Alternating Flasher Circuit Diagram

This circuit uses three easily available 555 timer ICs. All three work as astable multivibrators. The first 555 has an on period and off period equal to 1 sec. This IC controls the on/ off periods of the other 2 555s which are used to flash two bulbs through the relay contacts.
The flashing occurs at a rate of 4 flashes per second.
The diodes are used to protect the 555 ICs from peaks. The relays should have an impedance greater than 50ohms i.e, they should not draw a current more than 200mA.
The flashing sequence is as follows:
The bulb(s) connected to the first relay flashes for about 1 sec at a rate of 4 flashes per second. Then the bulb(s) connected to the second relay flashes for 1 sec at a rate of 4 flashes per second. Then the cycle repeats.
The flashing rates can be varied by changing the capacitors C3 and C5. A higher value gives a lower flashing rate.
Note that the values of C3 and C5 should be equal and should be less than that of C1.
The value of C1 controls the change-over rate ( default 1sec). A higher value gives a lower change-over rate.
If you use the normally open contacts of the relay, on bulb will be OFF while other is flashing,and vice versa.
If normally closed contacts are used, one bulb will be ON while the other is flashing.

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Optical Toggle Switch Circuit Diagram

Using dual flip-flop IC CD4027 employ a 555 based monostable circuit to supply input clock pulses. The circuit described here obviates this requirement. One of the two flip-flops within IC CD4027 itself acts as square wave shaper

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Christmas Star Circuit Diagram

This circuit can be used to construct an attractive Christmas Star. When we switch on this circuit, the brightness of lamp L1 gradually increases. When it reaches the maximum brightness level, the brightness starts decreasing gradually. And when it reaches the minimum brightness level, it again increases automatically. This cycle repeats. The increase and decrease of brightness of bulb L1 depends on the charging and discharging of capacitor C3. When the output of IC1 is high, capacitor C3 starts discharging and consequently the brightness of lamp L1 decreases. IC2 is an opto-isolator whereas IC1 is configured as an astable multivibrator. The frequency of IC1 can be changed by varying the value of resistor R2 or the value of capacitor C1. Remember that when you vary the frequency of IC1, you should also vary the values of resistors R3 and R4 correspondingly for better performance. The minimum brightness level of lamp L1 can be changed by adjusting potentiometer VR1. If the brightness of the lamp L1 does not reach a reasonable brightness level, or if the lamp seems to remain in maximum brightness level (watch for a minute), increase the in-circuit resistance of potmeter VR1. If in-circuit resistance of potmeter VR1 is too high, the lamp may flicker in its minimum brightness region, or the lamp may remain in ‘off’ state for a long time. In such cases, decrease the resistance of potmeter VR1 till the brightness of lamp L1 smoothly increases and decreases. When supply voltage varies, you have to adjust potmeter VR1 as stated above, for proper performance of the circuit. A triac such as BT136 can be used in place of the SCR in this circuit. Caution: While adjusting potmeter VR1, care should be taken to avoid electrical sh

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Running Message Display Circuits Diagram

Light emitting diodes are advan- tageous due to their smaller size, low current consumption and catchy colours they emit. Here is a running message display circuit wherein the letters formed by LED arrangement light up progressively. Once all the letters of the message have been lit up, the circuit gets reset. The circuit is built around Johnson decade counter CD4017BC (IC2). One of the IC CD4017BE’s features is its provision of ten fully decoded outputs, making the IC ideal for use in a whole range of sequencing operations. In the circuit only one of the outputs remains high and the other outputs switch to high state successively on the arrival of each clock pulse. The timer NE555 (IC1) is wired as a 1Hz astable multivibrator which clocks the IC2 for sequencing operations. On reset, output pin 3 goes high and drives transistor T7 to ‘on’ state. The output of transistor T7 is connected to letter ‘W’ of the LED word array (all LEDs of letter array are connected in parallel) and thus letter ‘W’ is illuminated. On arrival of first clock pulse, pin 3 goes low and pin 2 goes high. Transistor T6 conducts and letter ‘E’ lights up. The preceding letter ‘W’ also remains lighted because of forward biasing of transistor T7 via diode D21. In a similar fashion, on the arrival of each successive pulse, the other letters of the display are also illuminated and finally the complete word becomes visible. On the following clock pulse, pin 6 goes to logic 1 and resets the circuit, and the sequence repeats itself. The frequency of sequencing operations is controlled with the help of potmeter VR1.
The display can be fixed on a veroboard of suitable size and connected to ground of a common supply (of 6V to 9V) while the anodes of LEDs are to be connected to emitters of transistors T1 through T7 as shown in the circuit. The above circuit is very versatile and can be wired with a large number of LEDs to make an LED fashion jewellery of any design. With two circuits connected in a similar fashion, multiplexing of LEDs can be done to give a moving display effect

