditional buffer. The sidual ripple.
green LED (LED1) in- Connect a Fig. 3: Suggested power
Fig. 2: Pin dicates the status of the
configuration of standard digi- supply box
LM317 power input. Diode D2 tal voltmeter in
prevents the output parallel with the output leads to accu-
voltage from rising above the input rately set the desired voltage with the
voltage when a capacitive or induc- help of variable resistor VR1. You can
also use your digital multimeter
if the digital voltmeter is not
available. Switch on S1 and set
the required voltage through
preset VR1 and read it on the
digital voltmeter. Now the
power supply is ready for use.
The circuit can be wired on
a common PCB. Refer Fig. 2 for
pin configuration of LM317 be-
fore soldering it on the PCB. Af-
ter fabrication, enclose the cir-
cuit in a metallic cover as
shown in Fig. 3. Then open the
cabinet of your PC and connect
the input line of the gadget to a
free (hanging) four-pin drive
power connector of the SMPS
carefully.

WWW.EFYMAG.COM

DICE WITH 7-SEGMENT DISPLAY
 EFY LAB
A
digital dice circuit can be eas-
ily realised using an astable
oscillator circuit followed by
a counter, display driver and a dis-
play.
Here we have used a timer NE555
as an astable oscillator with a fre-
quency of about 100 Hz. Decade
counter IC CD4026 or CD4033 (which-
ever available) can be used as counter-
cum-display driver. When using
Decoded Segment Outputs
for Counts 0 through 9
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
CD4026, pin 14 (cascading output) is
to be left unused (open), but in case of
CD4033, pin 14 serves as lamp test pin
and the same is to be grounded.
The circuit uses only a handful of
components. Its power consumption is
also quite low because of use of CMOS
ICs, and hence it is well suited for bat-
tery operation. In this circuit two tac-
tile switches S1 and S2 have been pro-
vided. While switch S2 is used for ini-
tial resetting of the display to ‘0,’ de-
pression of S1 simulates throwing of
the dice by a player.
When battery is con-
nected to the circuit, the
counter and display section
around IC2 (CD4026/4033)
is energised and the display
would normally show ‘0’, as
no clock input is available.
Should the display show
any other decimal digit, you
may press re-set switch S2
so that display shows ‘0’. To
simulate throwing of dice,
the player has to press
switch S1, briefly. This ex-
tends the supply to the
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • NOVEMBER 2007 • 97
CIRCUIT
IDEAS
IVEDI
S.C. DW
astable oscillator configured around
IC1 as well as capacitor C1 (through
resistor R1), which charges to the bat-
tery voltage. Thus even after switch
S1 is released, the astable circuit
around IC1 keeps producing the clock
until capacitor C1 discharges suffi-
ciently. Thus for du-
ration of depression
of switch S1 and dis-
charge of capacitor
C1 thereafter, clock
pulses are produced
by IC1 and applied to
clock pin 1 of counter
IC2, whose count ad-
vances at a frequency
of 100 Hz until C1
discharges suffi-
ciently to deactivate
IC1.
When the oscilla-
tions from IC1 stop,
the last (random)
count in counter IC2
can be viewed on the
7-segment display.
This count would
normally lie between
0 and 6, since at the
leading edge of every
7th clock pulse, the counter is reset to
zero. This is achieved as follows.
Observe the behavior of ‘b’ seg-
ment output in the Table. On reset, at
count 0 until count 4, the segment ‘b’
output is high. At count 5 it changes
to low level and remains so during
count 6. However, at start of count 7,
the output goes from low to high state.
A differentiated sharp high pulse
through C-R combination of C4-R5 is
applied to reset pin 15 of IC2 to reset
the output to ‘0’ for a fraction of a
pulse period (which is not visible on
the 7-segment display). Thus, if the
clock stops at seventh count, the dis-
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
play will read zero. There is a prob-
ability of one chance in seven that dis-
play would show ‘0.’ In such a situa-
tion, the concerned player is given an-
98 • NOVEMBER 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
other chance until the display is non-
zero.
Note. Although it is quite feasible
to inhibit display of ‘0’ and advance
the counter by ‘1,’ the same makes the
circuit somewhat complex and there-
fore such a modification has not been
attempted. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM

