DC Volt Polarity Indicator Using IC 741

Now, here is one another basic electronic project using the most versatile
operational amplifier IC 741 DC Volt Polarity Indicator. Using the project DC volt
polarity indicator one can know the positive and negative polarity of DC volt. This
project is very useful for electronics hobbyist in order to check either battery
polarity or polarity at output of DC source. The circuit present here is so simple that
even electronics beginners can understand how circuit works.
Circuit Description of DC Volt Indicator Using IC 741
The heart of the circuit DC volt polarity indicator is op-amp 741, which is here used
in Non-inverting mode. Power supply is given to the circuit through positive (+) and
negative (-) line. DC Polarity to be tested is connected to V in pin (pin 3) of IC1 via
resistor R1. If positive DC volt is given to Vin pin, DC positive volt is appeared at
output pin (pin 6) and if negative volt is connected to V in pin, DC negative volt is
appeared at output pin (pin 6). The output of IC 1 is connected to LED1 and LED2 via
resistor R4which is used here as current limiter. Glowing LED 1 (RED LED) indicate
negative DC volt and glowing LED2 (GREEN LED) indicate positive DC volt.

PARTS LIST OF DC VOLT POLARITY INDICATOR USING IC 741

Resistor (all -watt, 5% Carbon)

R1 = 100 K

R2 = 680

R3 = 100 K

R4 = 560

VR1 = 10 K

Semiconductors

IC1 = 741

LED1 = RED LED

LED2 = GREEN LED

How to Build a Dark-activated Light Circuit Using an LM741 Op Amp

In this project, we will go over how to build an automatic night light circuit in which
an LED will turn on when it becomes dark using an LM741 op amp chip as a
comparator.
As soon as there is ambient darkness sensed by the circuit, it will automatically turn
on an LED, which will stay on as long as it is dark.
The component that allows for this light sensing is a photoresistor. The photoresistor
detects light levels and its resistance changes based on the amount of light it picks
up. We can exploit this varying resistance that the photoresistor gives off to know
whether there is darkness in the surroundings or whether it is bright.
We will use the LM741 chip in this circuit as a comparator to make decisions. It was
just explained how a photoresistor changes its resistance drastically based on the
ambient lighting in an environment. Exposed to darkness, a photoresistor has a
tremendous amount of resistance. Depending on the specific photoresistor in use,
its resistance can be anywhere from over 100K to well over 2M. When exposed
to bright light, a photoresistor's resistance drops drastically. Again, based on the
photoresistor, it may be to 5K or below or to about 30K. For any photoresistor,
you can pretty much be sure that the resistance will fall to about 30K when
exposed to bright light. This is an important principle to know because we will
create a voltage divider of a photoresistor and a fixed resistor, in which the voltage
divided up between the 2 components will change due to ambient lighting. In
darkness, the photoresistor will have a very high resistance. If you know ohm's law,
more voltage is allocated to components with a higher resistance value (V= IR).
Therefore, when this voltage divider is connected to a comparator, the voltage
divider will produce a very high voltage. When the photoresistor is exposed to bright
light, will have a low resistance. Therefore, less voltage will fall across it. So when it
is hooked up to a comparator, the voltage divider circuit will produce a voltage less
than the reference voltage. This will make more sense when you see the actual
circuit.
So now you see how we can get varying voltage levels due to the varying resistance
that a photoresistor gives off, based on the lighting in a room.
So how does the circuit actually make decisions due to the varying voltage levels?
And the answer is through a comparator.
A comparator is a electronic chip that can compare voltages between 2 inputs and
whose output varies depending on which input has a greater voltage.
Look at the LM741 chip which we will use below:

