C I R C U I T I D E A S

ELECTRONICS FOR YOU JANUARY 2004 118

INTRUDER ALARM
PRAVEEN KUMAR
T
his circuit, fitted to the door of your
house, sounds an alarm if anyone
pushes the door. This way it alarms
you against thieves or intruders. The cir-
cuit (refer Fig. 1) comprises transmitter
and receiver sections. The transmitter is
fitted onto the inside of the doorframe
and the receiver is fitted to the door panel.
The transmitter section comprising a
laser diode is powered by a 9V battery.
When switch S1 in the transmitter section is
closed, the laser diode glows. Closing switch
S2 provides power supply to the receiver
section. Light falling from the laser diode on
the light-dependent resistor (LDR) in the
receiver section provides base current to
transistor T1 and it starts conducting. This
grounds the base of transistor T2, so it doesnt
conduct and the alarm remains off.
When somebody pushes the door,
light incident on the LDR is interrupted
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C I R C UI T I D E A S
and transistor T1 stops conducting since
the LDR offers a high resistance in the
absence of light. Transistor T2 receives
base current and starts conducting. The
pulse from the emitter of transistor T2 is
connected to the inputs of AND gate N1
(IC1). The high ouput of AND gate is
connected to a JK flip-flop (IC2) that
works as a latch. As a result, output pin
12 (Q1) of IC2
goes high to
cause conduc-
tion of transis-
tor T3 and
c ons equent
sounding of
the alarm. The
alarm can be
turned off by
switch S2.
Ar r a n g e
the laser diode
and the LDR
such that when the circuit is on and the
door is closed, light from the laser diode
falls on the LDR to keep the alarm off. In
order to make sure that ambient light is
not incident on the LDR, make the ar-
rangement as shown in Fig. 2.
EFY note. While testing at EFY Lab,
a laser torch in place of the transmitter
was used.
Fig. 2: Transmitter and receiver cabinets with holes for laser LED
and LDR, respectively
Fig. 1: Circuit diagram of intruder alarm