ELECTRONICS FOR YOU JULY 2001

C I R C U I T I D E A S
S
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. D
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hi s smal l ci rcui t, based on popu-
l ar CMOS NAND chi p CD4093,
can be effecti vel y used for protect-
i ng your expensi ve car audi o system
agai nst theft.
When 12V DC from the car battery i s
appl i ed to the gadget (as i ndi cated by
LED1) through swi tch S1, the ci rcui t goes
i n to s tan dby mode. LED i n s i de
optocoupl er I C1 i s l i t as i ts cathode ter-
mi nal i s grounded vi a the car audi o (am-
pl i fi er) body. As a resul t, the output at
pi n 3 of gate N1 goes l ow and di sabl es
the rest of the ci rcui t.
Whenever an attempt i s made to re-
move the car audi o from i ts mounti ng by
cu tti n g i ts con n ecti n g wi r es , th e
optocoupl er i mmedi atel y turns off, as i ts
LED cathode termi nal i s hangi ng. As a
resul t, the osci l l ator ci rcui t bui l t around
gates N2 and N3 i s enabl ed and i t con-
trol s the on/off ti mi ngs of the rel ay vi a
transi stor T2. (Rel ay contacts can be used
to energi se an emergency beeper, i ndi ca-
tor, car horns, etc, as desi red.)
Di fferent val ues of capaci tor C2 gi ve
di fferent on/off ti mi ngs for rel ay RL1 to
be on/off. Wi th 100F we get approxi -
matel y 5 seconds as on and 5 seconds as
off ti me.
Gate N4, wi th i ts associ ated compo-
nents, forms a sel f-testi ng ci rcui t. Nor-
mal l y, both of i ts i nputs are i n hi gh state.
However, when one swi tches off the i gni -
ti on key, the suppl y to the car audi o i s
al so di sconnected. Thus the output of gate
N4 jumps to a hi gh state and i t provi des
a di fferenti ated short pul se to forward bi as
transi stor T1 for a short durati on. (The
combi nati on of capaci tor C1 and resi stor
R5 acts as the di fferenti ati ng ci rcui t.)
As a resul t, buzzer i n the col l ector
termi nal of T1 beeps for a short durati on
to announce that
the securi ty ci r-
cu i t i s i n tact.
Thi s on peri od
of buzzer can be
vari ed by chang-
i ng the val ues of
capaci tor C1
and/or r esi stor
R5.
After con -
structi on, fi x the
LED and buzzer
i n dashboard as
per y ou r r e-
qui r ement and
hi de swi tch S1
i n a sui tabl e l ocati on. Then connect l ead
A to the body of car stereo (not to the
body of vehi cl e) and l ead B to i ts posi ti ve
l ead termi nal . Take power suppl y for the
ci rcui t from the car battery di rectl y.
Cauti on. Thi s desi gn i s meant for car
audi os wi th negati ve ground onl y.
T.K. HAREENDRAN
81l18lf1 $l008l1f
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