This {BELOW}one looks like a pair of eyes slowly brightening and then dimming over and over again.

I really like this circuit. I built several a while back and put them in plastic Easter eggs. I drilled out holes for the eyes and put the LED's through the holes. Then put them in bushes around the yard to give the appearance of ghostly eyes. This is the circuit I used...

If you hard wire this circuit onto a perf board, it can be very small and fit together with a 9V battery into a normal sized plastic Easter egg. Bill updated his circuit in 2001 by adding a few more LED's that alternate.

The values I noted on the picture {below}will give you a cycle of about 10 seconds, LED on for 5 secs, LED off for 5 secs. Using a different capacitor will change the blink rate. A 10uF capacitor will blink every second, a 1000uF capacitor will have a 100 secs cycle, always at a 50% on/off ratio. Capacitors are rated on their voltage also, make sure you use a higher voltage rating than the voltage of your battery.
Figure 1

Astable Flip-Flop Circuits

The familiar astable flip-flop circuit is a handy configuration for making flashers or generating squarewaves. Here is a typical alternating LED flasher with the LEDs in the emitters instead of collectors as is normally done. (There is another good reason to put them in the emitters - see Karen's note below. ) The bias resistors are directly connected to the supply and are chosen to have a value about 100 times the collector resistor for ordinary gain transistors. The flashing period is approximately the product of this resistance and the capacitance which is about 1 second for the circuit as shown. The 470 ohm resistors set the LED current and may be reduced for lower battery voltage but remember to also reduce the bias resistors. If no LEDs are desired, the emitters may be directly connected to ground and two out-of-phase voltage squarewaves are available on the collectors.

This is another version of the circuit that uses negative feedback for the bias. This technique is generally more desirable because the feedback ensures that both transistors are in a high-gain, linear mode when power is applied. In actual practice the first circuit will often work "better" with ordinary bipolar transistors since there is no negative feedback slowing the switching. The feedback makes the circuit more immune to parameter variations due to temperature changes, gain variations, or even component substitution.

This version will work with just about any NPN darlington transistor. The bias resistor may be much larger due to the high gain of the darlington so much lower value, non-polar capacitors will give a suitable flash rate. Of coures, other applications may require different oscillation rates which are easily achieved by changing the capacitor value. Other voltages and currents may be accommodated by changing the collector resistor value. PNP versions of all of these circuits may be built by reversing the polarity of the battery and polarized capacitors. The high gain of the darlingtons makes it feasible to handle heavy loads either in the emitters as shown or in place of the collector resistors as is commonly done. Lower value bias resistors may be necessary depending upon the load current and the gain of the transistors.

Here is an unusual way to get more power out of the astable flip-flop without resorting to huge capacitors. The emitter current flows through the base-emitter junction much like the LEDs above saturating the output transistors. The 2N4401 can handle up to 600mA in this circuit but a higher current transistor may be substituted. The base current of the output transistor may be adjusted by changing the 470 ohm resistor, as needed.

Adding another power transistor on each side brings this flasher into the 10 amp range using ordinary bipolar transistors. Only one side needs the extra transistors if only one flashing lamp is required. Just ground the emitter of the low power side.

The loads may be placed in the collector circuits as this darlington flasher illustrates. The lamps should be rated near the voltage of the power supply.

Mosfet power transistors will work in most of these circuits as long as the negative feedback biasing is used. A capacitor is needed across the mosfet circuit and is generally a good idea in all of the circuits. Some mosfets will exhibit RF oscillations in this circuit (the VN67, for example). Transistors that worked well were: VN10KM, VN88, SK3165, and IRF531. Most power mosfets that require only a couple of volts to turn them on will work up to their current and power ratings.

Here is a way to use the circuit at high voltages. The voltage divider resistors in the gate circuit limit the gate voltage to safe levels. The circuit shown flashes two ordinary 7 watt nightlights but the input voltage must be only 90 VRMS. If the flasher is to be operated directly of off the rectified line voltage, add an 820 ohm, 2 watt resistor in series with each lamp. One lamp may be replaced with a 10k resistor if only one flashing lamp is required. Warning: This circuit uses potentially deadly voltages and should be constructed only by qualified persons.

