Page

.A., 5'55 Timer and Applications.

1. Rfiot-0 Timet,
2·, Touch P.late Controller.
.3:,. A:uto Wip,er Control.
4. D.elayed Swit hing of Ant0·Fiead Lights Aftei::
EarkiP -- . 18 =
5. '.I'iby Rta:slier. .. - 1.9
6. " S'.0Hd-$ta;te Flasher. 20.·
1: S.eiise-ef•Time tester,, . 1
8·.. 'Square-Wave G nefaior. -2,.2
:9... 1::i.inear S w-T00th ':Genera.t1:1ts.
•
0
•• e "' • A'
13.
.J0 .Warble Ton Generator.
I). E>eJaycd Aut01natie. Eowe'.r Off.
.... iii
-
Jl6
l 2. D'elayed l\:Qtomatic P@wer 011.
13. Ni,Cij Ha,ttery G'.harger. 3:0
J4. W:ioe·Ran.se·Puls. 6eneFator. 32
-15. Freq-ue1:1cy Divicler. _
16. }.,ti.s.sing_Puls D .tector. "35
17. J.;ighf_ORerated. RelaJ. .
-• •' .36

- 18. . tenmeratµr,e' Conlr'oller. '38

' '-;:
• '
i9.· Brightness Control of LED-,Display. 40 .·
20.·, SequentialSwitching. 4'f .,;

, 21. Long Duration T mer.

... 43
I

. '
j
 ......

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 5.55 Timer
,
.,,.• TlME ON YOUR HANDS ! With the m no'lithi_c integrated
_:
circuit 5_55 you can get ccurate timing ranges of micro seconds·
· · to hours,-indej)endent of supply voltage variations. This versatile..
device·11as a large -number of interesting practical
applications; espeoialiy for electronic
hobbyists. -

Basically, the. 555 timer.1s a highly stable integrated· ,circuit

capable of functioning· as an accurate time-delay-generator an-
as·a free,running multivibrator. When used as an oscillator ihe
frequency and duty cyele are ,.iccurately controlled by only two-
- external resistors.and a capacitors. The circuit may be tr_iggered
and reset on falling. wave.
fonns. Its -pronunent
.. .
features
,
...;.
are
. .
sumnaarized b ¢ l o ._w :
*Timing from micro seconds through hours.
-* Monostable and astable operation
_ : *-· Adjµst<ihie du_tycycle ,
• - • ~ ••

* Ability to operate fro1n a wide range of4pply V()ltages..

* Output compatible with Cl\10S, DTL and TTL (when used
.•· . .
with a 5 volt supply)
* High current output can sink or source 200 mA · =:
' Trigger and reseLhipuJs are logic compatible
- -
_* Output can b operated n.or1nal on and normal ff
* High temperatui:e stability
r L_et us se.ethe tnake·up ancl operation of the 5.55 IC and . .;ee
ho\v the v.arious fe,ature-scan ·be d,eveioped into p actical iircuit :-
·The_ 55 is av,dlable in 8-piri:r,nd 14•pin dual-in- ine packages
or in a circular T0-99 metal can with eight leads.' P_in connecs 7 - ...

"!4.','• [1
-,'
 • NC ,I

NC <1

G O\!NO 3

TRJGGER 4
11 O•SCH A.RGE

10 THRESHO\..O

RES£T 6 CONTROi.,
9 VOLTAGE

NC 7
8 NC

14·PIN DIP

7 DISCHARGE

OUTPU, ) 6 THRESHOLD

· CONTROi.,
5 VOLTAGE

RtSET
8·PIN QJP
T0·99

Fig•. 1. Pin Connections For The -555 'fimer. (TOP. -V I E. WS)

tions_for various packages are shown in Fig. I. The S·E· and, E

version are .similar·.except formaximum ten1perature ratings..,,
The precision type SE :maintains its essentia), characteristics·.over-=
a temperature n:l!1ge of-55° C to +125° C while the .general
pu.rposetype NE operates reljably only over a range of 0° C to
70°C; Some manufaetures use tlie suffix C to. indicate the
- comni'ercial version for general purpo'se applications, - Both.t_;i;>es·
• ).. •

have a ·n:iaximum · ratiqg . of 18 volts and·can handle po,ver dissi·

pation.o{upto 600 in\V.

The 55_6 is a dual tinier which•is basically two 555's in-asingle

· package.