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Automatic Room Light

An ordinary automatic room power control circuit has only one light sensor. So when a person enters the room it gets one pulse and the lights come ‘on.’ When the person goes out it gets another pulse and the lights go ‘off.’ But what happens when two persons enter the room, one after the other? It gets two pulses and the lights remain in ‘off’ state. The circuit described here overcomes the above-mentioned problem. It has a small memory which enables it to automatically switch ‘on’ and switch ‘off’ the lights in a desired fashion. The circuit uses two LDRs which are placed one after another (separated by a distance of say half a metre) so that they may separately sense a person going into the room or coming out of the room. Outputs of the two LDR sensors, after processing, are used in conjunction with a bicolour LED in such a fashion that when a person gets into the room it emits green light and when a person goes out of the room it emits red light, and vice versa. These outputs are simultaneously applied to two counters. One of the counters will count as +1, +2, +3 etc when persons are getting into the room and the other will count as -1, -2, -3 etc when persons are getting out of the room. These counters make use of Johnson decade counter CD4017 ICs. The next stage comprises two logic ICs which can combine the outputs of the two counters and determine if there is any person still left in the room or not. Since in the circuit LDRs have been used, care should be taken to protect them from ambient light. If desired, one may use readily available IR sensor modules to replace the LDRs. The sensors are installed in such a way that when a person enters or leaves the room, he intercepts the light falling on them sequentially—one after the other. When a person enters the room, first he would obstruct the light falling on LDR1, followed by that falling on LDR2. When a person leaves the room it will be the other way round. In the normal case light keeps falling on both the LDRs, and as such their resistance is low (about 5 kilo-ohms). As a result, pin 2 of both timers (IC1 and IC2), which have been configured as monostable flip-flops, are held near the supply voltage (+9V). When the light falling on the LDRs is obstructed, their resistance becomes very high and pin 2 voltages drop to near ground potential, thereby triggering the flip-flops. Capacitors across pin 2 and ground have been added to avoid false triggering due to electrical noise. When a person enters the room, LDR1 is triggered first and it results in triggering of monostable IC1. The short output pulse immediately charges up capacitor C5, forward biasing transistor pair T1-T2. But at this instant the collectors of transistors T1 and T2 are in high impedance state as IC2 pin 3 is at low potential and diode D4 is not conducting. But when the same person passes LDR2, IC2 monostable flip-flop is triggered. Its pin 3 goes high and this potential is coupled to transistor pair T1-T2 via diode D4. As a result transistor pair T1-T2 conducts because capacitor C5 retains the charge for some time as its discharge time is controlled by resistor R5 (and R7 to an extent). Thus green LED portion of bi-colour LED is lit momentarily. The same output is also coupled to IC3 for which it acts as a clock. With entry of each person IC3 output (high state) keeps advancing. At this stage transistor pair T3-T4 cannot conduct because output pin 3 of IC1 is no longer positive as its output pulse duration is quite short and hence transistor collectors are in high impedance state. When persons leave the room, LDR2 is triggered first followed by LDR1. Since the bottom half portion of circuit is identical to top half, this time with the departure of each person red portion of bi-colour LED is lit momentarily and output of IC4 advances in the same fashion as in case of IC3. The outputs of IC3 and those of IC4 (after inversion by inverter gates N1 through N4) are ANDed by AND gates (A1 through A4) are then wire ORed (using diodes D5 through D8). The net effect is that when persons are entering, the output of at least one of the AND gates is high, causing transistor T5 to conduct and energise relay RL1. The bulb connected to the supply via N/O contact of relay RL1 also lights up. When persons are leaving the room, and till all the persons who entered the room have left, the wired OR output continues to remain high, i.e. the bulb continues to remains ‘on,’ until all persons who entered the room have left. The maximum number of persons that this circuit can handle is limited to four since on receipt of fifth clock pulse the counters are reset. The capacity of the circuit can be easily extended for up to nine persons by removing the connection of pin 1 from reset pin (15) and utilising Q1 to Q9 outputs of CD4017 counters. Additional inverters, AND gates and diodes will, however, be required