The LM741 basically has 2 inputs, input A, the inverting terminal (marked with a
negative), and input B, the noninverting terminal (marked with the +).
If the voltage present on input A (the inverting terminal) is greater than the voltage
present on input B (the noninverting terminal), then the output will be whatever is
present on the V+ terminal of the LM741. This will be a positive voltage.
If the voltage present on input B (the noninverting terminal) is greater than the
voltage present on input A (the inverting terminal), then the output will be whatever
voltage is present on the V- terminal of the LM741. The V- is usually tied to ground
or to a negative voltage.
So assuming that the V+ terminal of the LM741 has a positive voltage (say 5V) and
the V- terminal is tied to ground, when the photoresistor is exposed to darkness, a
very large voltage from the power supply gets allocated to it to the photoresistor.
Thus, the voltage on the inverting terminal is much larger than on the noninverting
terminal. Thus, the output will be pulled up to the voltage on V+. And, therefore, the
load, which in this case is an LED, connected to the output terminal of the LM741,
will be powered on.
If the photoresistor is exposed to bright light, its resistance drops signifcantly and so
does its voltage. Thus, input B will have a greater voltage than input A, and the
output of the LM741 will be drawn low, to ground. Thus, the LED will not light.
And this is the basis of our circuit.

In order to know how to build this circuit, you must know the pinout of an LM741, in
order to connect the pins properly. Below is the pinout of the LM741 op amp chip.

If you would like to understand all the pin connections of the LM741 op amp,
see LM741 Op Amp- Pinout Connections. This article explains all of the 8 pins of the
LM741 and what each one does.
For this circuit, though, we will only be connecting to 5 of the pins of the LM741.
As most ICs need, we must power the chip. Therefore, we must connect positive
voltage to the V+ terminal of the LM741 and connect either negative voltage to the
V- terminal or connect it to ground. The supply voltage for the LM741 for the power
voltage terminals can be as high as 22V. This means we can feed a voltage as
high as +22V into V+ and as low as -22V to V-.
Besides for power, the 2 inputs that we will use to compare voltages are the
inverting terminal and the noninverting terminal. These 2 terminals serve as inputs
so that we can compare the voltages to determine which is higher.
The last pin we will use of the LM741 is the output pin. Here is where we connect
the load that we want to power, in this case, it is an LED. When the voltage on the
inverting terminal is greater than on the noninverting terminal, the output is high
and the load will be powered on, if the supply voltage is sufficient to power on. If the
voltage on the noninverting terminal is greater than in the inverting terminal, the
output is low and will be at the voltage level as V-.

Components Needed

Photoresistor

33K Resistor

330 Resistor

20K Resistor

LM741 op amp

LED

3 AA batteries or DC Power Supply

A lot of these components can be varied somewhat. If your photoresistor's light

resistance is about 20-30K, then you definitely must use a resistance greater than
30k. You must use a fixed resistor greater than the light resistance of the
photoresistor to form the voltage divider. The resistor doesn't have to be 33K. You
can use a larger valued resistor, such as 40K. It isn't precise.
The same is true for all the other resistors. The current-limiting resistor doesn't have
to be exactly 330, it can be more or less but in the hundreds of ohms range. And
the potentiometer can really be any value. It isn't the value of the resistance of the
potentiometer which is important, but the voltage that is produced when the
potentiometer is calibrated to the right voltage. We want the voltage of the
potentiometer to be greater than the voltage that the voltage divider produces
when exposed to bright light but less than the voltage that the voltage divider
produces when exposed to darkness.
Night Light Circuit Schematic

Below is the full schematic diagram of the circuit which we are building.

As you can see, the op amp is powered by 3.5 volts. The V+ terminal is connected
to 3.5V and the V- terminal is connected to ground. The 2 inputs are the inverting
and noninverting terminals. The voltage divider is connected to the inverting
terminal. This voltage will change depending on the ambient lighting. We adjust the
potentiometer connected to the noninverting terminal to the point where the LED is
off during bright light exposure and on during darkness exposure.
Once this calibration is in place, the circuit is all set.
So this is how a dark-activated light circuit can work.
This circuit is useful when light is needed during dark conditions, such as when
night approaches.
Again, as always, variations of this circuit can be done. Instead of using an LED, we
can use any other type of lighting fixture such as a lamp. You may want to use a
bright LED. Or you can use any other various lighting source. You may want to use
multiple lights, so you can place different lights in parallel in one another. All that
would be needed is an adjustment in the voltage and current of the circuit.
Customize the circuit according to your needs and preferences.