Thursday 10 February 2011

555 timers!

In light of the upcoming 555 timer contest, details of which can be found here, we've compiled a little link farm of relevant information!

The contest is supposed to be for original circuits and applications, but seeing as most skullspace members have little experience with the timer, we thought this would be a great time to introduce the little chip.

The timer was introduced in the 70's, and has been a mainstay in electronics projects ever since. The flexible little IC can do anything from controlling lights and motors to acting as a lo-fi synth (or guitar pedal!)

Operational details and basic schematics can be found here.

The timer went through a bit of a rebirth with the introduction of the Atari Punk Console, a re-branding of a classic circuit by Forrest M. Mims.
Wiki

Schematics

Guitar Pedal Mod

Noisemusick kit

Auto-fire mouse hack

555 synth


If anyone is keen to the workings of the timer, or has experience with the flexible little circuit, please feel free to enlighten us in the comments!

The contest ends March 1st, for those of you savvy enough to develop an original circuit!