Digital Thermometer
 Raj K. Gorkhali
T
his digital thermometer can
measure temperatures up to
150°C with an accuracy of ±1°C.
The temperature is read on a 1V full
scale-deflection (FSD) moving-coil
voltmeter or digital voltmeter.
Operational amplifier IC 741 (IC3)
provides a constant flow of current
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
through the base-emitter junction of
npn transistor BC108 (T1). The volt-
age across the base-emitter junction
of the transistor is proportional to its
temperature. The transistor used this
way makes a low-cost sensor. You can
use silicon diode instead of transistor.
The small variation in voltage across
the base-emitter junction is amplified
by second operational amplifier (IC4),
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • J u ly 2 0 1 0 • 9 9
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
before the temperature is displayed
on the meter. Preset VR1 is used to
set the zero-reading on the meter and
preset VR2 is used to set the range of
temperature measurement.
Operational amplifiers IC3 and IC4
operate off regulated ±5V power sup-
ply, which is derived from 3-terminal
positive voltage regula-
tor IC 7805 (IC1) and
negative low-dropout
regulator IC 7660 (IC2).
The entire circuit works
off a 9V battery.
Assemble the cir-
cuit on a general-pur-
pose PCB and enclose
in a small plastic box.
Calibrate the thermom-
eter using presets VR1
and VR2. After calibra-
tion, keep the box in
the vicinity of the object
whose temperature is
to be measured. 
circuit
ideas
Digital Timer Enhancement
 Raj K. Gorkhali
T
his simple circuit automatically
activates or deactivates an elec-
tronic device at the time of alarm
preset in a clock. When the alarm rings,
the tone burst generated at the terminal
of the buzzer triggers the circuit and the
relay energises or de-energises to switch
on or switch off the load.
The circuit is built around ICs
CD40106 (IC1) and CD4017 (IC2) and
a few discrete components. IC1 is a hex
Schmitt trigger, while IC2 is a decade
counter. The circuit works off regulat-
ed 6V power supply, while the alarm
clock runs off its own 1.5V battery.
The tone burst generated at the
piezobuzzer is tapped from its connec-
tion points. The positive terminal of the
clock buzzer is connected to the base of
transistor T1 and the negative terminal
is connected to ground of the circuit.
When the alarm clock sounds, the
signal from the clock buzzer makes
transistor T1 conduct. As a result, pin
1 of gate N1 goes low and it outputs
high at pin 2. This low-to-high transi-
tion clocks the counter (IC2) at pin 14
through diode D1 and gate N2. In this
way, IC2 advances by one at each clock
produced due to the sounding alarm.
There are two situations where this
9 8 • M ay 2 0 1 0 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
circuit can be used:
1. You want an appliance or gadget
to switch on automatically at a preset
time
2. You switch on an appliance or
gadget manually at a particular time
and want it to switch off automatically
at a preset time
Let us see how it works when you
want your appliance to switch on at a
preset time, say, 3 pm. Set the alarm in
your clock to 3 pm and slide switch S3
towards Q1. When the alarm sounds
at 3 pm, Q0 output of IC2 advances to
Q1 and relay RL1 energises to connect
the load (appliance) to mains power
supply through its contacts. The load
remains ‘on’ until you reset IC2 by
momentarily pressing S1. At this time,
you need to pause the alarm using
pause switch of the clock.
Now suppose you manually start
the load at 3 pm and want it to stop
automatically at 6 pm. First, reset IC2
by momentarily pressing S1 and slide
switch S3 towards Q2. Set the alarm in
your clock to 6 pm. To start the load,
press switch S2 momentarily at 3 pm.
The Q0 output of IC2 advances to Q1
and relay RL1 energises to connect the
load to mains power supply through
its contacts. When the alarm sounds at
6 pm, Q1 output of IC2 advances to Q2
s.c. dwiv
edi
and relay RL1 de-energises to discon-
nect the load from mains power supply
through its contacts. At this time, you
need to pause the alarm using pause
switch of the clock.
When you press reset switch S1,
LED1 glows to indicate that the circuit
is ready to work. When you press start
switch S2, LED2 glows to indicate start
mode. Glowing of LED3 means that
the counter has stopped counting and
needs to be reset before use.
When the counter is in stop mode,
Q2 output of IC2 remains high. As this
pin is connected to the clock-enable
input (pin 13) of IC2, the clock input
is inhibited. In this condition, any tone
burst signal arriving from the clock
has no effect on IC2 and therefore the
circuit remains in stop mode. You can
now set the alarm time in the clock.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose in a small
cabinet. Connect the base of transistor
(T1) to positive terminal of the alarm
clock and negative terminal to ground
of the circuit. Put the alarm clock at a
convenient place. If you do not want to
use a 6V battery, replace it with a 6V
adaptor to power the circuit. Mount
the LEDs and the pushbutton on the
front panel of the cabinet. 
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas

Drinking Water Alarm s.c. dwiv

edi

 Dr C.H. Vithalani

T
he State Jal Boards supply
water for limited duration in a
day. Time of water supply is
decided by the management and the
public does not know the same. In such
a situation, this water alarm circuit will
save the people from long wait as it
will inform them as soon as the water
supply starts.
At the heart of this circuit is a
small water sensor. For fabricating
this water sensor, you need two
foils—an aluminium foil and a plastic
foil. You can assemble the sensor by
rolling aluminium and plastic foils
in the shape of a concentric cylinder.
Connect one end of the insulated
flexible wire on the aluminium foil
and the other end to resistor R2. Now work only when water flows through from the tap. The circuit works off a 9V
mount this sensor inside the water the water tap and completes the cir- battery supply.
tap such that water can flow through cuit connection. It oscillates at about Assemble the circuit on any gen-
it uninterrupted. To complete the 1 kHz. The output of the timer at pin eral-purpose PCB and house in a
circuit, connect another wire from 3 is connected to loudspeaker LS1 via suitable cabinet. The water sensor is
the junction of pins 2 and 6 of IC1 to capacitor C3. As soon as water starts inserted into the water tap. Connect
the water pipeline or the water tap flowing through the tap, the speaker the lead coming out from the junc-
itself. starts sounding, which indicates re- tion of 555 pins 2 and 6 to the body of
The working of the circuit is sim- sumption of water supply. It remains the water tap. Use on/off switch S1
ple. Timer 555 is wired as an astable ‘on’ until you switch off the circuit to power the circuit with the 9V PP3
multivibrator. The multivibrator will with switch S1 or remove the sensor battery. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • m a r c h 2 0 0 8 • 1 0 5
circuit
ideas
DuoPhone
 Raj K. Gorkhali
T
his simple circuit of a duo-
phone allows you to access
two telephone lines through
one telephone set. Each telephone con-
versation will remain entirely separate
unless you choose to combine the two
lines through a conference switch. Its
unique feature is a three-party conver-
sation/conference facility.
The entire circuit is divided into
three main sections—the ringer, hold
and conferencing. The telephone set
is connected to line 1 under normal
conditions. The ringer is used for in-
9 2 • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u
edi
s.c. dwiv
dicating a call on line 2 that is not con-
nected to the telephone receiver. When
you have a call on line 2, the ringer
will buzz. The telephone receiver can
then be connected to line 2 through
the telephone changeover switch S4 to
receive the call.
The ringer section is built around
IC3 and its associated components. Its
circuit uses IC 1240 to detect the ring
signal and keeps the buzzer ringing
for an incoming call on line 2. The sup-
ply voltage for the ringer is obtained
from the phone line’s AC ring (80V AC
RMS) signal and is regulated inside the
IC so that the noise on the line does not
affect operation of the IC. The two-tone
frequencies generated are switched by
an internal oscillator in a fast sequence,
which appear at the output amplifier
and drive the piezo buzzer element
directly.
The hold section is built around
IC1 and IC2 . Switch S1 is used to hold
line 1 and S2 is used to put line 2 on
hold. Since one telephone set is used
for two separate lines, provision is
thus made to hold the first call while
the telephone set is connected to make
or receive the second call.
The circuit comprises two identi-
cal hold circuits, each with its own
flashing LED to maintain the holding
current. Each hold circuit has a timer
LM555 (IC1 or IC2) connected as a
free-running oscillator operating at
a frequency of 2 Hz. The output pin
3 of each timer is used for driving an
LED that flashes twice in a second.
The hold circuit is powered by the
telephone lines through manually-
operated hold switches (S1 and S2).
Resistors R2 and R6 are placed in
the hold circuits to ensure that suf-
ficient current is drawn from the
telephone line to prevent a discon-
nection.
The conferencing section is built
around the audio coupling trans-
former X1. Switch S3 enables three-
way conversation through both the
telephone lines. The transformer
couples the audio signals from one
telephone line to the other. At the
same time, complete DC isolation
is maintained between both the
telephone lines. Capacitors C1 and
C3 are used for preventing any DC
from flowing into the transformer
windings. Resistor R1 provides a
holding current on line 1 when the
telephone set is connected to line
2 during a conference call. Once
the three-way conversation is es-
tablished through the double-pole
single-throw (DPST) switch S3, the
hold circuits and flashing LED indi-
cators are turned off. LED3, which
gets illuminated by the holding cur-
rent through R1, provides a visual
w w w. e f y m ag . co m