-- Comprising of 23 transistor-s, 2 diooes·and 16 resistors,

(fig. 2) the 555 has built:ip compensation for component t9leiance
2
 and temperature drift resulting in a temperature coefticie11t of only
2·5parts per million per degree Centigrade.·

.'.._
THRESHOLD

CONTACL
VOLT.t.GE

TAIGGE

REStT
OtSCHARGE: GAO\

JNO

'' Fig. 2. 555 Timer Schematic Diagram.

Vc,c

OPERATION
A. functional block diagram of timer·is shown in Fig. 3. The
 1
devic.e co11sists of two comparators*,. .
.two cont
I .
6l ,transistorst I

a flip-flopn,d. a buff red output stage... Thereferepte;volta-•,•

gesfor the tw·ocomparators inside the 555 are developed across a

vbltage d{vi er consistipg of·thre equal i:esis ors R of SK- ohms
each; The threshold comparator is referenced at ¾Vcc and the
trigger comparator isreferenced atl Vee. The. Jwo comparators
control the flip-flop, which, jn turn. controls the. state of the
outpu_t.
When· the timer is· in the. quiescent state, \he int rnal transistor
Tl is, conductjng and. represents ·a short circuit across timing .. ,
, capacitor Cr.. The level of the output tc,rmi al is low....
In n1ost practical circuits,the•voltage on pin2 is held above
: the trigger point by ? _resistor connected Vee- When a negative to
going trigger pulse on pin 2 cause . the potential at this point to fall
below ½Vcc, t.be trigger compaqi.toi sw.itches the flip-flop-,
cutting off T and forcing the output level hig Ao a ya_lue
.,.,.-··
slightly below ' t,;

Vee- Capacitor Cr now starts to charge and_the volJage across

-
it rises exponentially unt.Uit rea,ches 2/3 Vcc. A1 this point, the
thres11old cornparator resets the flip-flop and the output returns to

Q. (11 · L tL_,A.,_.;...A--IL-....:...L.--1

,1s0 ;iS 100 ,I·

rr,S,
10
mS
jOO
mS
1
·S
-10
s
TiME DEL:-AY
.Fig. 4. Delay Times For Different Values Of Resistors And Capacitors
I ' .••

* A comparator 'is an op rnp.that·compares an Jnput

a,nd·
volt_age··
indicatenY.i!i«ther th input is .higher or lower than the reference voltage.
·wthen.the input swings slightly above tlle reference value; Ole op,ainp's
output ·swing·s i'nto saturation.. At-· the instant the input·drops i,elow
the·:·eforence level, the op-amp's' output· s\vings into reverse saturation.
The·outmi·i changes state when the input rises·above or drops below the
veferen ·v6!tage level by only _a few hundred' micr volts.·
 -

U ."'.l:QJ.,:; .

it low state-just slightly-;b e ".groun<J·.1ATFansistQj:T1 is turned·

- ON, _discharging Cr so that it.is·ready for the -next timing period.
Once triggered:, t e cfrc4it c nnot-respond.to additional triggering
- ·.until the timed interval..has elapsed:.
.
. .The delay period-the'time that the output is high-in seconds
t·
is-Ll RrCT, where Rr is.in ohms and Cr in farads. Figure -4
shows hovrdelays run.ning from 10· micro seconds to 10 sec nds.
can be obtained by selecting appropriat values o(Cr and Rr in
the .001 µ.p to 100 µ.p and.I K to IO megohms ranges. In
practice Rr should_not_exceed 20
megohms. When.you use an·electro
lytic capacitor for Cr, select an. it fot low leakage: The _ti e,
delay may have io be a£.ijusted by varying the.value-of Rr to com-
· pensate ror the very wide tolerance of electrolytics. ·· ·

An important feature to be noted here is that 555, unlike

many RC timers, provides.a .tiined interval that is virtually inde
pendent of supply·voltage Vcc. Thi·sis be-cause the charge rafe
of
CT and the reference voltages to the threshold comparator and
trigger comparator a.re all directly proportional to the supply
voltage. Operating v_oltage can range from 4.5 volts to a maxi,-
· mum of 18 voits.