These circuits are useful for purposes other than flashing lamps. Here is a simple tone generator driving a 16 ohm speaker at about 2.5 kHz with plenty of volume (set by the 22 ohm). Note the non-symmetrical values. There is no need to waste power in the transistor that isn't driving the load. To get a 50/50 squarewave the product of the bias resistor and capacitor values connecting to one base should be close to the product of the others. (47k X 0.01 is close to 2.2k X 0.22.)

Since the circuit uses non-symmetrical values, the total current drain will be a squarewave, too. This circuit for a code-practice oscillator oscillates near 1kHz. Notice that the speaker, key, battery, and circuit are all connected in series. This "two-wire" feature can be handy in some situations. A fairly large capacitor is connected across the circuit to make it work properly and this capacitor has a low-pass effect on the squarewave the speaker sees and its value will depend upon the desired frequency.

These circuits shown so far are basically a two-stage ACcoupled amplifier with the output fed back to the input through another capacitor. Redrawing the circuit and using DC-coupling between the stages gives this circuit. Emitter degeneration was added to one stage and the resistor values were modified to get both transistors into the active region. The problem with DC-coupled amplifiers is that the high gain can result in the last transistor being fully on or off unless care is taken.

Here is the standard flasher circuit seen in many hobby books with the exception that the bias resistor is connected from collector to base for better reliability. Note that it is also a twostage amplifier with DC coupling but by switching to a PNP, the biasing is a little simpler. Most engineers looking at this circuit want to add a resistor from base to emitter on the PNP or from the collector to plus on the NPN but the circuit works OK without either.

Have fun designing your own flasher. The circuit will need sufficient non-inverting gain to achieve oscillation which probably means at least two transistors. Make sure that the two or more stages are "alive" by biasing them away from ground or the power supply voltage. Then apply the feedback and try to figure out what happens when the circuit switches from being a linear amplifier into a switching, non-linear flip-flop. If the gain is sufficient and non inverting, something will happen! Karen mentions that, " there is a practical supply limit on the good old fashioned two transistor astable, and in fact any timing ciruit that uses a reverse-biased BE junction. Between 5V and 9V most reversebiased BE junctions go into zener mode. Explains why they were never shown with supplies in excess of about 6V!" Good point, Karen! When one collector pulls down, the voltage on the base of the other transistor will be pulled below the emitter voltage by nearly the supply voltage. I would recommend adding diodes in the emitters much like the LEDs in the first circuits for operation above 6 volts.

Thought I would pass this along. I was using the "Astable Flip Flop Circuit" page and setting up the first example, the "flip flop flasher". I added a potentiometer between the power supply and the two 47K resistors and came up with a single component modification that will adjust the flash rate. I removed the 47K resistors from the power supply and connected them to one end of a 500K VR. I connected the

opposite end of the 500K VR to the power supply. The center tap gets connected to either side of the VR producing a 0 - 500K (slow to fast) or 500K - 0 (fast to slow) range. Trial and error shows that the second circuit, "With negative feedback bias", can be adjustable using a 10k resistor and a 0-100k variable resistor in series between the two transistor bases. Jay Herde Louisville KY Thanks Jay! Jay's first modification connects the bases together somewhat but since one is directly connected to the collector of the other transistor through the capacitor, the switching still occurs. There might be a problem if the potentiometer is much higher in resistance than the resistors, especially if the transistors do not have similar characteristics. A small capacitor, maybe 10% of the timing capacitors, connected to ground at the junction of the bias resistors and potentiometer might fix any problem. Jay's worked with a pot 10 times bigger than the resistor so perhaps the problem is minimal.

Light Activated Relay This is same circuit as above with the addition of a photo resistor to trigger the flip flop instead of a push button. The bias resistor in series with photo resistor was chosen so that sufficient voltage is present at the base of the 2N3904 to supply current to the circuit in ambient lighting conditions. The circuit should toggle when the photo resistor is hit by a flashlight beam or other fast changing light source. Slow changes in light intensity will have no effect unless the light gets too bright to maintain sufficient bias for the 2N3904.