indication of the conferencing.
The working of the circuit is sim-
ple. To check if the wiring of switch
S4 is correct, connect the telephone
set to line 1. Now lift up the handset
and dial the number of line 2. the
ringer would sound. Now discon-
nect line 1 and connect line 2 through
switch S4. You would get the dial
tone from line 2.
To check a conference call, you
would need the help of two friends.
First connect switch S4 to line 1 and
make a call to friend 1. Now flip the
DPST switch S3 to the ‘on’ position.
This puts on hold friend 1 on line 1
and the conference LED3 lights up.
Connect switch S4 to line 2 and dial
friend 2. When the call on line 2 is
answered, a three-way conversation
can be made.
When the duophone is not in use,
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
connect switch S4 to line 1. All other
switches should be in the ‘off’ mode
and all LEDs should be unlit. This
permits the telephone ringer to be
activated if a call comes on line 2. For
making calls using line 1 or line 2,
you can simply connect switch S4 to
the desired line.
Assemble the circuit on a gen-
eral purpose PCB and enclose it in
a suitable cabinet. Fix the switches
S1 through S4 on the front side of
the cabinet. Also fix the LEDs on the
front of the cabinet and the buzzer at
the back of the cabinet. It would be
better if you use telephone sockets
for the telephone lines. Sockets are
relatively inexpensive and save time
when troubleshooting needs to be
done. Use modular plugs to connect
the circuit and the two telephone
lines. By using such ‘quick discon-
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9 • 9 3
circuit
ideas
nect’ plugs, you can easily remove
the unit from the telephone lines.
Check the polarity of the telephone
lines with a multimeter and connect
it to the circuit accordingly.
To check the circuit after complet-
ing the wiring, connect a 6V regulated
power supply to line 1. When you
switch S1 to the ‘on’ position, LED1
blinks at a rate of 2 Hz. If you flip
switch S1 to the ‘off’ position and
switch S3 to the ‘on’ position, LED1
stops blinking and LED3 starts glow-
ing, indicating that the conferencing
facility is being used. Now disconnect
line 1 from the 6V power supply, con-
nect it to line 2 and flip switch S2 to
the ‘on’ position. Now LED2 blinks at
a rate of 2 Hz. Before connecting the
circuit to the telephone lines, flip each
hold switch to the ‘off’ position. Now
your circuit is ready to be used. 
 circuit
ideas

Electric Guitar Preamplifier sani the

o

 T.K. HAREENDRAN up attached to a guitar headstock is

shown in Fig. 1. The pickup device has

H
ere is the circuit of a guitar
preamplifier that would ac-
cept any standard guitar
pickup
jack
Headstock
Fig. 1: A typical example of mounting the guitar
pickup
Fig. 2: Guitar preamplifier circuit
pickup. It is also versatile in that it has
two signal outputs.
A typical example of using a pick-
a transducer on one end and a jack on
the other end. The jack can be plugged
into a preamplifier circuit and then to
a power amplifier system.
The pickup device captures me-
chanical vibrations, usually from
stringed instruments such as guitar
or violin, and converts them into an
electrical signal, which can then be
amplified by an audio amplifier. It
is most often mounted on the body
of the instrument, but can also be at-
tached to the bridge, neck, pickguard
or headstock.
The first part of this preamplifier
circuit shown in Fig. 2 is a single-tran-
sistor common-emitter amplifier with
degenerative feedback in the emitter
and a boot-strapped bias divider to
secure optimal input impedance. With
the component values shown here, the
input impedance is above 50 kilo-ohms
and the peak output voltage is about
2V RMS. Master-level-control potmeter
VR1 should be adjusted for minimal
distortion.
The input from guitar pickup is fed
to this preamplifier at J1 terminal. The
signal is buffered and processed by the
op-amp circuit wired around IC TL071
(IC1). Set the gain using preset VR2.
The circuit has a master and a slave
control. RCA socket J2 is the master
signal output socket and socket J3 is
the slave.
It is much better to take
the signal from J2 as the input
to the power amplifier sys-
tem or sound mixer. Output
signals from J3 can be used to
drive a standard headphone
amplifier. Using potmeter
VR3, set the slave output sig-
nal level at J3.
House the circuit in a
metallic case. VR1 and VR3
should preferably be the types
with metal enclosures. To
prevent hum, ground the case
and the enclosures. A well-
regulated 9V DC power supply
is crucial for this circuit. How-
ever, a standard 9V alkaline
manganese battery can also be used to
power the circuit. Switch S1 is a power-
on/off switch. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 0 • 1 1 7
circuit
ideas