Feeding the Load

, We hav.e seen how the timed interyal or delay is obtained..
Now let us. see how we can use it. A look at the.output circuit
(T; and T4.in Fig. 2} shows it_to be a quasi com,plementary-:trans
formerless arrangement s·imilar .to many audio oti!put stages.
Furthermore; we know that in this type of circuit, .one sicle of the
·Joad goes·to the emhtcr,collector jun.ction- or
the output transis
tors and the other.,side-of the Ioad·c n be connected to 'V cc or·ffo
-· --; -

ground. The same applies to the lo.ad connected to the 555,

Output. pulses developed.across load Ri;·can .be obtained directly
from pin 3. ·. ·

WhenJhe l_oad .i$ co 1ecte to Vcu, a.consider!lqle .amount of

. current flows h the- Ioactih. to Jer. n1i-n· a1 3 - wl\e-.!l -Jhe..·output.
throu. g.
l
 is low. Similarly wheµ the output is high, the current through ·
theJoad i's quite small. Conditions are reversed when the.}_o d is . -
. ieturned to,ground .. In this. case,·output curren.t
through die
i ad is maximum when the output p tentia:l is high an_g
minilnum
. when the output if low. The 1naximun1 current at terminal 3 is ·
200 n1A when it•is us_ed as a current source or c.urrent sink.

_Driving a Relay
•.::.

A-relay can be substituted for :R·L in applic tiofls where the

delay or tim·eu interval is longer than 0.1 second. The. relay
.should be a DC type with a coii opera,ting at about Vcc and not
drawing more than. 200 mA. Figure 5 shows a simple manual
timer with the two optional connections for the relay,
+ 5 to ISV

RT 4 e D1
RESE.T Vee
OUTPUT 3
6
THRESHOLD
•,
555
::,..

7' DISCHARGE.02

,.
2 '$
ICT
TRIGGER 03.
SI GNO
c.. - iJ
fsTART

......
Fig. 5: Re.Jay Tim.er Showing Two Optional Connections.
-

You must be careful when connecting an inductive load such

as relay .to the output of the 555 or any·other sQlid-state
device.
hen thecurrent through an.inductive Ioa:d is interrµpted, the
coHapsing magnetic field ·gener.ates .a.high reverse emf (transient
voHa e) that can damage the evice. Th-e ·solution t6 tbis
problem is to connecti:i, diod.e (D1 oi;- D3) across. the relay coil so
fhatcit conducts and-absorbs, the transient. Note that the diode
--
. . ' .

must be connected so it is reverse biased in normal operation: .

·:oiode D2·must be inserted in series with the relay coil when

it ts connected between the01Jtput terminal and ground. ·Other-
.! ....
 wise, a voltage equal to one diode-junction drop ·will appear at pin
3 and may cause the timer to .latch up.
Triggering
As stated earlier,. in 1110st practical circuits, the trigger
terminal is generally returned to Vcc through a resistor of about
22kil. However, the simplest method of triggering a 555 is to
11;omentarily ground t11e terminal. This is OK as long as the
ground is removed before the end of the timed interval. Thus, if
the device is used in a photo-ti1ner application, as in Fig. 5,
tapping push button SJ is sufficient to trigger the circuit and siar_t
the timer.
In many applications, the 555 must be triggered by a
pulse. The amplitude and minimum pulse width required for
triggering are dependent on temperature and supply voltage.
Generally, the current required .for triggering is about 0.5 µ.A for a
-
period of 0.1 ILS. Triggering_-voltage ranges from 1.67 volts when
Vee is•5 volts to 5 volts when Vee is 15 volts.
The triggering circuit is quite sensitive and can be activated by
simply touching the terminal with a finger or bringing your hand
·, close to a length of wire fastened to pin 2.

Resetting
Once a timed cycle has been initiated by a negative-going
pt•lse on pin 2, the circuit is immune to further trigger until the
cycle has been completed. I-Iowever, the timed cycle can be inter
rupted by grounding the reset terminal (pin 4) or applying a
negative-going reset pulse to it. The reset pulse causes timing
capacitor Cl to be discharged and the output to return to its
quiescent lo,v state. Reset voltage is typically 0.7 volt and reset
c,1rrent is OJ mA. When the reset terminal is not being used, it
should be connected to Vcc.
The Control Terminal
The i Vcc point on the internal voltage divider is brought
out to pin 5-the control terminal. The timing cycle canc-
modified
7
 •

by applying a DC control voltage to pin 5. This.permits manual

or electronic remote control of the timed interval. ,

The control·terminal is seldom used when the timer is opera

., ted in the monstable mode and should be grounded through a
0.01 µ,F capacitor to prevent the timed interval from being affected
by pickup of a stray AC or RF signal.
;

When the timer is operated as an oscillator in the astable

mode, the generated signal can be frequency modulated or pulse
width modulated by applying a variable DC control voltage to
pin S.