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Emergency Light Circuits Diagram

The circuit of automatic emergency light presented here has the following features: 1. When the mains supply (230V AC) is available, it charges a 12V battery up to 13.5V and then the battery is disconnected from the charging section. 2. When the battery discharges up to 10.2V, it is disconnected from the load and the charging process is resumed. 3. If the mains voltage is available and there is darkness in the room, load (bulb or tube) is turned on by taking power from the mains; otherwise the battery is connected to the load. 4. When the battery discharges up to 10.2V and if the mains is not yet available, the battery is completely disconnected from the circuit to avoid its further discharge. The mains supply of 230V AC is stepped down to 18V AC (RMS) using a 230V AC primary to 0-18V AC, 2A secondary transformer (X1), generally used in 36cm B&W TVs. Diodes D1 through D4 form bridge rectifier and capacitor C5 filters the voltage, providing about 25V DC at the output. Charging section includes 33-ohm, 10-watt resistor R2 which limits the charging current to about 425 mA when battery voltage is about 10.2V, or to 325 mA when battery voltage is about 13.5V. When the battery charges to 13.5V (as set by VR2), zener diode D17 goes into breakdown region, thereby triggering triac TR1. Now, since DC is passing through the triac, it remains continuously ‘on’ even if the gate current is reduced to zero (by disconnecting the gate terminal). Once the battery is fully charged, charging section is cut-off from the battery due to energisation of relay RL2. This relay remains ‘on’ even if the power fails because of connection to the battery via diode D10. S4, a normally closed switch, is included to manually restart the charging process if required. Battery disconnect and charging restart section comprises an NE555 timer (IC2) wired in monostable mode. When the battery voltage is above 10.2V (as indicated by red LED D15), zener diode (D16) remains in the breakdown region, making the trigger pin 2 of IC2 high, thereby maintaining output pin 3 in low voltage state. Thus, relay RL3 is ‘on’ and relay RL4 is ‘off.’ But as soon as the battery voltage falls to about 10.2V (as set by preset VR1), zener diode D16 comes out of conduction, making pin 2 low and pin 3 high to turn ‘on’ relay RL4 and orange LED D13. This also switches off relay RL3 and LED D15. Now, if the mains is available, charging restarts due to de-energisation of relay RL2 because when relay RL4 is ‘on,’ it breaks the circuit of relay RL2 and triac TR1. But if the mains supply is not present, both relays RL3 and RL1 de-energise, disconnecting the battery from the remaining circuit. Thus when battery voltage falls to 10.2 volts, its further discharge is eliminated. But as soon as the mains supply resumes, it energises relay RL1, thereby connecting the battery again to the circuit. Light sensor section also makes use of a 555 timer IC in the monostable mode. As long as normal light is falling on LDR1, its resistance is comparatively low. As a result pin 2 of IC3 is held near Vcc and its output at pin 3 is at low level. In darkness, LDR resistance is very high, which causes pin 2 of IC3 to fall to near ground potential and thus trigger it. As a consequence, output pin 3 goes high during the monostable pulse period, forward biasing transistor T3 which goes into saturation, energising relay RL5. With auto/bypass switch S2 off (in auto mode), the load gets connected to supply via switch S3. If desired, the load may be switched during the day-time by flipping switch S2 to ‘on’ position (manual). Preset VR3 is the sensitivity control used for setting threshold light level at which the load is to be automatically switched on/off. Capacitors with the relays ensure that there is no chattering of the relays. When the mains is present, diode D8 couples the input voltage to regulator IC1 whereas diode D10 feeds the input voltage to it (from battery) in absense of mains supply. Diode D5 connects the load to the power supply section via resistor R5 when mains is available (diode D18 does not conduct). However, when mains power fails, the situation reverses and diode D18 conducts while diode D5 does not conduct. . The load can be any bulb of 12 volts with a maximum current rating of 2 amperes (24 watts). Resistor R5 is supposed to drop approximately 12 volts when the load current flows through it during mains availability . Hence power dissipated in it would almost be equal to the load power. It is therefore desirable to replace R5 with a bulb of similar voltage and wattage as the load so that during mains availability we have more (double) light than when the load is fed from the battery. For setting presets VR1 and VR2, just take out (desolder one end) diodes D7, D10 and D18. Connect a variable source of power supply in place of battery. Set preset VR1 so that battery-high LED D15 is just off at 10.2V of the variable source. Increase the potential of the variable source and observe the shift from LO BAT LED D13 to D15. Now make the voltage of the source 13.5V and set preset VR2 so that relay RL2 just energises. Then decrease the voltage slowly and observe that relay RL2 does not de-energise above 10.2V. At 10.2V, LED D15 should be off and relay RL2 should de-energise while LED D13 should light up. Preset VR3 can be adjusted during evening hours so that the load is ‘on’ during the desired light conditions

