I posted about the 74HC74 flip-flop on Saturday. For the same project I’m going to use that IC for, I’ll probably use a 555 timer. It’s often referred to as one of the most useful ICs you can get. I’ve never used the 555 either, so I wired up some simple demos using it. In order to show two common timing uses, I’ve created similar circuits each triggered by the same power source and button.

The circuit on the left shows a delay off timer and the one on the right shows a delay on timer. Notice when power is connected (or the button is used as a reset) that the red LED turns on right away and turns off after a few seconds. Just the opposite, the white LED is off when the timer is reset and turns on after a few seconds.

The length of the delays is determined by the capacitor and resistor used with the 555. I’m using an Adafruit Feather to provide 3.3 volts to the circuits with a 22 μF capacitor and 100 K ohm resistor. Using the capacitor charge time formula to multiply the capacitance (farads) by the resistance (ohms), it’s easy to get the time.

Comes out to 2.2 seconds. To change the time delay all you have to do is use a different capacitor and/or resistor.

Here is a simplified wiring setup because it’s hard to see how everything is connected in the video.

Also check out Combining 74HC74 & 555 Integrated Circuits.