ELECTRIC WINDOW/FENCE CHARGER

 T.K. HAREENDRAN
tors R2 and R3, preset VR1 and capaci-
edi
tor C3. The amplitude of the output s.c. dwiv

H
ere is the circuit of a simple pulse can be varied to some extent by
electric window charger. adjusting variable resistor VR1. You
With a couple of minor circuit can vary the frequency from 100 Hz
variations, it can be used as an electric to 150 Hz. drives pnp transistor T1 into conduc-
fence charger too. A standard 12V, 7Ah X1 is a small, iron-core, step-down tion for the duration of the time period.
sealed maintenance-free (SMF) UPS transformer (230V AC primary to 12V, The collector of T1 is connected to the
battery is required for powering the 1A secondary) that must be reverse base of driver transistor T2 through re-
entire unit. connected, i.e., the secondary winding sistor R5. When transistor T1 conducts,
Any component layout and mount- terminals of the transformer should T2 also conducts. When T2 conducts, a
ing plan can be used. However, be connected between the emitter and high-current pulse flows through the
try to keep the output terminals of ground and the output taken across the secondary winding of transformer X1
transformer X1 away from the circuit primary winding. Switch S1 is used for to generate a very high-voltage pulse
board. Timer NE555 (IC1) is wired as power ‘on’/‘off’ and LED1 works as a at the primary winding.
a free-running oscillator with narrow power-‘on’ indicator. LED2 is used to This dangerously high voltage
negative pulse at the output pin 3. The indicate the pulse activity. can be used to charge the window
pulse frequency is determined by resis- The output pulse from pin 3 of IC1 rails/fences. Ordinary silicon diode
D1 (1N4001) protects
T2 against high-voltage
peaks generated by X1
inductance during the
switching time.
You can replace
X1 with another trans-
former rating, and, if
necessary, replace T2
with another higher-
capacity transistor. The
circuit can be used to
charge a 1km fence
with some minor mod-
ifications in the output
section.
Caution. Take all
the relevant electri-
cal safety precautions
when assembling, test-
ing and using this high-
voltage generator. 

1 1 0 • S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 circuit
ideas

ELECTRONIC BICYCLE LOCK

 T.K. Hareendran J2 are two standard RCA sockets. A
edi
home-made security loop can be used s.c. dwiv

T
he electronic bicycle lock de- to link these two input points. Around
scribed here is a worthwhile 50cm long, standard 14/36 flexible
alternative for bicycle own- wire with one RCA plug per end is

Fig. 3: Lock fitted on the bicycle

tone generator UM3561 (IC1). IC1

Fig. 1: Circuit of electronic bicycle lock remains enabled until power to the
circuit is turned off using switch S1
ers who want enough for the security loop. or the loop is re-plugged through J1
to make their Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the and J2.
bicycles ‘intelli- electronic bicycle lock. It is powered Assemble the circuit on a general-
gent’ at reason- by a compact 9V battery (6F22). purpose PCB and house in a small tin-
able cost. One Key lock switch S1 and smoothing plate enclosure. Fit the system key lock
of the benefits capacitor C2 are used for connect- switch (S1) on the front side of the en-
of building it ing the power supply. A connected closure as shown in Fig. 2. Place RCA
yourself is that loop cannot activate IC1 and there- sockets (J1 and J2) at appropriate posi-
Fig. 2: Lock box the circuit can fore the speaker does not sound. tions. Now, mount the finished unit in
be used for vir- When the loop is broken, zener diode place of your existing lock (as shown
tually any make of bicycles. ZD1 (3.1V) receives operating power in Fig. 3) by using suitable clamps and
In the circuit, input jacks J1 and supply through resistor R2 to enable screws. 

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M ay 2 0 0 9 • 8 5
circuit
ideas

Electronic Candles edi

s.c. dwiv
 Raj K. Gorkhali
gate trigger circuit components. It is

H
ere is a simple circuit that
can produce the effect of
candle light in a normal
electric bulb. A candle light, as we
all know, resembles a randomly
flickering light. So, the objective of
this project activity is to produce a
randomly flickering light effect in an
electric bulb.
To achieve this, the entire circuit
can be divided into three parts. The first
part comprises IC1 (555), IC2 (74LS164),
IC3 (74LS86), IC4 (74LS00) and the as-
sociated components. These generate a
randomly changing train of pulses.
basically half-wave AC power being
supplied to the electric bulb.
The third part is the power sup-
ply circuit to generate regulated 5V
DC from 230V AC for random signal
generator. It comprises a stepdown
transformer (X1), full-wave rectifier
(diodes D3 and D4), filter capacitor
(C9), followed by a regulator (IC5).
The random signal generator of
the circuit is built around an 8-bit
serial in/parallel out shift register
(IC2). Different outputs of the shift
register IC pass through a set of logic
gates (N1 through N5) and final out-
to provide better flickering effect in
the bulb.
The random signal triggers the
gate of SCR1. The electric bulb gets
AC power only for the period for
which SCR1 is fired. SCR1 is fired
only during the positive half cycles.
Conduction of SCR1 depends upon
the gate triggering pin 3 of IC2, which
is random. Thus, we see a flickering
effect in the light output.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB and enclose it in a suitable

