LED flasher

Thread Starter

popnbrown

Joined Aug 22, 2008
21
I was making a LED flasher and have a circuit built.

It works off a 555 Timer, and connects to a bunch of LEDs (which form the number I want flashing) and those LEDs all connect to a resistor. all of the LEDs are in parallel.

I have attached the bitmap below.

I was just wondering if this circuit would work and what problems would I have?

I know I do not have a source right now, the flasher was going to run off a +5V source which would connect using a 3pin cable. I am going to have to work that in later.

Thanks,
PNB
 

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bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

Never connect leds directly parallel, each led (or leds in series) should have a current limiting resistor.
Otherwise you will have a chainreaction of leds blowing up.
The NE 555 can deliver upto 200 mA, so an amplfier circuit like a power mosfet for switching would bring enough current.

Greetings,
Bertus
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
The 555 can't deliver enough current to directly drive all those LEDs. It would be better to divide the LEDs into small, series connected groups, with each group having its own resistor.
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
With a Vcc of 5v, a 555 timer can only source 100mA, and the output voltage drops to around 3.3v.

With that many LEDs, you'd really be better off with a higher voltage supply so that you can make LED 'strings'. A standard 555 can work with as high as 16V DC.
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
On the output of the 555 you will put a relay driver, and of course the relay itself. Then, you can connect as much load as you want. Now your load is nearly 1 Ampere.

A relay driver can be seen here http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/actrelay.htm

It is the transistor and the diode and a resistor on the base of the transistor.
What is the advantage of using a relay rather than driving the LEDs directly off a transistor?
 

kammenos

Joined Aug 3, 2008
127
What is the advantage of using a relay rather than driving the LEDs directly off a transistor?
Ok he can also drive them directly from the transistor.

The advantage is that for a new commer to electronics, it would be easier to get a relay and test with different voltages and different currents rather than finding the proper transistor.
A transistor relay can be found almos everywhere and needs no calculation.
 

MLCC

Joined Aug 15, 2008
8
I noticed on the schematic that you had a NE566-A timer hooked up, if so, the pin diagram is wrong. But I’m going to assume that it is a typo on the schematic, and you are using a 555 timer. First, 5V is a little weak for the timer, it can handle up to 15V max (I recommend 12V). Also, when powering the 555 timer, it has a max of 200mA. Another note is that there are too many LEDs to be powered directly, so like everyone else said, you will need either a transistor or relay ( I think the transistor is better than the semi-noisy relay). A recommendation also is to hook pin 4 to V+ so that it is not accidentally triggered.

I have a revised circuit below. 600 Ohm resistors for R3-5 reduce the current to 20mA. You may need to change the resistor value due to the 5 LEDs in one strand, and you can do this with Ohm’s Law.
 

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Thread Starter

popnbrown

Joined Aug 22, 2008
21
Just for clarification, is my circuit wrong because there is not enough current flowing through all of the LEDs?
In which case how much current should I assume the LEDs need?
I was looking at the specs of a couple LEDs, I saw a couple for 50mA and others around 20mA. I have no idea which LEDs I'm going to use, because I'm very new at this and don't know any good places to get cheap but good LEDs (RadioShack seems like a rip-off $1.5 for 2 LEDs).

So if any has any good ideas for where to buy Yellow and Green LEDs?
 
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blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
MLCC, one transistor could easily drive all the LEDs. Also a common-emitter arrangement would avoid the 0.6Vbe drop of the emitter-follower.

popnbrown, your circuit cant deliver enough current to drive all those LEDs but all you need to add is a transistor which can deliver the current. As has been mentioned, a higher supply voltage would be an advantage and the LEDs should be connected in series groups each group having its own resistor.

The number of LEDs and resistor value per group depends on the type of LEDs you choose and the supply voltage.

The cheapest place to buy LEDs is ebay. Take a look at some of the Chinese sellers.
 

Thread Starter

popnbrown

Joined Aug 22, 2008
21
One transistor would be able to amplify the current enough to drive all of these LEDs correct? In which case, I could hook up the LEDs in different groups and hook them up in parallel.

I was thinking of using a 10V source instead of a 5V. Since the board will be running off of a robot control system, it will have to rely on the power provided by the control system and the control system provides +5V for each seperate output, I only have the ability to work with 2 of these outputs.
 

Thread Starter

popnbrown

Joined Aug 22, 2008
21
I've been doing some calculations, and if I were to use the 10V source and group the LEDs (44 of them) into groups of 4, making 11 groups. Then the transistor would power 11 groups of 4 LEDs.

