flasher circuits forthcoming, D

[toblueiis]

hello,

One of the interesting things about the group is that people have different interests and abilities which often guide their approach to some aspect of the B9. I am working on several flasher design circuits that I would make available to the club when completed and tested, but I don't have plans to build them at this time. I will be providing circuit schematics and component layout drawings. The circuits are simple and require no programming, but you need to gather the parts and build the circuit, including soldering. The parts are simple and inexpensive. A frustrating aspect of working on the designs, is that I keep getting alternative design ideas for the circuit and for component layout. An example of this, is that I noticed that the trip points on a simple circuit, used as 6 oscillators per chip, change according to the supply voltage. It flashers about once per second at 12volts and about 3-4 times per second at 4-5 volts. This makes it easy to change the flashing speed of 6, 12, 18, etc... lights by just changing the supply voltage to each chip. To boil this down, multiple, independent flashers can be changed from slow to fast with a simple signal. This is without programming at all. If you like to build circuits, you may be interested in this. I have tested the basic circuit, but don't want to release the complete circuit till it has been wholly tested. The design I am working on would be flexible to different voltage bulbs , as well as incandescent or LEDs.

The good thing about keeping getting design change ideas, is that both designs, schematic and layout, are efforts to simplify and cleanup the circuits. It is hard to get to a finished design, but at least it is for a good reason. When I change a design component, it usually ends up that I need to order parts and it takes 3 weeks for me to get them. It would cost me a lot more for parts if I would buy them closer and since I am experimenting, I buy larger amounts. As some of you out there know, experimenting can be quite expensive. Another criteria, is to use relatively inexpensive parts.

Though I am not ready to offer these circuits, I mention it at this time for guys who may be considering such circuits and trying to decide what approach they will take. This is an option for them to keep in mind . For those not wanting to build electronics, the club has a great option available from Tom W.