Simple Timer Hack

Simply, the timer clocks we find in stores have to be plugged in to the electrical current to work. It becomes very difficult when you require something that works on batteries The best solution is to build yourself one. It is easy to turn an electrically operated timer into a battery operated timer.

First of all, the timer has to be disassembled. This is pretty simple. All that is needed is to remove the screws that hold the back cover in place. The timer will then split. It must be separated carefully to avoid any damage on the screen or inner controls.

Once it is disassembled, the original PCB should be removed completely, in order to gain access to the full back cover. Now the space is free, the only thing available is a totally useful space that comprises of the plastic marks and walls used to set and hold the original PCB.

The plastic features can be removed by using a Dremel tool. It is highly recommended that some kind of mask or protection for eyes, nose and mouth should be used while using the Dremel tool because it produces some dust.

After clearing the space completely, it is time to add the new connections for the battery. All that is needed is a AA battery holder, which can be acquired at any electronics store, and the proper connections to feed the battery power to the timer.

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Low-Cost Door KnocK Alarm With Timer

This is a simple circuit of low-cost door knock alarm with timer. This is low-cost circuit uses the piezoelectric element of a piezobuzzer as the input sensor. The piezoelectric element plate is fixed at the centre of the door wing by using a cello tape. Apply a small quantity of adhesive at the edges between the plate and the door. Extend wires about 1-1.5 metres from the piezoelectric to the circuit. IC NE555 (IC1) is configured in monostable mode.

Low-Cost Door KnocK Alarm With Timer Circuit Diagram:

When it gets an input pulse its output goes high for a period set by VR1, resistor R5 and capacitor C3. IC UM66 (IC2) is used as a melody generator. When the door is knocked at, the piezo plate generates an input pulse, which is amplified by transistor T1. The amplified signal triggers the timer IC NE555 and its output pin 3 goes high to enable the melody generator. Music is heard from the speaker LS1.

After the set time period, the melody sound stops. Assemble the circuit on a general-purpose PCB and enclose in a suitable case. Fix the piezo element at the door and place the speaker in a central room inside the house using long wires. The circuit works off 5-12V DC. The music time can be adjusted through VR1 by changing the R-C time constant of the timer.

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Simple Project to Build A Very Useful Timed Beeper

Simple project to build, ideal for beginners! Timed Beeper: Beeps 7.5 seconds after a preset time, Adjustable time settings: 15s. 30s. 1min. & others

This circuit is intended for alerting purposes after a certain time is elapsed. It is suitable for table games requiring a fixed time to answer a question, or to move a piece etc. In this view it is a modern substitute for the old sandglass. Useful also for time control when children are brushing teeth (at least two minutes!), or in the kitchen, and so on.

Very Useful Timed Beeper Circuit Diagram

Parts List:

R1 = 220R
R2 = 10M
R3 = 1M
R4 = 10K
R5 = 47K
C1 = 100nF-63V
C2 = 22µF-25V
D1 = 1N4148
D2 = 3mm. Red LED
Q1 = BC337
P1 = SPST Pushbutton (Start)
P2 = SPST Pushbutton (Reset)
PS = Piezo sounder (incorporating 3KHz oscillator)
B1 = 3V Battery (2 AA 1.5V Cells in series)
IC1 = CD4081 Quad 2 input AND Gate IC
IC2 = CD4060 14 stage ripple counter and oscillator IC
SW1 = 4 ways Switch (See notes)

Circuit operation:

Pushing on P1 resets IC2 that start oscillating at a frequency fixed by R3 & C1. With values shown, this frequency is around 4Hz. LED D2, driven by IC1A & B, flashing at the same oscillator frequency, will signal proper circuit operation. SW1 selects the appropriate pin of IC2 to adjust timing duration:

Position 1 = 15 seconds
Position 2 = 30 seconds
Position 3 = 1 minute
Position 4 = 2 minutes

When the selected pin of IC2 goes high, IC1C drives Q1 and the piezo sounder beeps intermittently at the same frequency of the LED. After around 7.5 seconds pin 4 of IC2 goes high and IC1D stops the oscillator through D1. If you want to stop counting in advance, push on P2.