Since the 555 supplies 200mA the transistor (assuming Beta is 100) would supply 20200mA to all the groups combined. Divide that by 11 for each group and thats 1836 mA to each individual group. Since the majority of LEDs have a forward current of 20mA, theres 1756mA left for the resistor.

Now the LEDs (the same with 20mA current) have Von at 2.2V. Which means a set of 4 LEDs needs 8.8V to be powered. Since the 10V runs through a transistor, which is not going to be in cutoff, you have Vbe=0.7V leaving 9.3V for each group. Thus leaving .5V for the resistor, since the LEDs need 8.8V.

Now 0.5V and 1.756A for the resistor leads to a resistance of .283 ohms. I'm still new to this but I'm pretty sure there are no resistors in existance that have decimal values.

This whole design was based off of MLCC's proposed design.

blocco, if I were to use a common-emitter, that means hooking up the groups to the collector and attaching the Vcc to the other end of the group correct?
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
If you have 11 groups of 4 LEDs and each led has a forward voltage of 2.2V and requires 20mA then:

4 LEDs in series have a forward voltage of 4 x 2.2V = 8.8V

The supply is 10V so the resistor has to drop 10V - 8.8V = 1.2V

The value of the resistor for a current of 20mA is R=V/I
or R = 1.2V/20mA = 60Ω

So you have 11 strings of LEDs each requiring 20mA so that 11 x 20mA = 220mA in total which is only a little higher than the 555 can deliver.

If I remember correctly a BC337 NPN transistor has an hFE of around 100 and is good for 300mA.
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
Max Vbe is 1.2V at a collector current of 300mA according to the datasheet but in practice I would expect it to be lower. There is also the issue of the 555 not being able to swing its output all the way to Vcc.

However, if you connect the transistor as a common emitter i.e emitter to ground and collector to led+resistor string to +V then things look better. The datasheet says the collector will get within 0.7V to ground Max at Ic = 500mA and Ib = 50mA.

Actually, 3 LEDs in series would be better than 4 as a larger value resistor of 170Ω could be used. LEDs should be driven from a current source and a larger value resistor makes a better current source which means the current to the LEDs will vary less with changes in supply voltage and also with differing LED forward voltages.
 
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Thread Starter

popnbrown

Joined Aug 22, 2008
21
I was just looking at MLCC's design. It seems like the common emitter is a good idea. I'll design a circuit calculate etc and see if I understand it.

Just for curiousity, since I have a lot of it, would MLCC's design work. Base connected to output of the 555, collector connected to Vcc and LED string w/ resistor to emitter.

And one other thing, for the entire project there are about 44 Leds. I'm planning on using Yellow and Green LEDs, unfortunately these two colors dont seem to have the same forward voltage. Green LEDs seem to have around 3.2V forward voltage and Yello seems to have 2.2V. Since you suggested using 3 LEDs instead of 4, I was thinking have a 3 Yellow LED w/ resistor string and a 2 Green LED w/ resistor string.

Good idea?
 

Audioguru

Joined Dec 20, 2007
11,248
Yellow and green LEDs have disfferent voltages.
Since you don't have any LEDs then buy some then design your circuit for their spec's.
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Vf for LEDs can vary widely between manufacturers and models. In a typical batch, Vf may vary as much as 10%. You can't order them by Vf even from the manufacturers.

I have red LEDs of various ages from various manufacturers. Vf @20mA ranges from 1.7V to 2.3V

I also have green LEDs of various ages from various manufacturers. Vf @20mA ranges from 2.0v to 3.2v.

I was helping a new poster not too long ago with a project; to my surprise, his red LEDs measured at a higher Vf (2.2v) than his green LEDs (2.0v) at the same current! :eek:

A very serious consideration is the type of LEDs you will be using vs the viewing distance. Super-bright water-clear LEDs from China can be purchased very cheaply on Ebay. However, these LEDs typically have a very narrow viewing angle. This boosts their brightness rating, but makes them nearly invisible from more than 20° off center. More importantly, viewing super-bright LEDs from a short distance can lead to blindness.

I'm not an eye doctor, and have no qualifications/certifications to give advice as to how much light from LEDs may or may not be "safe" for viewing. However, you could (and should) ask one, or do searches on the Web. Your milage may vary. Caveat emptor. Err on the side of caution.
 
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