Student’s Name: ______________________________________________________ Section:

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Student’s Name: ______________________________________________________ Section:
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PAIR TASK
Activity #03-00-05
555 LED Flasher
A 555 (triple five) timer IC (integrated circuit) is used in this tutorial to flash an LED on and off.

In this tutorial you will learn:

 About integrated circuits (ICs)
 More about circuit diagrams.

Components
In addition to a breadboard, wire links, 9V battery and battery clip, you will need:

QT DESIGNAT
Y PART OR NOTES TYPE

10k resistor (brown -

1 black - orange) R2 1/4W, 5% or better

4k7 resistor (yellow -

1 violet - red) R1 1/4W, 5% or better

1k resistor (brown -
1 black - red) R3 1/4W, 5% or better Resistors

Electrolytic, 16V or more

Try using different capacitor values to see the LED flash at a

1 100uF C1 different rate - e.g. try 10uF for a faster flash rate

1 10n (0.01uF) C2 Non-polarized Capacitors

1 NE555 U1 555 timer IC

Other coloured and sized LEDs could also be used, e.g. 3mm green Semiconductor
1 5mm red LED D1 LED s

Circuit Diagram
The circuit diagram is shown below. Note the following:
1. The connection point for the positive terminal of the 9V battery is displayed
as a circle at the end of a line with the label "+9V". This is just another way of
showing where to apply power to the circuit.
2. The 0V or "GND" of the circuit is shown as an inverted triangle at
the bottom of the circuit. This is where the negative lead of the battery
must be connected.
3. The schematic symbol for the 555 timer IC is not drawn
to the layout of the physical 555 IC. I.e. it does not have pins 1
to 4 on one side and pins 5 to 8 on the other. Schematic
symbols for IC's are often laid out differently to the physical
IC. This makes it easier to read the schematic diagram. Even
though the pins are in different places in the schematic, they
still have the correct pin numbers and names as the physical
IC.
 
This picture shows a top view of the physical 555 timer IC with pin numbering. Compare it to the schematic
symbol.

Building the Circuit

1. Plug the 555 timer IC into the breadboard across the middle insulating
channel. None of the IC's pins will be shorted out because of the middle
insulating channel. Using wire links, connect pin 8 of the IC to the top rail and
pin 1 of the IC to the bottom rail. Get a wire link ready to connect between
pins 6 and 2 of the IC.
 

2. Use the wire link to join pin 2 of the IC to pin 6. Get the 10nF capacitor ready
and some wire links.
 

3. Connect one pin of the 10nF capacitor (C2) to pin 5 of the IC and the other pin
of the capacitor to the bottom rail. This is done using two wire links in the
photo. Get wire links ready to connect pin 4 of the IC to the top rail.
 

4. Use wire links to connect pin 4 of the IC to the top rail. In the photo, three
links are used to do this. Get resistors R1 (4k7) and R2 (10k) ready.
 

5. Connect the 10k resistor (R2) between pins 6 and 7 of the IC. Connect the
4k7 resistor (R1) between pin 7 of the IC and the top rail. Get the 100uF
capacitor ready.

 
 6. Connect the positive lead of the 100uF capacitor (C1) to pin 2 of the IC and the
negative lead to the bottom rail. Get the LED and the 1k resistor ready.
 

7. Connect the 1k resistor (R3) to pin 3 of the IC. Connect the other pin of the
resistor into a free connecting strip of the breadboard. Connect the anode of the LED to the free
end of R3 and the cathode of the LED to the bottom rail.
8. Check the circuit that you have built against the schematic diagram. Go around the IC and check
that each pin is connected to what the schematic says it must be connected to.
9. If you are sure that your circuit is correct, connect the positive lead of the 9V battery to the top rail
and the negative lead to the bottom rail and watch the LED flash on and off.
10. Try a different value capacitor for C1 to see the rate that the LED flashes change. E.g. try a 10uF
capacitor to see the flash rate speed up.