I had a post before asking a whole host of questions about a project I am working on, but I am changing things little by little so I thought it would be best to start fresh with a new thread and describe an issue that seems to be at the root of the problem.
I am using a 555 Timer IC to alternatly flash two LEDs. I am looking for an approximately 50% duty cycle at something around 10-20Hz. I used an online calculator to determine that an R1 value of 1kΩ and an R2 of 15kΩ with a 3.3μF C1 capacitor should give me something like 16Hz.
Yet, it seems that no matter what I do to try and change things up the flash rate either exists as a strobing effect that is too fast for what I want, or both LEDs in the circuit don't alternate and stay steady.
The circuit I am using is below:
I just don't understand what is going on here. Can someone help me determine what the correct resistor/capacitor values should be? If I can get this step figured out I can move on to the next issue (which, if anyone is curious, the LEDs are high-power 3W so I know I can't drive them with the 555 and need to use transistors to amplify. Again, though this is another issue that I will move onto later AFTER I get the first step figured out.)
Thanks!
I am using a 555 Timer IC to alternatly flash two LEDs. I am looking for an approximately 50% duty cycle at something around 10-20Hz. I used an online calculator to determine that an R1 value of 1kΩ and an R2 of 15kΩ with a 3.3μF C1 capacitor should give me something like 16Hz.
Yet, it seems that no matter what I do to try and change things up the flash rate either exists as a strobing effect that is too fast for what I want, or both LEDs in the circuit don't alternate and stay steady.
The circuit I am using is below:
I just don't understand what is going on here. Can someone help me determine what the correct resistor/capacitor values should be? If I can get this step figured out I can move on to the next issue (which, if anyone is curious, the LEDs are high-power 3W so I know I can't drive them with the 555 and need to use transistors to amplify. Again, though this is another issue that I will move onto later AFTER I get the first step figured out.)
Thanks!