Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Raj. K. Gorkhali
Objective is certainly going to stand by you in gates of IC-1 produce a clean rectan-
The objective of this construction pro- whatever mode or configuration you gular pulse from the pulse produced by
ject is to build simple and easy to use may try it. Also, if you clearly under- pressing the microswitch. Resistor R3,
test gadget that can be used to identify stand the capabilities of this gadget Capacitor C1 and the Diode D1 ensure
good and bad IC TIMERS from a given and theory responsible for these fea- that the trigger terminal of timer IC 555
lot. Like opamps, an IC timer is another tures, you will be in a position to think of (pin-2 is the trigger terminal) gets the
widely used electronic device and it many more different modes in which desired Vcc-to-ground trigger pulse.
finds its place in almost every project of you can use an IC timer. And moreover, This differentiator circuit also ensures
hobbyists’ interest. This gadget not only it is going to be an excellent project for that the width of the trigger pulse is less
enables you test the IC timer 555, it will the students at diploma or an equiva- than the expected monoshot output
also give you an opportunity to appre- lent academic level. pulse. The monoshot output pulse
ciate the tremendous functional poten- width here depends upon the resistance
tial of the various terminals of this truly Circuit Description offered by series combination of R4
versatile IC. Most of the circuits The two basic configurations in which and potentiometer VR1 and the capaci-
appearing in various magazines or the IC timer 555 can be used are the (i) tor C3. These values have been so
books to test IC timers do the same by Astable mode of operation and (ii) chosen that even for the minimum
wiring the IC in one particular configu- Monostable mode of operation. When output pulse width, the trigger pulse
ration only. Testing the IC timer with the the DPDT switch (SW2) is in position 1- width (trigger pulse width depends
gadget being described here not only 1, the timer under test automatically upon the differentiator time constant)
tests the IC in all basic configurations, it gets wired as a monostable remains less than that. Remember! the
practically test the functionality of each multivibrator. In this case, the trigger pulse width to be less than the
and every terminal of the timer with the monoshot can be triggered by the expected monoshot output pulse width
result that a timer declared fit by this microswitch (SW1). The Debouncing is an essential requirement of this mode
gadget is; healthy in the true sense and Circuit constituted by the two NAND of operation.
R4
R1
R2
C2
R7 R9
1
ON/OFF
SWITCH
3
N1 VR1
LED1
2 8
7 SW3
D1 4
R3 D2 R5
+
1 1 IC
3
9
10
Socket 9V
N2 6 R11
5 R8
8 C1
2 2 2
R6
R10
SW2 1
LED2 LED3
SW1 C3 C4
VR3
VR2
VR1 VR2
+
C2 R11
VR3
SW1
IC1
+
D2
R5
R1
D1
R3
R6
R4
C4
C1
C3
Socket
R10
LED1
R9
R7
R8
Fig. 2: Actual - size, solder-side PCB layout. Fig. 3: Component layout for the PCB.
and preset VR1 and capacitor C3. 8. Set the DPDT -switch in position 2- CONTROL pins can be seen in this
Intact for a fixed setting of this series 2.The LED1 and LED2 will start glowing configuration too in a similar fashion
combination, the output pulse width alternately with the timings determined like the one discussed above in the case
can be observed to vary for different by resistances in charge and discharge of monoshot configuration.
values of VR2 resistance by triggering paths. The timer IC is now in astable
the monoshot several times, once for mode.
each setting of VR2. 9. The functions of RESET and