Fig. 1: Circuit diagram for electronic candle

The second put appearing at pin 6 of gate N5 is case. Fix bulb and neon bulb on the
part of the circuit fed back to the inputs of pins 1 and front side of the cabinet. Also, connect
consists of SCR1 2 of IC2. The clock signal appears a power cable for giving AC mains
(C106), an electric at pin 8 of IC2, which is clocked by supply to the circuit for operation. The
bulb connected an astable multivibrator configured circuit is ready to use.
between anode of around timer (IC1). The clock fre- Warning. Since the circuit uses
Fig. 2: Pin configurations
SCR1 and mains quency can be set using preset VR1 230V AC, care must be taken to avoid
of C106 and 7805 live wire, and and VR2. It can be set around 100 Hz electric shock. 

1 4 2 • J a n ua ry 2 0 1 0 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m
 Electronic card-
lock system
T
he circuit presented here can be on and other photo-transistors will as buffer with Schmitt trigger. All outputs
be used as a lock for important be in off state. When transistor T1 is (Q1 through Q7) of this IC are connected
electronic/electrical appliances. on, its collector voltage falls, making to IC2 (ULN2003) which is used as relay
When card is inserted inside its mecha- transistor T9 to cut-off. As a result, col- driver. IC2 consists of seven highcurrent
nism, depending upon the position of lector voltage of transistor T9 as also relay drivers having integral diodes. Ex-
punched hole on the card, a particu- pin 2 of IC1 go logic high. This causes ternal free-wheeling diodes are therefore
lar appliance would be
switched on.
The card is inserted just
like a floppy disk inside the
disk drive. This card should
be rectangular in shape
with only one punched hole
on it.
The circuit uses
eight photo-transistors
(T1 through T8). When
there is no card in the
lock, light from incandes-
cent lamp L1 (40-watt,
230V) falls on all the
photo- transistor detec-
tors. Transistor T8 is
used as enable detector
for IC1 (74LS244). When
light is incident on it, it
conducts and its collector
voltage goes low. This
makes transistor T16 to
cut-off, and its collector
voltage goes high. This logic high on pin 18 (output Q1) also to go high, not required.
its collector terminal will inhibit IC1 switching LED1 on. Simultaneously, When an input of this IC is made logic
as long as light is present on photo- output Q1 is connected to pin 1 of IC2 high, the corresponding output will go
transistor T8. (ULN2003) for driving the relay cor- logic low and relay connected to that pin
IC1 will get enabled only when the responding to appliance 1. Similarly, gets energised. This switches on a specific
card is completely inserted inside the if card for appliance 2 is inserted, only appliance and the corresponding LED.
lock mechanism. This arrangement en- output pin 16 (Q2) of IC1 will go high- Once a specific card is inserted to
sures that only the selected appliance is making LED2 on while at the same switch on a specific relay, that relay
switched on and prevents false operation time energising relay for appliance gets latched through its second pair of
of the system. 2 via ULN2003. The same is true for contacts. Thus even when the card is
You can make these cards using a other cases/appliances also. removed, the specific appliance remains
black, opaque plastic sheet. A small The time during which card is pres- on. The same holds true for all other re-
rectangular notch is made on this ent inside the mechanism, the system lays/appliances as well. The only way to
card to indicate proper direction for generates musical tone. This is achieved deenergise a latched relay after removal
insertion of the card. If an attempt with the help of diodes D1 through D7 of the corresponding card is to switch off
is made to insert the card wrongly, which provide a wired-OR connection at the corresponding switch (S1 through
it will not go completely inside the their common-cathode junction. When S7) which would cut-off the supply to the
mechanism and the system will not any of the outputs of IC1 is logic high, desired relay.
be enabled. the commoncathode junction of diodes The +5V and +12V supplies can be
When card for any appliance (say D1 through D7 also goes logic high, obtained with conventional arrangement
appliance 1) is completely inserted in enabling IC3 (UM66) to generate a mu- using a step-down transformer followed by
the mechanism, the light will fall only sical tone. rectifier, filter and regulator (using 7805
on photo-transistor T1. So only T1 will In this circuit IC1 (74LS244) is used and 7812 etc).

ELECTRONICS PROJECTS Vol. 22 13

14 ELECTRONICS PROJECTS Vol. 22
 circuit
ideas

Electronic Dice Using AT89C2051

 Debdoot Sheet
counter variable, which, on being inter-

T
o
his simple circuit demonstrates rupted by an external trigger, latches sani the
the capability of an AT89C2051 the counter value and displays a ran-
microcontrol- dom number through its output ports.
ler chip to function This method is similar to the one used
as a random number in PCs or calculators for generating ran-
generator based on dom numbers at any instance. and uses an 18MHz crystal to generate
the flying counter The application of this dice is the clock (refer Fig. 2). Switch S1 con-
principle. The pro- Fig. 1: Suggested similar to the one used in a game of nected at pin 1 is used as a reset switch.
gram in the chip con- LED arrangement dice. The random numbers generated Interrupt occurs at pin 6 of IC1 on logic
for electronic dice
stantly updates the display are not displayed numerically, but 0. Switch S2 connected to pin 6 (INT0)
represented by of IC1 is used to trigger an external in-
the number of terrupt to make pin 6 low. It is used as
glowing LEDs. input to generate the random number.
The LEDs are The random number is indicated by
the dot repre- glowing of the LEDs (LED1 through
sentation on the LED7) connected to port pins P1.2-P1.7
face of a dice. and P3.7.
Suggested LED TL0 and TH0 act as free-wheeling
arrangement for counters in auto-increment mode and
the electronic constantly count up from the initial
dice display is value. When the interrupt occurs, the
shown in Fig. 1. value from the counter is latched and
The use of glowing LEDs indicate the random
IC AT89C2051 number generated by the microcontrol-
(IC1) module ler chip. Assembly language is used for
in the design is programming the chip. The Assembly
quite simple. It code listing is self-explanatory.
operates off 3- EFY note. The source code is in-
Fig. 2: Circuit for electronic dice using AT89C2051 5.5V DC supply cluded in this month’s EFY-CD and

w w w. e f y m ag . co m e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • J u n e 2 0 1 0 • 1 0 5