Menu

Flashing Neons (NE-2 / NE-51) In this circuit, one, two or three neon indicator bulbs can be made to flash in sequence at rates determined by the R and C values. In the single stage circuit, using one lamp, the capacitor charges through the resistor until the ionization potential of the neon is reached (about 70 volts) and then discharges quickly through the lamp until the voltage falls below what is needed to sustain the lamp which is approximately 45 volts. The cycle then repeats at a rate of about 3 Hz for values shown. Smaller R or C values increase frequency, larger values decrease frequency. All capacitors should be the non-polarized variety with a 100 volt or more rating. For more than 3 stages, the lamps may need to be matched for similar turn-on voltages.

Menu 12 Stage Neon Sequencer (NE-2 / NE-51) This circuit is similar to the LED clock using 12 neon indicator lamps instead of LEDs. It operates from 2 high capacity ni-cad cells (2.5 volts) which keep it going for a couple weeks. High voltage (70 volts) for the neon lamps is obtained from a small switching power supply using a 74HC14 Schmitt trigger squarewave oscillator, high voltage switching transistor, and 10 mH high Q inductor. Most any small PNP transistors can be used that have a C/E voltage rating of 80 or more. The inverter stage (pins 5,6) is not needed and is just an extra stage. An adjustable low frequency oscillator made from two of the inverter stages generates the clock signal for the 74HCT393 binary counter. In this circuit, the timing capacitor should be non-polarized since the capacitor will charge in both directions, so two 6.8 uF tantalum caps were used back to back which yields about 3.3 uF. The 75K resistor in series with pin 1 limits the current through the input protection diodes when the capacitor voltage exceeds the supply voltage. This resistor may not be necessary with small capacitors at low voltage but was added as a precaution. The binary counts are decoded into 1 of 12 outputs by the 74HCT138 decoders and operates the same way as in the 28 LED clock circuit. The sequence can be extended to 16 by omitting the reset circuit

and tying pins 2 and 13 of the counter to ground.

Menu Constant Current Battery Charger A simple method of charging a battery from a higher voltage battery is shown in the circuit below to the left. Only one resistor is needed to set the desired charging current and is calculated by dividing the difference in battery voltages by the charge current. So, for example if 4 high capacity (4000 mA hour) ni-cads are to be charged at 300 mA from a 12 volt battery, the resistor needed would be 12-(4*1.25)/0.3 = 23.3 ohms, or 22 ohms which is the nearest standard value. The power rating for the resistor is figured from the square of the current times the resistance or (0.3)^2 * 22 = 2 watts which is a standard value but close to the limit, so a 5 watt or greater value is recommended.

The circuit below (right) illustrates a constant current source used to charge a group of 1 to 10 ni-cad batteries. A 5K pot and 3.3K resistor are used to set the voltage at the emitter of the TIP 32 which establishes the current through the output and 10 ohm resistor. The emitter voltage will be about 1.5 volts above the voltage at the wiper of the pot, or about 1/2 the supply voltage when the wiper is in the downward most position. In the fully upward position the transistors will be turned off and the current will be close to zero. This yields a current range of 0 to (0.5*input)/10 or 0 to 850 milliamps using a 17 volt input. This produces about 7 watts of heat dissipation at maximum current for the 10 ohm resistor, so a 10 watt or greater rating is needed. The TIP 32 transistor will also dissipate about 7 watts if the output is shorted and needs to be mounted on a heat sink. If more than 4 cells are connected, the maximum current available will decrease and limits the current setting to about 100 milliamps for 10 cells. The usual charge rate for high capacity (4AH) 'D' cells is 300 to 400 milliamps for 14 hours and 100 milliamps for (1.2AH) 'C' or 'D' cells. For small 9 volt batteries the charge rate is 7 milliamps for 14 hours which would be difficult to set and probably unstable, so you could reduce the

range to 0-20 mA by using a 750 ohm resistor in place of the 10. The charge current can be set by connecting a milliamp meter across the output (with the batteries disconnected) and then adjusting the control to the desired current, or by monitoring the voltage across the 10 ohm resistor (1 volt = 100 mA) or (1 volt = 1.33 mA using a 750 ohm resistor). The current control should be set to minimum (wiper in uppermost position) before power is applied, and then adjusted to the desired current. The circuit (lower right) illustrates using a LM317 variable voltage regulator as a constant current source. The voltage between the adjustment terminal and the output terminal is always 1.25 volts, so by connecting the adjustment terminal to the load and placing a resistor (R) between the load and the output terminal, a constant current of 1.25/R is established. Thus we need a 12 ohm resistor (R) to get 100mA of charge current and a 1.2 ohm, 2 watt resistor for 1 amp of current. A diode is used in series with the input to prevent the batteries from applying a reverse voltage to the regulator if the power is turned off while the batteries are still connected. It's probably a good idea to remove the batteries before turning off the power.

