Thursday, March 28, 2024

Little Nightlight

T.K. Hareendran is founder and promoter of TechNode Protolabz

Here we describe a very simple, economical and light-weight automatic nightlight that runs on 230V AC mains and can be used as a deluxe gizmo in the sleeping room of your kids. The arrangement proposed by the author is shown in Fig. 1.

Proposed arrangement of little nightlight by the author
Fig. 1: Proposed arrangement by the author

Circuit and working of Little Nightlight

Circuit diagram for the nightlight is shown in Fig. 2. It is built around three resistors (R1 through R3), two light-emitting diodes (LED1 and LED2), a light-dependent resistor (LDR1), a BC548 transistor (T1) and a capacitor (C1). Here LED1 is blue and LED2 is RGB with rainbow effect.

Circuit diagram for the nightlight
Fig. 2: Circuit diagram for the nightlight

The circuit operates off 230V AC, consuming very little current. The generic 5mm LDR drives the rainbow LED (LED2) through npn transistor T1. Series resistor R3 (150-ohm) limits the current through LED2. The sensor circuit ensures that the rainbow light switches on when it gets dark and off when there is ambient light. If desired, you can change its detection threshold by varying the value of 47-kilo-ohm resistor R2.

Resistor R1 (100-kilo-ohm), 1N4007 diode D1, and 4.7µF, 16V electrolytic capacitor C1 are used to down-convert the 230V AC input supply to a very low-value DC supply. The 5mm blue LED (LED1) not only works as an always-on pilot lamp but also keeps the voltage across buffer capacitor C1 close to around 3V. When the circuit is in active state (that is, in darkness), LED1 also produces a waving effect in tune with the current consumption of the entire circuitry.

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The rainbow LED is a low-cost flashing LED with inbuilt driver chip. When power is applied, it flashes red, blue and green colours each for several seconds, then it slowly mixes these colours together to form other colours. Fig. 3 shows the author’s lab experiments.

Author’s lab experiments
Fig. 3: Author’s lab experiments

Construction and testing

An actual-size PCB layout for the little nightlight is shown in Fig. 4 and its components layout in Fig. 5. After assembling the circuit, enclose it in a suitable box.

PCB layout of little nightlight
Fig. 4: PCB layout of little nightlight
Components side of the PCB
Fig. 5: Components side of the PCB

Download PCB and component layout PDFs: click here

Fix CON1 so that you can connect 230V AC easily. Connect LDR1 such that light from LED1 and LED2 doesn’t fall on it. After proper assembly and connections, your little nightlight circuit is ready to use. Proposed enclosure is shown in Fig. 6.

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Proposed enclosure for the circuit
Fig. 6: Proposed enclosure for the circuit

 

8 COMMENTS

    • @ Rakesh K R This circuit will switch on the Led while the room light is off and switch off while room light on . If you connect 100 w bulb in the place of LED then it is better not to switch off the room light i hope u understood . And still you searching to connect 100 W bulb, i will help. see BC 547 has some voltage limitations . CE voltage should not exceed 30V so you cannot conect 100W bulb their directly it is better to use optocoupler / relay to drive the load

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