Mlcro-Power Led Flasher (E/P) : Frnfdocahlhclnulmtmol
Mlcro-Power Led Flasher (E/P) : Frnfdocahlhclnulmtmol
(E/P)
MlcRo-PowERLEDFLASHER
A simpleLEDflashercan be builtwitha TLC7555Timerusedas a low-
frequency anddriveto an LED.lC1runsin a lowfrequency
oscillator deter-
minedbyR?R3andC1.Frequency is intherangebetween0.1and5 Hzbut
youcanalterit bychanging
Cl.Thiscapacitor canrangefrom1 to 10uF.
Dutycycleisdetermined inapplications
byR2/R3ratioandis important where
youneedreduction of energyconsumed.Though Figure1 showsfixedresis-
torsfor R2 and R3, you can usetrimmer potentiometers if you prefer.The
potentiometers,ofcourse,arehandyforalteringthefrequency anddutycycle
of theoscillator.
Rl valuesdependuponthe powersupplyvoltage. Withpowersuppliesbe-
tween5 and6 volts,R1is 470ohms.Withpowersuppliesbetween 6 and9
volts,Rl is 560or680ohms.Withpowersupplies intherangebetween9 and
12volts,Rl mustbe 1,000ohms.The circuitdrainsonly250uAfroma 6-volt
powersupply.
Figurel showstheschematic diagram LEDFlasher.
fortheMicro-Power At
theheartof thecircuitis lOl, a 555timer.
Usethe partsplacement diagramas a guidewhenassembling the Micro-
PowerLED Flasher.
Components placement,usinga terminal
stripas chas-
sis,is shownin Figure2.
Takespecialcarewithpositions
of polarized suchas the LED
components,
capacitor.
andelectrolytic
Afteryouaresurethatyouhavewiredallthecomponents putthe
correctly,
TheLEDshouldflash.
in thebatteryholder.
batteries
H.lGtt@
R1
560s,
Dl Rg
1N914 4KT
c1
4.7pF
Figure I
l{"
Figure2
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It mtnfffifrtchrmlffi
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PartsList - Micro-Power
LEDFlasher
lC1 - TLC7555CMOSIntegratedOircuit- Timer
D1 - 1N914generalpurposesilicondiode
R2 - 1,000,000
ohm, 114W,5%resistor
Rg - 4,700ohm, 114W,5%resistor
C2 - 10 UF,12 W\/DCelectrolytic
capacitor
ldeasto Explore
learnmoreaboutthe circuitand devices:
o AlterR2andR3 (minimumvaluesare 1,000ohmsforboth)andsee
howthe flashingratechanges.Of course,if youwant,youcan replace
R2 and R3 with 1,000,000-ohmtrimmerpotentiometers.
o Explainhowthe astable555 worksin this circuit.
Scienceexperiments
withthe clrcuit:
o LED ls a monochromatic lightsource.Youcan performsome ex-
perimentsin opticsusingthiskindof lightsource.Chromaticfilterscan
be usedin someexperiments involvingLEDs.TrytouseLEDsof differ-
ent colors(red,yellow,greenand,if possible,blue).
. Lightflashes,as the onesproducedby this circuit,can be usedin
hypnoticexperiments.
o The circuitcan be used to indicateoperationof otherelectronic
devices.Wiredto the powersupplyof a monitoreddevice,the blinker
LEDwillindicateits operation.