Menu 120VAC Lamp Chaser This circuit is basically the same as the 10 channel LED sequencer with the addition of solid state relays to control the AC lamps. The relay shown in the diagram is a Radio Shack 3 amp unit (part no. 275-310) that requires 1.2 volts DC to activate. No current spec was given but I assume it needs just a few milliamps to light the internal LED. A 360 ohm resistor is shown which would limit the current to 17 mA using a 9 volt supply. I tested the circuit using a solid state relay (of unknown type) which required only 1.5 mA at 3 volts but operates up to 30 volts DC and a much higher current. The chaser circuit can be expanded up to 10 channels with additional relays and driver transistors. The 4017 decade counter reset line (pin 15) is connected to the fifth count (pin 10) so that the lamps sequence from 1 to 4 and then repeat. For additional stages the reset pin

would be connected to a higher count.

Menu Game Show Indicator Lights (Who's First) The circuit below turns on a light corresponding to the first of several buttons pressed in a "Who's First" game. Three stages are shown but the circuit can be extended to include any number of buttons and lamps.

Three SCRs (silicon controlled rectifiers) are connected with a common cathode resistor (50 ohm) so that when any SCR conducts, the voltage on the cathodes will rise about 7 volts above the voltage at the junction of the 51K and 1K ohm resistors and prevent triggering of a second SCR. When all lamps are off, and a button is pressed, the corresponding SCR is triggered due to the voltage at the divider junction being higher than the cathode. Once triggered, the SCR will remain conducting until current is interrupted by the reset switch. Or, you can just turn the power off and back on. A 50 ohm, 5 watt resistor was selected to produce a 10 volt drop at 200 mA when a single 25 watt lamp comes on. Higher wattage lamps would require a lower value resistor, and visa versa. For example to use 60 watt lamps and maintain the 10 volt drop, the peak current would be 60/160 = 375 mA and the resistance would be E/I = 10/.375 or about 27 ohms at 3.75 watts. The SCRs are "Sensitive Gate' types which trigger on about 200 uA and the gate current is around 1.5 mA when the first button is pressed. The 1N914 diodes in series with the buttons gates are used to prevent a reverse voltage on the gate when a button is pressed after an SCR is conducting. The two 51 ohm resistors will be fairly large in physical size (compared to a 1/4 watt size) and should be rated for 5 watts of power or more. Use caution and do not touch any components while the circuit is connected to the AC line. Adding a Buzzer: The relay shown in parallel with the 50 ohm cathode resistor can be used to momentarily power a buzzer with an external circuit through the contacts. The 1000 uF capacitor causes the relay to energize for about one second, longer times can be obtained with a larger capacitor.

Parts List: Quantity 1 3 3 1 1 1 3 1 3 4 1 1 1 Description Radio Shack Part Number 276-1173 NTE5457 272-1032 271-133 271-1325 270-1064 275-005

4 Amp/400 Volt Bridge Rectifier Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) 120 VAC/ 25 Watt incandescent lamp 50-100 microfarad/ 200 volt capacitor 1000 microfarad / 35 volt capacitor 50 ohm resistor/ 5 or 10 Watt Push Button Switch (normally open) Push Button Switch (normally closed) 2K resistor, 1/4 watt 1N914 Diode 51K resistor, 1 watt 2 Amp Fuse Relay (SPDT) 9 Volt DC, 500 ohm coil

Menu Pinewood Derby Finish Line Lamps The finish line circuit below detects the first of three cars to cross the line and illuminates a 25 watt 120 VAC lamp indicating the winning lane. Three photo transistors are used which can be embedded into the track with a light shining down onto the finish line so that as the car crosses over the sensor, the light is blocked, activating the relay and lighting the lamp for the appropriate track. The light source should be an incandescent type, florescent lights may not work due to low infra-red content. The circuit was tested using a 100 watt incandescent light fixture about 3 feet above the photo transistors.

