
What is an LDR sensor module?
LDR sensor module is a low-cost digital sensor as well as analog sensor module, which is capable to measure and detect light intensity. This sensor also is known as the Photoresistor sensor. This sensor has an onboard LDR (Light Dependent Resistor), that helps it to detect light.
What are the uses of LDR resistors?
These resistors are frequently used as light sensors. These resistors are mainly used when there is a need to sense the absence and presence of the light such as burglar alarm circuits, alarm clock, light intensity meters, etc. LDR resistors mainly involves in various electrical and electronic projects.
How to adjust the sensitivity of the LDR sensor?
The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted using the onboard potentiometer. The LDR sensor module consists mainly of the LDR, LM393 Comparators, Variable Resistor (Trim pot), Power LED, output LED. 1. LDR or Light Dependent Resistor
What is the working principle of LDR?
Working Principle of LDR These devices depend on the light, when light falls on the LDR then the resistance decreases, and increases in the dark.When a LDR is kept in the dark place, its resistance is high and, when the LDR is kept in the light its resistance will decrease. Variation of LDR Resistance with Variation in Light Intensity

What is an LDR resistor?
An LDR or light dependent resistor is also known as photo resistor, photocell, photoconductor. It is a one type of resistor whose resistance varies depending on the amount of light falling on its surface. When the light falls on the resistor, then the resistance changes. These resistors are often used in many circuits where it is required ...
When to use LDR resistors?
These resistors are mainly used when there is a need to sense the absence and presence of the light such as burglar alarm circuits, alarm clock, light intensity meters, etc. LDR resistors mainly involves in various electrical and electronic projects.
How does a resistor work?
It is nothing but, when the light falls on its surface, then the material conductivity reduces and also the electrons in the valence band of the device are excited to the conduction band. These photons in the incident light must have energy greater than the band gap of the semiconductor material.This makes the electrons to jump from the valence band to conduction.
What happens when the light intensity is low?
When the light intensity is low, then the resistance of the LDR is high. This stops the current flow to the base terminal of the transistor. So, the LED does not light. However, when the light intensity onto the LDR is high, then the resistance of the LDR is low.So current flows onto the base of the first transistor and then the second transistor.Consequently the LED lights.Here, a preset resistor is used to turn up or down to increase or decrease the resistance.
What happens when light falls on a resistor?
When the light falls on the LDR, then the electrons get excited from the valence band to the conduction band and number of charge carriers increases.
What happens to LDR when light falls on it?
Working Principle of LDR. These devices depend on the light, when light falls on the LDR then the resistance decreases, and increases in the dark.When a LDR is kept in the dark place, its resistance is high and, when the LDR is kept in the light its resistance will decrease. Variation of LDR Resistance with Variation in Light Intensity.
What happens when a constant V is applied to the LDR?
If a constant “V’ is applied to the LDR, the intensity of the light increased and current increases. The figure below shows the curve between resistance Vs illumination curve for a particular light dependent resistor.
What is an LDR sensor?
LDR sensor module is a low-cost digital sensor as well as analog sensor module, which is capable to measure and detect light intensity. This sensor also is known as the Photoresistor sensor. This sensor has an onboard LDR (Light Dependent Resistor), that helps it to detect light. This sensor module comes with 4 terminals. Where the “DO” pin is a digital output pin and the “AO” pin is an analog output pin. The output of the module goes high in the absence of light and it becomes low in the presence of light. The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted using the onboard potentiometer.
What does the green LED on the LDR sensor mean?
This onboard LED indicates the LDR sensor module power supply is ON or OFF. When we turn on the sensor power supply this Green LED is also turn on.
What happens to the LDR when light intensity increases?
When light intensity increase on the LDR surface, then the LDR resistance will decrease and the element conductivity will increases. When light intensity decrease on the LDR surface, then the LDR resistance will increase and the element conductivity will decrease. LDR or Light Dependent Resistor & Symbol.
What happens when light intensity increases on the surface of the LDR?
When light intensity increase on the surface of the LDR then the resistance of the LDR decreases. Then the maximum amount of voltage will be allocated across the resistor (R3). So, a Low amount of voltage from the LDR is given to the Inverting input (2) of the IC. Then the Comparator IC compares this voltage with the threshold voltage. In this condition, this input voltage is less than the threshold voltage, so the sensor output goes LOW (0).
How are LDRs Made?
The LDRs made with photosensitive materials like Cadmium Sulphides (CdS) and are pleased on Zig-Zag Shape as you can see in the pic below.and two metal contacts are placed on both end of the Zig-Zag shape this metal contacts helps in creating connection with the LDRs.
Working and Principle
It works on the principle of photoconductivity whenever the light on its photoconductive material falls it absorbs its energy and the electrons of that photoconductive material that is in the valence band get excited and go to the conduction band and thus increases the conductivity as per the increase in light intensity.
Difference Between Photocell and LDR
Photodiodes give quick response and are used where needed to detect quick response on and off like in optical communication, optoisolators. The photodiodes are semiconductor devices and work on PN junctions.
Types of LDR
This type of photoresistor is made with pure semiconductors without any doping. This kind of photoresistor uses pure semiconductors like silicon and germanium. when the incident light having an adequate amount of energy falls on this then electrons gain that energy and got excited and few of them go to the conduction band.
