Continuing with a focus on the 555 timer, this video tutorial looks at how to vary the pulse width of a 555 timer’s output. It’s all possible with just a a hand full components. By varying the duty cycle one may vary the blink rate on an LED or the voltage being fed to a servo. Enjoy!
If you are interested in the schematic, it can be found here: 555 Timer Duty Cycle Variation Circuit
Please can ì use 555 to design 220 VOLT SINE WAVE POWER SUPPLY FOR AC TOOLS
No you can’t. It would not work for many reasons.
Must C1 cap be 1uF,and must it be ceramic?
No as you can change c 1 to a higher capacity and it will take longer to charge it can be use full to change c 1 if u don’t have any resistors which are high ohm
I want to use a 100 uf cap and a resistor to get .9 hz what is the formula to find the resistor value???
1.44/((Ra+2Rb)xC)
Hey Jason,
Love the videos, definitely great for someone who has an EE degree and forgot to much.
Could you elaborate on the diode’s you used? I find them intimidating when I build circuits and am interested in setting up a variable duty cycle 555 timer as you have in this video.
Thanks so much.
-Jason (my name is also Jason)
Hi Jason, glad you liked the videos. The diodes I use in the circuit are just general purpose diodes. They are labeled 1N4001. You can buy then at Digikey with the following part nunber, 1N4001FSCT-ND. You’ll find a white band wrapped around one side of the diode. You can match the band up with the small bar you see on the diodes schematic symbol. Hope this helps.
Hi..iam electrical poower engineering ciriciut and iwant to design a pulse generator circiut for a specific duty cycle ..so can u help me ?!
Duty cycle is 0.6 f:1khz
So how i choose the right capacitors. And variable R ? And should i use the diode!?
Duty cycle is determined by the following formula:
Duty Cycle = Rb / (Ra + 2Rb)The forumula for frequency is mentioned in the video. I would start by working the duty cycle formula backwards to determine Ra and Rb. Next use those values to determine what C should be. If that capacitance value is not to your liking, pick new values for Ra and Rb that give you the same ratio of 0.6 but will allow for a different value of C.See the comment below!Hi Jason,
Thank you for a series of excellent videos about timer 555. The concept is lucidly explained and easy to understand. However, my question is in this circuit (with 2 diodes) why the duty cycle is Rb/(Ra+2Rb) ?
t1= 0.693*R1*C1
t2= 0.693*R2*C1
duty cycle = t1/(t1+t2) = R1/(R1+R2) ?
I accidentally posted the previous comment thinking it was for another video. You are correct in your calculations.
Hello sir,
how we can choose value of c2.
how can i make this duty cycle 100 hz ?
Hi Jason. You mentioned in your YouTube post that a schematic could be downloaded from your site. Could you direct me to the URL? Thanks.
How can I vary frequency along with duty cycle?
where is the PDF shematic
Click on the link under the video. It’s hard to see because the link isn’t underlined. I need to change my webpage’s code to make it easier to see.
Hi..what didode i use D1 and D2
They are 1N4001 Diodes.