The photo transistors are connected so that a logic low (0 volts) normally appears at the input to a NAND gate and as a car crosses the line blocking light to the transistor the

logic level will move high (+6 volts). The resulting logic low level from the output of the gate (3 input NAND) is fed to a SET/RESET latch made from two dual input NAND gates (1/2 of a 74HC00) the (logic high) output of which controls the MPS2222A buffer transistor and solid state relay. The inverted output of the latch (logic low) is connected back to the remaining two (3 input NAND gate) inputs locking them out. Two extra 74HC00 gates are not used and should have their inputs (pins 9,10,12,13) connected to ground to avoid possible oscillation. The circuit is reset with a momentary push button connected to the reset side of each latch. The reset button may need to be pressed after power is first applied. Components for the circuit may be obtained from Radio Shack, however the RSU numbers may need to be special ordered or obtained from another source. The 74HC00 and 74HC10 are CMOS parts and should be handled carefully to avoid possible damage from static electricity. You may want to use IC sockets so the wiring can be completed before the ICs are inserted into the sockets. You can briefly touch a grounded surface (computer chassis or other metal ground surface) just before handling CMOS circuits to reduce the possibility of damage from static electricity. Notes: All ground symbols are connected to the negative side of the battery. All +6 points are connected to the positive side of the battery. Transistors and relays for #2 and #3 lights are not shown but are connected the same as shown for #1. A small LED may be substituted for the solid state relay (pins 3,4) for testing the circuit before the relays are installed. Pins 8,6 and 12 of the 74HC10 should read +6 volts after reset is pressed and light is shining on the photo transistors. Pins 1,9 of the top 74HC00 and pin 1 of the lower 74HC00 should read +6 volts with the reset button released. The same pins should read 0 volts with the button pressed. Pins 2,6,10,11 of upper 74HC00 and 2,6 of lower should read 0 volts after reset button is released and photo transistors are illuminated. Pins 3,4,8,12 of upper 74HC00 and pins 3,4 of lower should read +6 after reset button is released. Pins 9,10,12,13 of lower 74HC00 should be grounded Parts List: Two - 74HC00 Quad, 2 input NAND gates - RSU 10880045 - $0.89 ea. One - 74HC10 Triple 3 input NAND gate - RSU 10880540 - .89 ea. Three - IR photo transistors - 276-145 - .99 ea. Three - MPS2222A NPN transistors - 276-2030 - .99 ea. Three - 1/4 watt 150 ohm resistors - 271-1312 - .49/5 Three - Solid state relays, 3 Amp/120VAC - 275-310 - 6.99 ea. Four - 1/4 watt 3.3K resistors - 271-1328 - .49/5 One - 470 uF/16 volt capacitor - 272-957 - .99 ea. One - 0.1uF capacitor - 272-135 - .69 ea. One - Momentary (normally open) push button - 275-1556 or 275-1571 One - 6 volt lantern battery or regulated power supply. Three - 25 to 60 watt 120VAC lamps and sockets.

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Fun with LEDs

Introduction this summer I built several LED projects including sequential LED chasers (sequentially left to right) and also "NiteRider" style which go (sequentially left-right-left-right-etc). Many more LED schematics can be found on the World Wide Web via a Google search. LED projects are great fun for both HAM's and SWL's alike. They are also a lot of fun for children to experiment with. Currently, I am experimenting with PIC microcontrollers to perform LED "tricks".
I also built several very bright LED flashlights which run on a single 1.5 volt battery. For ultra-bright LED flashlight schematics, check out Dick Cappel's excellent and very informative web site. He has a number of LED driver circuits and other great schematics and theory. To wind the inductor for these LED flashlights, I had good success using an FT-37-43 ferrite torroid core. I used at least 40 turns of wire which is generally center tapped.

Above. This is the schematic for a very basic 10 LED chaser I built. I prefer my "chasers" to run more slowly than most people and used a 10 uF capacitor for C1. The 10K pot can reduce the flash speed from not moving to whatever minimum time constant is possible with the C1 value you choose. Don't bother with ultra-bright LEDs for these "chaser" projects as cheaper, lower millicandela (mcd) LEDS work fine. I favor blue and green LEDS. The 4017 decade counter is a fabulous part and can be driven to flash a row of LEDs with a 555 timer chip or a discrete BJT multivibrator.