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Automatic Dual Output Display Circuits Diagram

This circuit lights up ten bulbs sequentially, first in one direc- tion and then in the opposite direction, thus presenting a nice visual effect. In this circuit, gates N1 and N2 form an oscillator. The output of this oscillator is used as a clock for BCD up/down counter CD4510 (IC2). Depending on the logic state at its pin 10, the counter counts up or down. During count up operation, pin 7 of IC2 outputs an active low pulse on reaching the ninth count. Similarly, during count-down operation, you again get a low-going pulse at pin 7. This terminal count output from pin 7, after inversion by gate N3, is connected to clock pin 14 of decade counter IC3 (CD4017) which is configured here as a toggle flip-flop by returning its Q2 output at pin 4 to reset pin 15. Thus output at pin 3 of IC3 goes to logic 1 and logic 0 state alternately at each terminal count of IC2. Initially, pin 3 (Q0) of IC3 is high and the counter is in count-up state. On reaching ninth count, pin 3 of IC3 goes low and as a result IC2 starts counting down. When the counter reaches 0 count, Q2 output of IC3 momentarily goes high to reset it, thus taking pin 3 to logic 1 state, and the cycle repeats. The BCD output of IC2 is connected to 1-of-10 decoder CD4028 (IC4). During count-up operation of IC2, the outputs of IC4 go logic high sequentially from Q0 to Q9 and thus trigger the triacs and lighting bulbs 1 through 10, one after the other. Thereafter, during count-down operation of IC2, the bulbs light in the reverse order, presenting a wonderful visual effect

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Automatic Dual Output Display Circuits Diagram

This circuit lights up ten bulbs sequentially, first in one direc- tion and then in the opposite direction, thus presenting a nice visual effect. In this circuit, gates N1 and N2 form an oscillator. The output of this oscillator is used as a clock for BCD up/down counter CD4510 (IC2). Depending on the logic state at its pin 10, the counter counts up or down. During count up operation, pin 7 of IC2 outputs an active low pulse on reaching the ninth count. Similarly, during count-down operation, you again get a low-going pulse at pin 7. This terminal count output from pin 7, after inversion by gate N3, is connected to clock pin 14 of decade counter IC3 (CD4017) which is configured here as a toggle flip-flop by returning its Q2 output at pin 4 to reset pin 15. Thus output at pin 3 of IC3 goes to logic 1 and logic 0 state alternately at each terminal count of IC2. Initially, pin 3 (Q0) of IC3 is high and the counter is in count-up state. On reaching ninth count, pin 3 of IC3 goes low and as a result IC2 starts counting down. When the counter reaches 0 count, Q2 output of IC3 momentarily goes high to reset it, thus taking pin 3 to logic 1 state, and the cycle repeats. The BCD output of IC2 is connected to 1-of-10 decoder CD4028 (IC4). During count-up operation of IC2, the outputs of IC4 go logic high sequentially from Q0 to Q9 and thus trigger the triacs and lighting bulbs 1 through 10, one after the other. Thereafter, during count-down operation of IC2, the bulbs light in the reverse order, presenting a wonderful visual effect

