Automatic Street Light System

Abstract
Electricity is one of the major issues in our country. The production of electricity is very less as compared
to its distribution and availability to the consumers which gets more discouraging when it is applied to
the rural areas. Moreover, there is not much attention paid to the electricity saving in the areas where it
is abundant. A sufficient amount of electric power is lost due to improper switching of street lights when
they light up in the day time or even near it when there is sufficient natural light in the atmosphere.
Therefore, a proper and efficient load management system is required for such a task. We have
designed a system which can turn on/off the street lights while sensing the amount of natural light in
the atmosphere. Moreover, our system doesn’t not only efficiently saves electric power but itself is also
low powered and can be run by the same electric means by which the street lights are being powered.
The circuit is simple in design and cheap to construct. The sensitivity of circuit is re-adjustable for the
areas where there is low intensity of light such as cloudy areas.
Components
 5V charger
 Bread board
 Resistors (1k, 10k)
 Variable resistor (40k)
 Light dependent resistor (LDR)
 Operational Amplifier (IC741)
 Transistor
 LEDs
 Connecting wires

Working
The main part of the circuit is the light dependent resistor (LDR). The LDR should be placed at some
place where the daylight can continuously be detected by it. Based on this intensity of light, the
resistance of LDR changes, resulting in a changing voltage. A variable resistor is used in series with the
LDR to change its sensitivity for different light intensities. Another resistor configuration is used to
produce a preset voltage (2.5V) which is used as a reference voltage to drive the circuit. Both these
voltages produced are then input to the operational amplifier IC (pin 2 & 3) which compares the two
voltages. If the voltage dropped by the LDR gets higher than the reference voltage, the operational
amplifier output gets to the +5V and vice versa. The output of op-amp is then used to drive a transistor
as a switch which conducts from collector to emitter when a voltage is applied on its base. The street
light system is connected by a parallel scheme of LEDs which are connected in series with the collector
of the transistor. The circuit works when the LDR detects no light.

Block Diagram
•Light Dependent Resistor
•Detects the itensity of light and changes its resistance based on that intensity.
•It is used in a voltage divider circuit which inputs different voltage levels to the Op-amp, based on the amount of
LDR light.

•Operational Amplifier
•It is used as comparator which detects the input of the LDR, compares it to a preset voltage level and gives the
Op-Amp output (on/off).

•BC541
•A transistor is used as a switch whose base detects the output of the op-amp and conducts from collector to
Transistor emitter.

•LEDs parallel distribution.

•The street light LEDs are connected in parallel to each other, between the voltage and th collector of the
Street light transistor.
distribution
Future work
There are multiple ideas that can be integrated in this project as a future work.

1. Solar power can be used to power the LEDs.

2. As the street lights work on AC instead of DC, a relay can be used with the switching transistor
and the street lights can be connected to the relay.