ELECTRONIC HORN
 ASHOK K. DOCTOR
H
ere’s a simple circuit of an
electronic horn that is built
around quadruple op-amp
comparator. A2 and A3 together
work as a ‘wandering voltage gen-
erator’ op-amp. Op-amp A4 is wired
as a buffer and its output provides
base current to npn transistor T2. npn
transistor T2 and audio output trans-
former X1 form a voltage-controlled
oscillator.
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
IC LM3900 (IC1). IC LM3900 has four
independent op-amps (A1 through A4)
with a large output voltage swing. It
can work at up to 32V DC.
The first op-amp (A1) is wired as
When power is switched on, a ba-
sic tone is generated by transistor T2
and transformer X1, which is fre-
quency-modulated by the wandering
voltage generator, which, in turn, is
influenced by the low-frequency
squarewave generator.
The circuit works off regulated
ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • JANUARY 2007 • 109
CIRCUIT
IDEAS
S.C. DW
IVEDI
a low-frequency squarewave genera-
tor. Op-amp A2 works as an integra-
tor, while op-amp A3 works as a
9V. To generate several different
tones, connect its point A1 to pins
1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of IC1
and point A2 to pins 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11
and 13.
The circuit can be used as an auto-
mobile horn by using about 10W au-
dio amplifier. 
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
AUTOMATIC LOW-POWER
EMERGENCY LIGHT
 S.C. DWIVEDI
H
ere is a white-LED-based
emergency light that offers
the following advantages:
1. It is highly bright due to the use
of white LEDs.
2. The light turns on automatically
when mains supply fails, and turns off
when mains power resumes.
3. It has its own battery charger.
When the battery is fully charged,
charging stops automatically.
The circuit comprises two sections:
charger power supply and LED driver.
The charger power supply section is
Fig. 1: Automatic high intensity LED-based emergency light
built around 3-terminal adjustable
regulator IC LM317 (IC1), while the
LED driver section is built around
transistor BD140 (T2).
In the charger power supply sec-
tion, input AC mains is stepped down
by transformer X1 to deliver 9V, 500
mA to the bridge rectifier, which com-
prises diodes D1 through D4. Filter
capacitor C1 eliminates ripples. Un-
regulated DC voltage is fed to input
pin 3 of IC1 and provides charging
126 • JANUARY 2008 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
SUNIL K
UMAR
current through diode D5 and limit-
ing resistor R16. By adjusting preset
VR1, the output voltage can be ad-
justed to deliver the required charg-
ing current.
When the battery gets charged to
6.8V, zener diode ZD1 conducts and
charging current from regulator IC1
finds a path through transistor T1 to Fig. 2: Pin configurations of LM317, BD140
ground and it stops charging of the and BC548
battery.
The LED driver section uses a to- off. On the other hand, when mains
tal of twelve 10mm white LEDs. All fails, the base of transistor T2 becomes
the LEDs are connected in parallel low and it conducts. This makes all
with a 100-ohm resistor in series with the LEDs (LED1 through LED12) glow.
each. The common-anode junction of The mains power supply, when
available,
charges the bat-
tery and keeps
the LEDs off as
transistor T2 re-
mains cut-off.
During mains
failure, the
charging sec-
tion stops
working and
the battery sup-
ply makes the
LEDs glow.
Assemble
the circuit on a
general-pur-
pose PCB and
enclose in a
cabinet with
enough space
for battery and
all the twelve LEDs is connected to switches. Mount the LEDs on the cabi-
the collector of pnp transistor T2 and net such that they light up the room.
the emitter of transistor T2 is directly A hole in the cabinet should be drilled
connected to the positive terminal of to connect 230V AC input for the pri-
6V battery. The unregulated DC volt- mary of the transformer.
age, produced at the cathode junc- EFY lab note. We have tested the
tion of diodes D1 and D3, is fed to circuit with twelve 10mm white LEDs.
the base of transistor T2 through a 1- You can use more LEDs provided the
kilo-ohm resistor. total current consumption does not ex-
When mains power is available, the ceed 1.5A. Driver transistor T2 can de-
base of transistor T2 remains high and liver up to 1.5A with proper heat-sink
T2 does not conduct. Thus LEDs are arrangement. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM

