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This Outdoor LED Solar Garden Lights project is a hobby circuit of an automatic

garden light using a LDR and 6V/5W solar panel. During day time, the internal
rechargeable 6 Volt SLA battery receives charging current from the connected solar
panel through polariy protection diode D9 and current limiting resistor R10. If ambient
light is normal, transistor T1 is reverse biased by IC1 (LM555).
LED Solar Lights Circuit Schematic


Here IC1 is wired as a medium current inverting line driver, switched by an
encapsulated light detector (10mm LDR). Multi-turn trimpot P1 sets the detection
sensitivity. When ambient light dims,transistor T1 turns on to drive the white LED string
(D1-D8). Now this lamp load at the output of T1 energises. Resistors R1-R8 limits the
operating current of the LEDs. When the ambient light level restores, circuit returns to
its idle state and light(s) switched off by the circuit.

Assemble the Outdoor Solar Lights circuit on a general purpose PCB and enclose the
whole assembly in a transparent plastic box. Drill suitable holes on the top of the
encloure to mount the mini solar panel (SP1) and the light sensor (LDR), and in front
for fitting power switch (S1) and the sensitivity controller (P1).

Fix the battery inside the cabinet using a double-sided glue tape/pad. Finally, the LDR
should not be mounted to receive direct sunlight. It must be mounted at the top of the
enclosure, pointing to the sky say southwards. This circuit is very simple. So interested
and experienced hobbyists can alter/modify the whole circuit as per their own ideas
without any difficulty (Just try a 6V relay with T1 to drive more number of LED strings)
what is LDR? 555 datasheet

The following circuit is a bastardized version of a SIMD1 / Solar Regulator, and it may be
more true than not. That's why I am looking for opinions on its functionality as well as
tweaking advice.



Original Circuit Description

SIMD1 / Solar Regulator
The SIMD1 was enhanced in the Solar Regulator version which supplies a constant 2V
after
triggering and permits driving LEDs without using current limiting resistors with constant
brightness. Note that you can use this Low Drop Out (LDO) linear regulator for various
applications but like all linear regulators it is "lossy". This is not a problem for controlling
LEDs
since they would otherwise use "lossy" resistors but for motors it is a different story.
Try this new SIMD1 / Solar Voltage Regulator for use with blinking LED circuits
(pummers). It
turns on when it gets dark, just like a D1 but the output voltage is regulated to about 2V
(depending on the reference LED Vf).

The SIMD1 / solar regulator circuit draws no current during charging and when turned
on, it
draws less than 100uA with a maximum 10ma output current. The regulator provides
constant
LED brightness during the discharge and turns off when 1F solar capacitor voltage drops
below
the LED turn on voltage. The LED used for voltage reference in the solar regulator
feedback loop
and the LEDs used for the flasher must be the same high efficiency type to match the
forward
voltage specs. This circuit is ideal for supplying voltage to a Bicore or 74HC14 LED
flasher since
it eliminates the LED current limiting resistors and greatly reduces current consumption
of the
HC flasher circuits.



One interesting alternative would be to substitute a 5V NiCad (4 cell) battery for the 1F
supercap
which acts to increase the storage capacity many fold for use with flag waver motors,
pendulums, etc. With higher load current, the 100K resistor may be replaced with 20K
for up to
50 ma output current. The quiescent current of the regulator remains very low and is
proportional to the load current for high efficiency operation during discharge.

Charging
The solar cell charges a 1F capacitor through a 1N34A Germanium diode to a maximum
voltage
of 5.5V. While the charging current flows through the diode the voltage at the cathode
(stripe) is
about 100 mV negative with respect to the 0 V line. This negative voltage is applied
through a
100K resistor to the base of a 2N3904 NPN transistor Q1 and holds that transistor off.
This cuts
off the base current for the 2N3906 transistor (PNP) Q2 and the output of the regulator
will be
zero volts.

Switching
Rapid switching is very important in this type of circuit because a circuit that is half on
draws
power, draining the capacitor, but performs no useful work. On the SIMD1/ Solar
Regulator, the
output snaps on and off.