An RC oscillator designed for a 3 volt LED chaser. It oscillates quite slowly so the LED chaser it triggers will not be overly distracting. Some RC oscillator design details are discussed later. This oscillator triggered a 4017 decade counter instead of the 555 timer chip shown in the "Simple 10 LED Chaser" schematic. There are many links describing the theory of the 2 transistor astable multivibrator on the World Wide Web. I also have some information on this web page.
Above . This is a tiny 3 volt chaser which uses an LED bar instead of discrete LEDs. It draws 3.8 mA peak current on pulses. It uses the optimized BJT astable multivibrator shown directly above which fires at ~120 cycles per minute (slowly). The 3 volt battery pack is hidden behind it and should last several months. Soldering the LED bar was not an easy task. The plastic Hammond case measures 2.46 by 1.38 inches (6.25 by 3.5 cm).

A schematic to allow the 4017 decade counter to sequentially flash 6 LEDS left-right-left-right-etc. Connect your favorite square wave oscillator to pin 14. I built 4 of these using various oscillators and LED colors. You might consider using lower DC voltages and if so, may adjust the 1K current limiting resistor by using ohm's law. The 10 small signal diodes may be any appropriate type including the 1N914 or 1N4148. None of my 4 projects exceeded 6 mA peak current draw, so battery life is excellent. I increased the 1K resistor to 1K5 in my 4th project as I found the LED's that I used too bright.

The prototype "nite-rider" project with messy wiring. The holes for the LEDs were bored with a hand drill and it shows! The discrete transistor multivibrator can be seen behind the 4017 IC. This circuit uses a series of transistors with an RC pair to pulse a string of LEDs.
Sequentially Off LED Pulser

This the favorite LED experiment I performed this summer. This flasher circuit is different in that it turns off alternate LEDs for about 1 second in sequence. When you connect this circuit to the 9 volt battery, all of the transistors are usually placed in saturation and therefore all the LEDs are on. Closing the switch on the base terminal of Q1 for a moment initiates the correct pulse sequence. The pulse initiates in Q1 which turns off the LED connected to the Q1 collector for about 1 second. When Q1 turns back on (goes into saturation), Q2 turns off. When Q2 turns back on then Q3 turns off and so on. The circuit is a closed loop and many more stages may be added. You can experiment with different base resistor and coupling capacitor values to vary the speed of the LED string or to create a sense of randomness by varying each transistor's RC stage separately. This is a fun circuit!

The prototype 3 transistor version. I just used a piece of wire to ground the Q1 base terminal and establish the correct pulse sequence after powering it up. For the LEDs, transistors, resistors and capacitors you can use whatever appropriate parts that you happen to have on hand. Current draw is less than 10 mA with a fresh 9 volt battery. Decrease the 1K5 current limiting resistor to 1K or so if you want brighter LEDs at the expense of more

current draw. Do not operate this circuit above 9 volts unless you connect diodes from the transistor emitters to ground to prevent emitter-base breakdown.
LED 1 and 2 are on and LED 3 is off at this moment in time. Above and below photographs. This low current version has 9 LEDs connected in a chain and is powered by 3 volts. The 10th LED (extreme right hand side) is a flashing LED which is directly connected to the 3 volt supply and also uses a 1K current limiting resistor. Total peak current draw is only ~ 7 mA, yet it is still bright enough to see at night-time. The power supply is 2 D-cell batteries connected in series and then to the circuit by soldering wires directly onto the batteries with a 100 watt soldering iron.

Not counting the 10th flashing LED, 5 of the 9 LEDs are on at any given moment. A sequential flash effect is noted (the state of each LED flip-flops and shifts over 1 position each flash). If you build this project with an even number of LEDs, the sequential effect is not seen. Half of the LEDS (spaced every other LED) are on and the other half are off at any moment. The same LEDs are lit or unlit each pulse. Thus the effect is more like a typical multivibrator LED flasher. This variable, even versus odd number of stages property makes the circuit quite versatile.
Conclusion

I hope that you have some fun experimenting with these and other circuits. It is amazing how many applications can use LEDs instead of incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs. A great example can be found on the web site of Industrial LEDs. This is certain to be the direction home and commercial lighting will go.