Flasher For Deepawali
 Sunil Kumar
H
ere is the circuit for a port-
able electric lamp-cum-LED
flasher. It uses a 25W, 230V
AC bulb and nine LEDs. When the
bulb glows all the LEDs remain ‘off,’
and when the LEDs glow the bulb
remains ‘off.’
The circuit is built around timer IC
555 (IC1), which is wired as an astable
multivibrator generating square wave.
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
The output of IC1 drives transistor T1.
Working of the circuit is simple.
When output pin 3 of IC1 goes high,
transistor T1 conducts to fire triac1
and the bulb glows. Bulb L1 turns off
when output pin 3 of IC1 goes low.
The collector of transistor T1 is con-
nected to anodes of all the LEDs (LED1
through LED9). So when T1 is cut-off
the LEDs glow, and when T1 conducts
the LEDs go off. Current-limiting resis-
tor R4 protects the LEDs from higher
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 • 1 1 5
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
currents.
In brief, the bulb and the LEDs
flash alternately depending on the
frequency of IC1. Flashing rates of the
bulb as well as LEDs can be varied by
adjusting potmeter VR1. Connect the
power supply line (L) of mains to bulb
L1 via switch S1 and neutral (N) to
MT1 terminal of triac1.
A 12V, 200mA AC adaptor is
used to power the circuit. Using
switch S1, you can switch off the
bulb permanently if you do not
want it to flash.
Assemble the circuit on a
general-purpose PCB and en-
close in a circular plastic cabinet
keeping the bulb at the centre
and LEDs at the circumference.
Drill holes for mounting the
‘on’/‘off’ switch. Use a bulb
holder for bulb L1 and LED
holders for the LEDs. Also use
an IC socket for timer IC 555.
Warning. While assembling,
testing or repairing, take care to
avoid the lethal electric shock. 
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS

FLYING SAUCER

IVEDI
S.C. DW

 ASHOK K. DOCTOR

T
his unidentified flying object
(UFO) is nothing but an elec-
tronic toy depicting the fantacy.
It comprises three separate sections,
viz, rim flasher, dome flasher and
sound generator.
The rim flasher is a simple sequen-
tial circuit built around timer IC 555
Fig. 1: Rim flasher
(IC1) and decade counter IC CD4017
(IC2) as shown in Fig. 1. IC1 is wired
as an astable multivibrator whose out-
put is fed to clock pin 14 of decade
counter IC2. All the eight outputs of
IC2 are connected with two LEDs each.
These 16 LEDs (LED1 through LED16)
are arranged round the rim of a fly-
ing-saucer-like toy. The colour of LEDs
used may be yellow, pink orange or
even white to give a good colour ef-
fect.
The dome flasher circuit is built
around a 14-stage ripple-carry binary
counter and oscillator IC CD4060 (IC3)
as shown in Fig. 2. Three outputs are
used here. Three groups of LEDs with
six LEDs in each are arranged such that
each group flashes at a different rate.
Preset VR1 (47-kilo-ohm) is used to
Fig. 2: Dome flasher
vary the flash cycle.
These 18 LEDs (LED17 through
LED34) are arranged around the grove
(disk) of a general-purpose PCB or
veroboard, which is covered by a
transparent dome. Use different-
coloured LEDs for each group to cre-
ate the required light effect. Red, blue,
yellow or green LEDs will create a nice
effect. If a transparent dome is not pos-
sible, drill holes around the top to fix
the LEDs.
The sound generator is built
around two 555 timers, two transis-
tors and some discrete components as
shown in Fig. 3. Timer IC5 is config- Fig. 3: Sound generator

WWW.EFYMAG.COM ELECTRONICS FOR YOU • JULY 2007 • 95

 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
Fig. 4: Fittings of LEDs on rim
ured as an astable multivibrator. The
charge-discharge cycle of capacitor C8
(47µF) generates a sawtooth waveform
which rises rapidly but falls slowly.
This waveform is fed to the base of
transistor T2 (BC327), which is an emit-
ter follower. Its output is used to con-
trol frequency modulation. It is fed to
96 • JULY 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
ameter each. Make sure
that bowls have rims to
facilitate fixing of LEDs
with small screws. For
fixing the LEDs, refer to
Fig. 4. Assemble the rim
flasher, dome flasher
and sound generator cir-
cuits on separate gen-
eral-purpose PCBs and
mount these on the deep
bowls along with batter-
Fig. 5: Assemble unit of unidentify bird
ies and speaker. PCB1,
pin 5 of timer IC4. The rectangu- PCB2 and PCB3 are for rim flasher,
lar-wave output at pin 3 of timer dome flasher and sound generator, re-
IC5 is fed to transistor BC548 (T1) to spectively.
operate timer IC4, which is also an The assembled flying
asymmetrical multivibrator. If a 75- saucer is shown in Fig. 5. When you
ohm-impedance speaker is available, switch on the circuit, rim LEDs and
there is no need to use resistor R16 (68 dome LEDs flash, and at the same
ohms). time, a sound is generated. This gives
For assembling the circuit, use two the simulated effect of an unidentified
deep, plastic bowls of about 20 cm di- flying object. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM

