Ocean College and School Students Science Projects materials

PWM lamp dimmer. A simple and efficient PWM lamp dimmer using timer IC NE555 is discussed in this article. Yesterdays linear regulator based dimmers can only attain a maximum efficiency of 50% and are far inferior when compared to the PWM based dimmers which can hit well over 90% efficiency. Since less amount of power is wasted as heat, the switching elements of PWM dimmers require a smaller heat sink and this saves a lot of size and weight. In simple words, the most outstanding features of the PWM based lamp dimmers are high efficiency and low physical size. The…

Any one who is interested in electronics would have come across this IC – 555. It is the one component that is used in many wide range of applications. 555 Timer is used in a variety of applications including monostable and astable multivibrators, dc-dc converters, digital logic probes, waveform generators, analog frequency meters and tachometers, temperature measurement and control devices, voltage regulators etc. So it is essential that you should have a deeper understanding of 555 IC and how it is used in these applications. The best way to learn about anything in this world is to – ‘get your hands wet’. You should read,understand and do things on…

Description. The circuit diagram of a very simple voltage doubler using NE555 timer is shown here. Here IC NE555 is wired as an astable mutivibrator operating at around 9KHz. The base of the two transistors (Q1 and Q2) is shorted and output of the astable multivibrator (pin 3) is connected to it. When the output of astable multivibrator is low, Q1 will be OFF and Q2 will be ON. The negative terminal of the capacitor C3 will be shorted to ground through T2 and it will be charged to the input supply voltage. When the output of the astable multi…

Description. A lot of electronic circuits using NE555 timer IC are already published here and this is just another one.Here is the circuit diagram of a police siren based on NE55 timer IC. The circuit uses two NE555 timers ICs and each of them are wired as astable multivibrators.The circuit can be powered from anything between 6 to 15V DC and is fairly loud.By connecting an additional power amplifier at the output you can further increase the loudness. IC1 is wired as a slow astable multivibrator operating at around 20Hz @ 50% duty cycle and IC2 is wired as fast…

Ramp Generator Circuit-using 555 Timer IC We know that if a capacitor is charged from a voltage source through a resistor, an exponential waveform is produced while charging of a capaci­tor from a constant current source produces a ramp. This is the idea behind the circuit. The circuit of a ramp generator using timer 555 is shown in figure. Here the resistor of previ­ous circuits is replaced by a PNP transistor that produces a constant charging current. Charging current produced by PNP constant current source is iC = Vcc-VE / RE where VE = R2 / (R1 + R2) *…

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using the timer 555 is shown in figure. The circuit is sometimes called a voltage-to-frequency converter because the output frequency can be changed by changing the input voltage. As discussed in previous blog posts, pin 5 terminal is voltage control terminal and its function is to control the threshold and trigger levels. Normally, the control voltage is ++2/3VCC because of the internal voltage divider. However, an external voltage can be applied to this terminal directly or through a pot, as illustrated in figure, and by adjusting the pot, control voltage can be varied. Voltage across the timing capacitor…

Are you familiar with the basics and applications of the 555 timer IC? Are you looking for a book that provides all these basics? If so, CircuitsToday has started an online store from where you can buy books on 555 timer IC, which have been reviewed in detail. You can go through the reviews and buy them here:- 3 Great Books to Learn 555 Timer Circuits and Projects A monostable multivibrator (MMV) often called a one-shot multivibrator, is a pulse generator circuit in which the duration of the pulse is determined by the R-C network,connected externally to the 555 timer. In…

An astable multivibrator, often called a free-running multivibrator, is a rectan­gular-wave generating cir­cuit. Unlike the monostable multivibrator, this circuit does not require any ex­ternal trigger to change the state of the output, hence the name free-running. Before going to make the circuit, make sure your 555 IC is working. For that go through the article: How to test a 555 IC for working An astable multivibrator can be produced by adding resistors and a capacitor to the basic timer IC, as illustrated in figure. The timing during which the output is either high or low is determined by the externally…

Block Diagram of 555 timer IC: Comparator 1 has a threshold input (pin 6) and a control input (pin 5). In most applications, the control input is not used, so that the control voltage equals +2/3 VCC. Output of this comparator is applied to set (S) input of the flip-flop. Whenever the threshold voltage exceeds the control voltage, comparator 1 will set the flip-flop and its output is high. A high output from the flip-flop saturates the discharge transistor and discharge the capacitor connected externally to pin 7. The complementary signal out of the flip-flop goes…

Block diagram for the 555 timer is given in figure. As shown in the block diagram, a 555 timer consists of two comparators (simply op-amps), an R-S flip-flop, two transistors and a resistive network Resistive network consists of three equal resistors and acts as a voltage divider. Comparator 1 compares threshold voltage with a reference voltage + 2/3 VCC volts. Comparator 2 compares the trigger voltage with a reference voltage + 1/3 VCC volts. Output of both the comparators is supplied to the flip-flop. Flip-flop assumes its state according to the output of the two compa­rators. One of the…

The 555 timer combines a relaxation oscillator, two comparators, an R-S flip-flop, and a discharge capacitor. R-S Flip-Flop. A pair of cross-coupled transistors is shown in figure. Each collector drives the opposite base through resistance RB. In such circuit one transistor is saturated while the other is cut-off. For instance, if transistor Q1 is saturated, its collector voltage is almost zero. So there is no base drive for transistor Q2 and it goes into cut-off and its collector voltage approaches + VCC. This high voltage produces enough base current to keep transistor Q1 in saturation. On the other hand…

The 555 Timer IC is available as an 8-pin metal can, an 8-pin mini DIP (dual-in-package) or a 14-pin DIP. This IC consists of 23 transistors, 2 diodes and 16 resistors. The explanation of terminals coming out of the 555 timer IC is as follows. The pin number used in the following discussion refers to the 8-pin DIP and 8-pin metal can packages. Pin 1: Grounded Terminal. All the voltages are meas­ured with respect to this terminal. Pin 2: Trigger Terminal. This pin is an inverting input to a comparator that is responsible for transition of flip-flop from set…

A complete basic tutorial of 555 Timer IC. This article covers every basic aspect of 555 Timer IC. You may already know that SE/NE 555 is a Timer IC introduced by Signetics corporation in 1970′s. In this article we cover the following information about 555 Timer IC. 1. Introduction to 555 Timer IC 2. 555 Timer IC Pin Configuration 3. Basics of 555 Timer 4. Block Diagram 5. Working Principle 6. Download Data Sheet If you still need a detailed understanding of the 555 timer IC, we have reviewed 3 books in our online store. These books covers all the…