Monostable Operation
In this mode of operations· the timer acts as a one shot.
Details of the external connections and the wave-forms are shown
iP Fig. 6. The external timing capacitor CT is held initially dis
charged by the transistor (Tl in Fig·.2) inside the timer. Upon
application of a negative pulse to pin 2, the flip-flop is set which
releases the short circuit across the external. cap11citor and drives
the output high. The voltage across the capacitor, now, rises ex
ponentially with the time constant RTCT, When the voltage across
the capacitor equals i Yee, the threshold comparator resets the
.flip-flop which, in turn, discharges the capacitor rapidly and drives
the output to its low state. The circuit rests in this state till the
arrival of next pulse.
+ 5V to 15V

"r 4 e INPUT VOLTAGE

in
V
2 TRIGGE
RESET ··Vee

OUTPUT 3
RL

OUL
l.
-7
DISCHARGE

6 THRE'3HOLO CONTROL. 5
VOLTAC:E -<>7
l CAPACITOR VOLTAGE
'----_,:;G;:,;;N D .J- I
"':..t..,. TIME--+

Fig. 6, Monostable Hookup For 555

 'fhe circuit triggers on a rtegative going input si_gnal ·when
the level reaches ¼ Vcc, Once
triggered the circuit \Vill remain in this state until the set
tirtre is elapsed, even if it is triggered again during
this interval. The time that the output is in the high,state
is"given by t= l .l RTCr. Applying a negative pufse simu]taneou_sly
lp the reset terminal (pin 4) and the trigger terminal (pin 2) during
the timing·cycle discharges the. external capaci_tor C.r and- causes
the cycle to start over again. The timing cyde will now co1ri1nence
on the positive edge of the reset pulse. During the time the reset
pulse is applied, the output is driven to its low state. When the-.
reset function is not in use, it is recommended that it beconnected
to Vee to avoid any possibility of false triggeting.

Astable-Operation
rf the circuit is connected as shown in Fig. 7, it will trigg f
i1self aild free•. run as a multi-vibrator, The extern!!,l
capacitor
_cha,rges through RA and RB and discharges througJi RB only,T. hti:,
the duty cycle may be set precisely 'by the ratio 6f these two
resistors.
+ S to. ISV
t1 • o.693 (R.., + Ra).C r
R.,. 4 a j:,2• o.693 (RaJ:c1
RESET
7 T = Q.693( R.., + ?Rs);Cr .
C H A R G E_ -ouTPUT. .3. ,..,,
-- '-IDIS Oul.
- 5-55 f .i_= 1.44 --
6 THRESHOLD
T (RA+2R8)c;::r
CONTROL 5
VOL:tAGE
GND
Modul<lti.on
T lpp;,;t. -

Fig. 7.. Astable Operation, Of 555 Timer._

: ...::-

n this- mode of operati<;>n,,°the. capacitor charges and <:Jls·

charges between ¼ Vcc and l Vcc. As in the triggered inode, fhe
charg , and discharge times and hence the frequenc" ic; inde
pendent of the supply voltage.
The. charge.time (ou,tput high) is given by-:
9
 ti=0.693 (RA+R») C:r
The discharge time Eoutput lo"".') is given by :
t2=0.693 (Ril? C:r
Thus the total period T is given by :
T=t1+ti=0.693 (R,4+2 RB) C:r
-
. a·nd the frequency ofioscillatiqn is then :- .
I
l -_ l .4 4- C ,..
f
(RA+2 Re) :r

r
'-!Jjfhis ma,y= be easily found by figure 8 graph.

-...
:,.
.,,
;
u
j:!:
z 0,1
ti_
i'f
<} 0,01 ( R-A +_2RfJ, .P..,..-..;,....- ,--.-i.::.

·0.001
0.1
_L )'
,,.n._.o....
\ !CO, I l·lk \O I<
Fh E :11JNi..:fi-ii3' fR[QUE rcY-H2

.. Fig, 8. Free Runn[ng Frequency Of Astable:Mul1ivibrator .

R.I) ,·-
The duty cycle is given by D ·

From the above equaiion, it will be seen that the frequency and
the duty cycle are inter·d pendent and change of value of RA or
R affe.;ts bot:h. It is pos ible to have a comyletely independent
control of the charge and discharge times by using twO' external
diodes as shown in Fig. 9. The- timing capacitor Cl:"charges
tbrough Dl ,.and R l and discharges through D2 and R2.
.A111odi·-
p.ed arrangement shown- separatejy at Jeft hi Fig. 9 pr,ov:iG!e a
onfrol over duty cycle without· changing the output pulse
fiequency. The diode voltage drops, however, make the time more
s nsitive t, supply votage variations.