Four-Stage FM Transmitter
 Pradeep G.
T
his FM transmitter circuit uses
four radio frequency stages:
a VHF oscillator built around
transistor BF494 (T1), a preamplifier
built around transistor BF200 (T2), a
driver built around transistor 2N2219
(T3) and a power amplifier built
around transistor 2N3866 (T4). A con-
denser microphone is connected at the
input of the oscillator.
Working of the circuit is simple.
When you speak near the microphone,
frequency-modulated signals are
obtained at the collector of oscillator
transistor T1. The FM signals are am-
plified by the VHF preamplifier and
w w w. e f y m ag . co m
the pre-driver stage. You can also use
transistor 2N5109 in place of 2N2219.
The preamplifier is a tuned class-A RF
amplifier and the driver is a class-C
amplifier. Signals are finally fed to the
class-C RF power amplifier, which de-
livers RF power to a 50-ohm horizontal
dipole or ground plane antenna.
Use a heat-sink with transistor
2N3866 for heat dissipation. Carefully
adjust trimmer VC1 connected across
L1 to generate frequency within 88-
108 MHz. Also adjust trimmers VC2
through VC7 to get maximum output
at maximum range.
Regulator IC 78C09 provides stable
9V supply to the oscillator, so variation
in the supply voltage will not affect the
e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u • M a r c h 2 0 1 0 • 1 0 3
circuit
ideas
s.c. dwiv
edi
frequency generated. You can also use
a 12V battery to power the circuit.
Assemble the circuit on a general-
purpose PCB. Install the antenna prop-
erly for maximum range.
Coils L1 through L5 are made with
20 SWG copper-enamelled wire wound
over air-cores having 8mm diameter.
They have 4, 6, 6, 5 and 7 turns of wire,
respectively.
EFY note. This transmitter is meant
only for educational purposes. use of
this transmitter with outdoor antenna
is illegal in most parts of the world. The
author and EFY will not be responsible
for any misuse of this transmitter. 
 CIRCUIT
IDEAS
FULLY AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY LIGHT
 DR C.H. VITHALANI
T
his simple automatic emer-
gency light has the following
advantages over conventional
emergency lights:
1. The charging circuit stops auto-
matically when the battery is fully
charged. So you can leave the emer-
gency light connected to AC mains
overnight without any fear.
2. Emergency light automatically
turns on when mains fails. So you
don’t need a torch to locate it.
3. When mains power is available,
emergency light automatically turns
off.
The circuit can be divided into in-
verter and charger sections. The in-
verter section is built around timer
NE555, while the charger section is
100 • FEBRUARY 2007 • ELECTRONICS FOR YOU
built around 3-terminal adjustable
regulator LM317.
In the inverter section, NE555 is
wired as an astable multivibrator that
produces a 15kHz squarewave. Out-
put pin 3 of IC 555 is connected to the
Darlington pair formed by transistors
SL100 (T1) and 2N3055 (T2) via resis-
tor R4. The Darlington pair drives fer-
rite transformer X1 to light up the
tubelight.
For fabricating inverter transformer
X1, use two EE ferrite cores (of
25×13×8mm size each) along with plas-
tic former. Wind 10 turns of 22 SWG
on primary and 500 turns of 34 SWG
wire on secondary using some insula-
tion between the primary and second-
ary.
To connect the tubelight to ferrite
transformer X1, first short both ter-
IVEDI
S.C. DW
minals of each side of the tubelight
and then connect to the secondary of
X1. (You can also use a Darlington pair
of transistors BC547 and 2N6292 for a
6W tubelight with the same trans-
former.)
When mains power is available, re-
set pin 4 of IC 555 is grounded via
transistor T4. Thus, IC1 (NE555) does
not produce squarewave and emer-
gency light turns off in the presence
of mains supply.
When mains fails, transistor T4
does not conduct and reset pin 4 gets
positive supply though resistor R3. IC1
(NE555) starts producing square
wave and tubelight turns on via
ferrite transformer X1.
In the charger section, input
AC mains is stepped down by
transformer X2 to deliver 9V-0-
9V AC at 500 mA. Diodes D1
and D2 rectify the output of the
transformer. Capacitors C3 and
C4 act as filters to eliminate
ripples. The unregulated DC
voltage is fed to IC LM317 (IC2).
By adjusting preset VR1, the
output voltage can be adjusted
to deliver the charging voltage.
When the battery gets
charged above 6.8V, zener diode
ZD1 conducts and regulator IC2
stops delivering the charging
voltage.
Assemble the circuit on a
general-purpose PCB and en-
close in a cabinet with enough
space for the battery and
switches. Connect a 230V AC
power plug to feed charging
voltage to the battery and
make a 20W tube outlet in the
cabinet to switch on the
tubelight. 
WWW.EFYMAG.COM
circuit
ideas

Generator Room Light s.c. dwiv

edi

 Manuj Paul erator room light, while Fig. 2 shows

the battery charger circuit, which is IC1 remain high, making output pin 3

A
t night when power fails, one optional and can be omitted if the gen- of IC1 low and transistor T2 cut-off. So
finds it difficult to reach the erator is self-start type and has built-in lamp L1 connected between the collec-
generator to start it. Here is battery. tor of T1 and the positive terminal of
the circuit for a generator room light At the heart of the generator room 12V supply does not glow.
that automatically turns on at night, light circuit (Fig.1) is a light-dependent As the ambient light fades dur-
facilitating easy access to the generator. resistor (LDR1) that senses the ambi- ing sunset, the resistance of LDR1
During daytime, the light remains off. ent light as well as light from glowing increases. As a result, the voltage drop
Fig. 1 shows the circuit for gen- LED1. across LDR1 increases and npn transis-
tor T1 conducts. Pins 2 and
6 of IC1 go low to make its
output pin 3 high, and lamp
L1 glows.
You can replace incan-
descent lamp L1 with bright
white LEDs using proper
current-limiting resistors.
Assemble the circuit on
a general-purpose PCB and
enclose in a suitable cabinet.
Install the unit near the gen-
erator. Arrange LED1 and
LDR1 such that during the
availability of mains, light
emitted from LED1 falls di-
rectly on LDR1. Also, make
sure that during daytime
the ambient light falls on
the LDR.
For powering the battery
Fig. 1: Circuit for generator room light charger circuit (Fig. 2), 15V
AC secondary voltage is
During derived from step-down transformer
daytime, sun- X1. For fast charging of the battery,
light or light you may increase the current rating of
from LED1 transformer X1.
reduces the The charger charges the battery
resistance through a thyristor (SCR1) when the
of LDR1. As battery voltage is low. The thyristor
a result, the gets a regulated gate voltage from the
voltage drop zener diode, and goes to tickle charg-
across LDR1 ing mode when the battery voltage
decreases and nears the zener voltage.
npn transistor Assemble the charger circuit on a
T1 does not general-purpose PCB and enclose in
conduct. The a suitable cabinet. Use two crocodile
collector of T1 clips (red for positive and black for
and therefore negative) for connecting the battery
Fig. 2: Battery charger circuit (optional) pins 2 and 6 of terminal to the charger circuit. 

8 4 • J u ly 2 0 0 9 • e l e c t ro n i c s f o r yo u w w w. e f y m ag . co m