Infra-Red Light Barrier

This is a short-range light barrier for use as an intruder alarm in doorposts, etc. The 555 in the transmitter (Figure 1) oscillates at about 4.5 kHz, supplying pulses with a duty cycle of about 13% to keep power consumption within reason. Just about any infra-red LED (also called IRED) may be used. Suggested, commonly available types are the LD271 and SFH485. The exact pulse frequency is adjusted with preset P1.