Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

Battery theft is a major challenge facing the operation of installed solar powered infrastructures. It has caused many of such systems to be non-functional. This paper presents a Standalone Theft Deterrent System (STDS) for protecting solar street lighting infrastructures. The proposed system aids in preventing the incessant stealing of batteries and other vital components of a solar-powered street lighting infrastructure. Once a thief is detected in daytime, the system sounds an alarm to deter the theft activities. During the night, the alarm and light flickering circuit is activated to prevent hoodlums from gaining access to the solar infrastructures. The Arduino UNO module is employed as the main controller of the system while a PIR sensor functions as the detection element to sense the presence of a thief within the solar infrastructure. A Solid State Relay was employed to switch the lamps and to actualize the light flickering action while a buzzer was employed for alarm purposes. The result of this study is a functional system which has been constructed and tested aimed at mitigating theft challenges faced after system installation.