Light Activated Switch - DIY Project

Make a light activated switch circuit which can be used for switching OFF a particular lamp or group of lamps in response to the varying ambient light levels. The project once built can be used for switching OFF a lamp when dawn breaks and switching it ON when dusk sets in. It can also be used as a night lamp which will turn on automatically at sleeping time when the room is dark.It is the most simple and cheap project for hobby purposes.

This circuit is tested by myself and it is 100% in working condition.

Components Required:

9V Battery
LDR (Light Dependent Resistor)
Pot 47 Kohm variable resistor
4 Kohm resistor
10 Kohm resistor
1 Kohm resistor
2x 220 ohm resistor
LM311 IC
BC 107 transistor
LED (any color)
1N4007 Diode
12V SPST Relay

Circuit Diagram:

Working:

The circuit is based on National Semiconductors comparator LM311 (IC1) and an LDR. The non inverting input of IC1 is given with a reference voltage of 6V using resistors R3 and R4. The input to the inverting input will be the voltage across the LDR that is light dependent. At darkness the resistance of the LDR will be high and so do the voltage across it. In this condition the voltage at the inverting input will be higher than the reference at non inverting pin and the output of the comparator will be low. When the LDR is illuminated, its resistance drops and so does the voltage across it. Now the voltage at the inverting input will be lower than that at non inverting input and the out put of the comparator goes high. This makes transistor Q1 on and drives the relay. As a result we get a relay switching according to the intensity of the light falling on the LDR.

Notes:

Adjust POT R1 to set the desired light intensity for switching the relay.For this illuminate the LDR with the desire intensity light.The relay will be either on or off. Adjust POT R1 slowly so that the state of the relay changes.That’s it. Now the circuit is set for the given intensity of light.
Assemble the circuit on a good quality PCB or common vero board.
You can use either a 9 V battery or a well regulated & filtered 9V DC mains operated power supply.
The pin 5&6 (Balance & Balance/Strobe ) of IC LM311 are shorted to minimize the chance of oscillations.
The pin out of LM311 is also given together with the circuit diagram.

Place your light activated switch circuit inside some small container/box and make sure the LDR is facing outside the box to detect light properly. This circuit is also used in street lights to turn on the lights automatically when it is dark.