Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
555 Tone Generator (8 ohm speaker)
This is a basic 555 squarewave oscillator used
to produce a 1 Khz tone from an 8 ohm
speaker. In the circuit on the left, the speaker
is isolated from the oscillator by the NPN
medium power transistor which also provides
more current than can be obtained directly
from the 555 (limit = 200 mA). A small
capacitor is used at the transistor base to slow
the switching times which reduces the
inductive voltage produced by the speaker.
Frequency is about 1.44/(R1 + R2)C where
R1 (1K) is much smaller than R2 (6.2K) to
produce a near squarewave. Lower
frequencies can be obtained by increasing the
6.2K value, higher frequencies will probably
require a smaller capacitor as R1 cannot be
reduced much below 1K. Lower volume
levels can be obtained by adding a small
resistor in series with the speaker (10-100
ohms). In the circuit on the right, the speaker
is directly driven from the 555 timer output.
The series capacitor (100 uF) increases the
output by supplying an AC current to the
speaker and driving it in both directions
rather than just a pulsating DC current which
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
would be the case without the capacitor. The
51 ohm resistor limits the current to less than
200 mA to prevent overloading the timer
output at 9 volts. At 4.5 volts, a smaller
resistor can be used.
Generating -5 Volts From a 9 Volt Battery
A 555 timer can be used to generate a
squarewave to produce a negative voltage
relative to the negative battery terminal.
When the timer output at pin 3 goes positive,
the series 22 uF capacitor charges through the
diode (D1) to about 8 volts. When the output
switches to ground, the 22 uF cap discharges
through the second diode (D2) and charges
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
the 100 uF capacitor to a negative voltage.
The negative voltage can rise over several
cycles to about -7 volts but is limited by the
5.1 volt zener diode which serves as a
regulator. Circuit draws about 6 milliamps
from the battery without the zener diode
connected and about 18 milliamps connected.
Output current available for the load is about
12 milliamps. An additional 5.1 volt zener
and 330 ohm resistor could be used to
regulate the +9 down to +5 at 12 mA if a
symmetrical +/- 5 volt supply is needed. The
battery drain would then be around 30 mA.
Transistor / Diode / IC (DIP) Outlines
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
1.5 Volt LED Flashers
The LED flasher circuits below operate on a
single 1.5 volt battery. The circuit on the
upper right uses the popular LM3909 LED
flasher IC and requires only a timing
capacitor and LED.
The top left circuit, designed by Andre De-
Guerin illustrates using a 100uF capacitor to
double the battery voltage to obtain 3 volts
for the LED. Two sections of a 74HC04 hex
inverter are used as a squarewave oscillator
that establishes the flash rate while a third
section is used as a buffer that charges the
capacitor in series with a 470 ohm resistor
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
while the buffer output is at +1.5 volts. When
the buffer output switches to ground (zero
volts) the charged capacitor is placed in series
with the LED and the battery which supplies
enough voltage to illuminate the LED. The
LED current is approximately 3 mA, so a
high brightness LED is recommended.
In the other two circuits, the same voltage
doubling principle is used with the addition of
a transistor to allow the capacitor to discharge
faster and supply a greater current (about 40
mA peak). A larger capacitor (1000uF) in
series with a 33 ohm resistor would increase
the flash duration to about 50mS. The
discrete 3 transistor circuit at the lower right
would need a resistor (about 5K) in series
with the 1uF capacitor to widen the pulse
width.
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
AC Line powered LEDs
The circuit below illustrates powering a LED
(or two) from the 120 volt AC line using a
capacitor to drop the voltage and a small
resistor to limit the inrush current. Since the
capacitor must pass current in both directions,
a small diode is connected in parallel with the
LED to provide a path for the negative half
cycle and also to limit the reverse voltage
across the LED. A second LED with the
polarity reversed may be subsituted for the
diode, or a tri-color LED could be used which
would appear orange with alternating current.
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
The circuit is fairly efficient and draws only
about a half watt from the line. The resistor
value (1K / half watt) was chosen to limit the
worst case inrush current to about 150 mA
which will drop to less than 30 mA in a
millisecond as the capacitor charges. This
appears be a safe value, I have switched the
circuit on and off many times without damage
to the LED. The 0.47 uF capacitor has a
reactance of 5600 ohms at 60 cycles so the
LED current is about 20 mA half wave, or 10
mA average. A larger capacitor will increase
the current and a smaller one will reduce it.
The capacitor must be a non-polarized type
with a voltage rating of 200 volts or more.
The lower circuit is an example of obtaining a
low regulated voltage from the AC line. The
zener diode serves as a regulator and also
provides a path for the negative half cycle
current when it conducts in the forward
direction. In this example the output voltage
is about 5 volts and will provide over 30
milliamps with about 300 millivolts of ripple.
Use caution when operating any circuits
connected directly to the AC line.
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
LED Traffic Lights
The LED traffic Light circuit controls 6 LEDs
(red, yellow and green) for both north/south
directions and east/west directions. The
timing sequence is generated using a CMOS
4017 decade counter and a 555 timer. Counter
outputs 1 through 4 are wire ORed using 4
diodes so that the (Red - North/South) and
(Green - East/West) LEDs will be on during
the first four counts. The fifth count (pin 10)
illuminates (Yellow - East/West) and (Red -
North/South). Counts 6 through 9 are also
wire ORed using diodes to control (Red -
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
East/West) and (Green - North/South). Count
10 (pin 11) controls (Red - East/West) and
(Yellow - North/South). The time period for
the red and green lamps will be 4 times
longer than for the yellow and the complete
cycle time can be adjusted with the 47K
resistor. The eight 1N914 diodes could be
subsituted with a dual 4 input OR gate
(CD4072).
Photo Electric Street Light
This is basically a Schmitt Trigger circuit
which receives input from a cadmium sulfide
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
photo cell and controls a relay that can be
used to switch off and on a street lamp at
dawn and dusk. I have built the circuit with a
120 ohm/12 volt relay and monitored
performance using a lamp dimmer, but did
not connect the relay to an outside light.
The photo cell should be shielded from the
lamp to prevent feedback and is usually
mounted above the light on top of a reflector
and pointed upward at the sky so the lamp
light does not strike the photo cell and switch
off the lamp.
The photo cell is wired in series with a
potentiometer so the voltage at the junction
(and base of transistor) can be adjusted to
about half the supply, at the desired ambient
light level. The two PNP transistors are
connected with a common emitter resistor for
positive feedback so as one transistor turns
on, the other will turn off, and visa versa.
Under dark conditions, the photo cell
resistance will be higher than the
potentiometer producing a voltage at Q1 that
is higher than the base voltage at Q2 which
causes Q2 to conduct and activate the relay.
Este documento ha sido elaborado con PDFmail (Copyright RTE Software)
http://www.pdfmail.com
The switching points are about 8 volts and 4
volts using the resistor values shown but
could be brought closer together by using a
lower value for the 7.5K resistor. 3.3K would
move the levels to about 3.5 and 5.5 for a
range of 2 volts instead of 4 so the relay turns
on and off closer to the same ambient light
level. The potentiometer would need to be
readjusted so that the voltage is around 4.5 at
the desired ambient condition.
