A few years ago the 555 timer was a hot topic on this forum. I think quite a few guys were making their own timer using the 555 component from Radio Shack. I was wondering how these timers are holding up and if you're still using them ? Has anyone made one lately ?
Doug
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I built a little 555-based adjustable blinker board to control the blinking rate of the billboards around my layout.
This version uses a CMOS 555 and a triac to turn the billboards on and off. Not the simplest design, but the only DC power needed is for the 555 and the triac gate. So I could use a small 12V regulator for the DC supply and pass the AC directly to the billboard with the triac.
Though if I had to do it again I might try a 8-pin ATTiny 85 microcontroller instead of the 555. That would let me ditch the pot and 555 resistors and capacitors, and just program the desired blinking rate into the ATTiny.
That does look a lot simpler.
A simple circuit to trigger a DCS Remote Commander once a second to provide a continuous DCS watchdog signal whenever power is applied. This project started out with a less accurate timer using the 74HC14 which required calibration, using a 555 makes it a plug-n-play.
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