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Flashy Christmas Light Electronics Circuits Diagram

This simple and inexpensive circuit built around a popular CMOS hex inverter IC CD4069UB offers four sequential switching outputs that may be used to control 200 LEDs (50 LEDs per channel), driven directly from mains supply. Input supply of 230V AC is rectified by the bridge rectifiers D1 to D4. After fullwave rectification, the average output voltage of about 6 volts is obtained across the filter comprising capacitor C1 and resistor R5. This supply energises IC CD4069UB.
All gates (N1-N6) of the inverter have been utilised here. Gates N1 to N4 have been used to control four high voltage transistors T1 to T4 (2N3440 or 2N3439) which in turn drive four channels of 50 LEDs each through current limiting resistors of 10-kilo-o Base drive of transistors can be adjusted with the help of 10-kilo-ohm pots provided in their paths. Remaining two gates (N5 and N6) form a low frequency oscillator. The frequency of this oscillator can be changed through pot VR1. When pot VR1 is adjusted To get the best results, a low leakage, good quality capacitor must be used for the timing capacitor C2

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Dancing Light Circuit Diagram

Here is a simple circuit which can be used for decoration purposes or as an indicator. Flashing or dancing speed of LEDs can be adjusted and various dancing patterns of lights can be formed.
The circuit consists of two astable multivibrators. One multivibrator is formed by transistors T1 and T2 while the other astable multivibrator is formed by T3 and T4. Duty cycle of each multivibrator can be varied by changing RC time constant. This can be done through potentiometers VR1 and VR2 to produce different dancing pattern of LEDs. Total cost of this circuit is of the order of Rs 30 only. Potentiometers can be replaced by light dependent resistors so that dancing of LEDs will depend upon the surrounding light intensity. The colour LEDs may be arranged as shown in the Figure

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Light Flasher Circuit Diagram

This is a very basic circuit for flashing one or more LEDS and also to alternately flash one or more LEDs.
It uses a 555 timer setup as an astable multivibrator with a variable frequency.
With the preset at its max. the flashing rate of the LED is about 1/2 a second. It can be increased by increasing the value of the capacitor from 10uF to a higher value. For example if it is increased to 22uF the flashing rate becomes 1 second.

There is also provision to convert it into an alternating flasher. You just have to connect a LED and a 330ohm as shown in Fig.2 to the points X and Y of Fig.1. Then both the LEDs flash alternately.

Since the 555 can supply or sink in upto 200mA of current, you can connect upto about 18 LEDS in parallel both for the flasher and alternating flasher (that makes a total of 36 LEDs for alternating flasher).

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Audio Light Modulator Circuit Diagram

Audio light modulations add to the enjoyment of music during functions organised at home or outdoors. Presented here is one such simple circuit in which light is modulated using a small fraction of the audio output from the speaker terminals of the audio amplifier. The output from the speaker terminals of audio amplifier is connected to a transformer (output transformer used in transistor radios) through a non-polarised capacitor. The use of transformer is essential for isolating the audio source from the circuit in The sensitivity control potentiometer VR1 provided in the input to transistor T1 may be adjusted to ensure that conduction takes place only after the AF exceeds certain amplitude. This control has to be adjusted as per audio source level. The audio signal Proper earthing of the circuit is quite essential. The diode bridge provides pulsating DC output and acts as a guard circuit between the mains input and pulsating DC output. Extreme care is necessary to avoid any electric shock

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