How does an LDR sensor work?
more light the resistance is low. Resistivity is inversely proportional to the intensity of light. The LDR sensor interfacing is the same as the IR sensor interfacing with Arduino. there are also two options with it if you want to interface it. one is with the output digital pin and another is with the analog pin. LDR sensor with Arduino works in an analog mode more perfectly. if you are using this sensor then we would prefer you to use the Analog pin of Arduino. because there are 0 to 1023 values to make the project more accurate. because if you are working with the digital pin then you can’t make more conditions and more accurate projects but with the analog output pin you can easily make this accurate.
Can you calibrate a sensor?
Now you can observe the analog value in the Serial monitor of your sensor and now you can calibrate the sensor easily. because without calibration the sensor will not work properly with the conditions. the sensor analog value is always more sensitive than the digital value.
What is a light sensor?
A light sensor is a photoelectric device that converts light energy (photons) detected to electrical energy (electrons). Seems simple? There is more to a light sensor then just its definition. It comes in different types, used in various applications and more! Hence, in today’s light sensor guide, we’ll be exploring all you need to know about light sensors:
What are the different types of light sensors?
There are different types of light sensors available; mainly Photoresistor, Photodiodes, and Phototransistors. Sounds technical? I’ll break it down with the explanations below!
How to use a light sensor with Arduino?
We’ve gone through the theoretical side of light sensors and now its time for our light sensor Arduino tutorial.
Why is current generated by photodiodes favorable for light sensing?
Since current generated by photodiodes are directly proportional to the intensity of light, it makes it favorable for light sensing that requires fast light response changes.
How does a photoresistor work?
As its name suggests, photoresistors work similarly to your regular resistors, but instead resistance change is dependent on the amount of light it’s exposed to. High intensity of light causes a lower resistance between the cadmium sulfide cell.
How do photodiodes work?
To simply put it, when a beam of light hits, electrons are loosened, causing electron-holes which results in electrical current to flow through. The brighter the light present, the stronger the electrical current will be.
Why is a light sensor used in automobiles?
Similarly to how light sensor works on your smartphones, it is used in automobiles to support the drivers’ field of vision. The present light sensor detects surrounding ambient light, and if it’s getting too dark, it’ll automatically turn on light systems!
What is LDR in lighting?
An LDR is used to classify the light and the LDR's resistance dramatically decreases due to the daytime light that forms as an i/p signal to the controller.
What is an LDR device?
Easy and low-cost devices are light-dependent resistors. Such instruments are used where it is appropriate to detect the presence and absence of light. The LDR applications primarily include alarm clocks, street lamps, light intensity meters, burglar alarm circuits, and these resistors are used as light sensors. Here we have explained one project for a deeper understanding of this notion: power conservation of intensity-controlled street lights using LDR.
How does the LDR affect the base bias?
As the light level increases, the LDR resistance begins to decrease, causing the voltage of the base bias at V1 to rise. The base bias voltage is high enough to turn the transistor TR1 'ON' at some point determined by the potential divider network formed with resistor R1, and thus activate the relay that is in turn used to control some external circuitry. The resistance of the LDR increases as the light level falls back to darkness again, causing the transistor's base voltage to decrease, turning the transistor and relay 'OFF' at a fixed light level determined again by the potential divider network.
What is a light sensor circuit?
This basic light sensor circuit is the activated switch of a relay output light. Between the photoresistor, LDR, and the resistor R1, a potential divider circuit is formed. "The resistance of the LDR is very high in the Megaohms (M) range when there is no light, i.e. in darkness, so zero base bias is applied to the transistor TR1 and the relay is de-energized or "OFF.
How to set relay to specific light level?
The point at which the relay turns 'ON' or 'OFF' can be pre-set to a specific light level by substituting the fixed resistor R1 with a potentiometer VR1. This type of simple circuit shown above has a fairly low sensitivity and, due to variations in either temperature or supply voltage, its switching point may not be consistent. By incorporating the LDR into a "Wheatstone Bridge" arrangement and replacing the transistor with an Operational Amplifier as shown, a more sensitive precision light-activated circuit can be easily made.
What is the LDR?
Cadmium Sulphide. As its name implies, the Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) is made from a piece of exposed semiconductor material such as cadmium sulphide that changes its electrical resistance from several thousand Ohms in the dark to only a few hundred Ohms when light falls upon it by creating hole-electron pairs in the material.
What are the disadvantages of light sensors?
Following are the disadvantages of Light sensor : ➨LDRs are highly inaccurate with high response time (about 10s or 100s of milliseconds). ➨Resistance varies continuosly (analog) in photoresistor and are rugged in nature. ➨Photodiodes are temperature sensitive and are uni-directional unlike photoresistors.

Introduction
LDR Sensor Module Or Photoresistor Sensor Hardware Overview
- The LDR sensor module consists mainly of the LDR, LM393 Comparators, Variable Resistor (Trim pot), Power LED, output LED.
How IR Sensor Module Works
- First of all, we need to connect the LDR sensor module to a 5v power supply. Then set the threshold voltage at the Non-Inverting input (3)of the IC according to the present light intensity by rotating the preset knob for setting the sensor sensitivity. When light intensity increase on the surface of the LDR then the resistance of the LDR decreases. Then the maximum amount of volt…
Application
- Detecting the darkness and light.
- Automatic light on/off system
- It is used to measure light intensity.