At the end of the charging cycle, when the light on the solar cell decreases, the negative
terminal of the solar cell starts to become more positive than the 0V line. The base of
the NPN
Q1 must be at about +500 mV (positive) with respect to the emitter which is connected
to the 0
V line, before it turns on and turns on the rest of the regulator. That usually happens in
the
evening but can be simulated by cupping your hand in front of the solar cell.

When Q1 turns on, the PNP transistor 2N3906 - Q2 receives base current and it starts to
turn on.
The regulator output voltage at the collector of Q2 increases to about + 2V when the red
LED
starts to turn on and to supply current to the base of NPN transistor 2N3904 - Q3. When
Q3
turns on it "robs" base current from Q2. This in turn controls the base current for Q2 and
the
regulator output will stabilize at +2 V. The 10K resistor from the regulator output to the
negative terminal of the solar cell provides positive feedback to the regulator turn on by
loading
the solar cell down so that it's output voltage drops even more and the regulator "snaps"
on.
Note that the red LED is used for reference voltage only and does not actually light up.

Discharging
The output voltage at the collector of Q2 remains at 2V while the voltage on the main
capacitor
can range from a full charge at 5.5V to 2.1V at the end of the discharge cycle. If no load
is
attached to the regulator the capacitor voltage will drop very slowly because of leakage
and a
small amount of current required for the active regulator (<50 uA). When a HC chip like
a
74HC240 or 74HC14 is powered from the 2V regulated output, the current for that chip
is also
very low.

If the HC chip has a LED connected to the output which the same type of LED that is
used for
reference, then the current will be limited by a small voltage drop on the HC driver
output. Since
the regulated voltage is constant the brightness of the LED is also constant.
When the voltage on the 1F cap drops below 2V, the regulator reference LED turns off
and the
base currents of Q1 and Q2 increase discharging the remaining charge on the cap and
turning
any attached circuit rapidly off. At some point the voltage of the solar cell even in dim
light is
higher than the remaining charge on the capacitor and if there is sufficient light (usually
in the
morning) the charging cycle repeats all over again. If the Sun is bright and the solar cell
was
shielded by your hand, then exposing the solar cell to the bright sunlight generates
enough

power to turn the regulator off and force the circuit back into the charging cycle.
The PowerSaver Flasher uses capacitive output coupling to produce brighter shorter
flashes and
has a much lower average current drain than standard bicore or 74HC14 flashers. The
PS Flasher
with one LED circuit (2 LEDs) runs all night from a 1F cap charged to 5.5V. Up to 12
LEDs can be
controlled with one 74HC14 flasher and probably would run for 2 hours from a full
charge. Use a
range of timing resistors between 1M and 4.7M for each oscillator to give a random light
show
appearance.


Efficient automatic solar garder lights circuit with minimum components the best deal is that is completely auto and
the Solar panel acts as a light detector. Switches the Lamp off at Dawn, charges the battery during daytime and
switches the LED lights ON at dusk providing 100 Lumens illumination during the night.


The solar panel must provide 5.5V and 150mA. Assuming a 3.7V/1500mAh battery the charging will be complete in 8
hours at 200% capacity @ 180 mA. With 10 LEDs the power consumption would be 90 mA/hour providing a 10 hours
illumination with light levels of 50 lumens to 60 lumens. With 20 LEDs the light intensity will be 100 to 120 lumens.
You can use any number of LEDs and battery capacity too. This would directly provide you the amount of illumination
and time for illumination. If?you?use?higher?capacity?battery?than?that?recommended
the?solar?panel?current?should?be?increased?proportionately. Current provided by solar panel should be 10% of
battery capacity.
Solar garden lights circuit schematic


Bill of material for the solar garden lights
Resistor?(1)?4K7?or?5K6
Resistor?(1)?47E?or?56E?or?any?value?(?Current?Limiting?)
Transistor?2N3906
Diode??1N4001/7/?1N4148?(Any)
Solar?Panel?5.5v/200mA
Battery?3.7v/1500mAh
Switch?SPST
PCB and components placement .rar

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