Simple Clap Switch 

An electronic device that can control light appliances by users' clap action is a clap switch. It was invented by R Carlile, Stevens, and E Dale Reamer on 20th February 1996. The main advantage of this technology is that it is mainly helpful for a mobility-impaired person. The condenser mic is one of the main components in the circuit that tracks the input clap sound based on the pitch of the clap and transduces this sound energy into some electric pulses. These electric pulses are the desired input to the clap switch circuit. This article gives an overview of the clap switch.



Q ) What is Clap Switch?

Clap Switch:

                         A clap switch is an electronic circuit, which controls electrical appliances like a bulb, tube lights, etc with user clapping action. It is mainly useful for a person who cannot move his legs.  The clap switch circuit can be designed in two ways using a 555 IC and without using a 555 IC. We can also use some other IC such as CD 4017 etc

  • Simple clap switch project details

Video Documentation:



Components required:

  1. IC ( CD 4017 )
  2. Transistor ( BC 547 )
  3. Transistor ( BC 557 )
  4. Resistor 1K
  5. Resistor 15K
  6. Mic
  7. 5V Relay
  8. 9V Battery
  9. Coil

CD 4017

It is a CMOS divider or a counter IC. On receiving an external clock signal it turns ON (say all together 10 lights) all the lights in a sequential manner. It consists of input pins 3 in number and output pins 10 in number and a GND – ground pin as shown below



Input Pins

The followings are the input pins used in 4017 decad counter ic

  • Reset (P 15): This pin helps to reset the position back to zero. Suppose you want the counter to count to 3, after the 3rd signal the reset pin goes back to zero.
  • Clock pin ( P 14): It is an input clock signal pin that goes high when the circuit is in the working stage.
  • Clock Inhibit Pin (Pin 13): This pin controls the counter pin by turning it ON and OFF. When Pin13 is set high it means the counter is turned off, and when pin13 is set low it means the counter is turned on.

Output Pins

The followings are the output pins used in 4017 decad counter ic

  • Output Pins (0 to 9): These pins process the task sequentially and provide an output at pin3 (let us assume we are using only pin 3 out of 10 output pins).
  • Carry Out Pin ( Pin 12): Connect many CD4017 IC together.

Clap Switch Working

Assume a human standing closer to the mic and clapping. This mic takes the sound energy and converts it into an electrical signal and gives this input to the clap switch circuit at transistor T2. This signal in return triggers IC1 ( 555 Timer) pin2. We can theoretically calculate the output clock signal status using the following formula

T = 1.1 * R 5* C 4

The output which is a clock signal from IC1 (pin3) is given as input to CD 4017 IC (pin 14). Now CD 4017 IC starts counting from “0” until pin 14 goes high. On receiving the input signal on the first clap, Q1 gets activated, and LED 1 (d1) starts glowing. The switch circuit is controlled by a relay and the output is obtained from pin2. Similarly, on receiving another clap, pin4 gets activated and LED2(d2) if connected glows and LED1 stops glowing, likewise, this process continues.

Advantages

  • Automatically controls lights within a specified range by clapping action
  • It is an advantageous technology for mobility-impaired person
  • Reliable
  • Cost is low
  • It provides good output efficiency.

Disadvantages

The following are the disadvantages of clap switch

  • It is cumbersome compared to traditional control switch
  • The filter should be added in the circuit compulsorily for working.

Application:

                  Clap Switches can be installed in businesses and homes to allow individuals to turn lights and several technologies on or off by using claps, snaps, or his/her voice. 

                  Clap Switches give individuals the ability to remain seated or lying down to turn devices on or off. Also, this device is important to industries because technology is growing at an extreme rate, and the component within the Clap Switch can help advance technology even more. 

                   In today’s world, we use voice control within our mobile devices, as well as, devices like the Echo, Google Home, etc. Within these devices that I previously listed, you can turn on several technologies by giving them simple voice commands, which is something that a great number of companies are working on – daily.

To make this Project Easily Kindly Follow the video step by step