Notes:

• SW1 can be any type of switch with the desired number of ways. If you want a single fixed timing duration, omit the switch and connect pins 9 & 13 of IC1 to the suitable pin of IC2.
• The circuit's reset is not immediate. Pushing P2 forces IC2 to oscillate very fast, but it takes some seconds to terminate the counting, especially if a high timer delay was chosen and the pushbutton is operated when the circuit was just starting. In order to speed the reset, try lowering the value of R5, but pay attention: too low a value can stop oscillation.
• Frequency operation varies with different brand names for IC2. E.g. Motorola's ICs run faster, therefore changing of C1 and/or R3 values may be necessary.
• You can also use pins 1, 2, 3 of IC2 to obtain timings of 8, 16 and 32 minutes respectively.
• An on-off switch is not provided because when off-state the circuit draws no significant current.

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10 Minutes Timer Using 555 Timer IC

Applications of 555 timer IC is very diverse, one series of 10 Minute Timer with IC 555. 10 Minute Timer This circuit uses IC NE555 is set as a monostable multivibrator. 

The timing of the timer circuit 10 minutes with the IC 555 is governed by the configuration of C2, R4 and R5. The greater the value of C2 at 10-minute timer circuit with IC 555 timer is active then the time will stay longer. Total resistance value between R4 and R5 also determine the active circuit 10 minute timer with IC 555, where the greater the value the longer time was also active.

10 Minutes Timer Using 555 Timer IC Circuit  Schematic

The core active setting the timer on the set of C2 charging time for 10 minutes on the timer circuit with IC 555. So, with the value of C2 remain so with time on the circuit timing Timer 10 minutes by IC 555 can be set by changing the resistance value R 4 + R 5. Indicators of active timer at 10 minute timer circuit with IC 555 uses the LED D2 and D3 will light up only one course to identify the active timer and the timer has not been met.

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Digital Alarm Clock Using PIC

This project describes a digital clock with alarm function. It uses a PIC16F877 microcontroller to generate an accurate 1 sec delay with Timer0 using Roman’s zero error method. The time is displayed in large size font on a 4×20 character LCD that uses HD44780 display driver. You can synchronize the time with your computer time through a serial port.

Digital Alarm Clock Using PIC Circuit Diagram

The required power is provided through a 9 V wall adapter which is used to obtain a regulated +5 V power supply using a LM7805 IC. The microcontroller runs with a 20 MHz external clock. The backlight of LCD is driven by a PWM output from the microcontroller so that the back light intensity can be varied. The full software written in JAL is available to download. Source Code.

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00 To 99 Minute Timer Using PIC16F628A Microcontroller

his might be a good practice project for beginners who just started learning embedded electronics. It is about making a very basic programmable digital timer using a PIC16F628A microcontroller. The timer duration can be set from 0-99 minutes.

As I mentioned earlier, the microcontroller used in this project is PIC16F628A running at 4.0 MHz clock using an external crystal. An HD44780 based 16×2 character LCD is the main display unit of the project where you can watch and set the timer duration using tact switch inputs. There are three tact switches connected to RB0 (Start/Stop), RB1 (Unit), and RB2 (Ten) pins. You can select the timer interval from 0-99 min using Unit and Ten minute switches. The Start/Stop switch is for toggling the timer ON and OFF. When the timer gets ON, a logic high signal appears on the RA3 pin, which can be used to switch on a Relay. The circuit diagram of this project is described below.

When the device is powered ON, the microcontroller initializes the LCD display and shows the following message. The timer is initially OFF and so does the LED or relay, whichever is connected to RA3 pin. You can set time duration between 00-99 min (in step of 1 min) using the Unit and Ten tact switches. Each switch press will increment the corresponding time digit.

When the desired time is set, press the Start/Stop switch to turn ON the timer. The RA3 pin goes high (LED glows) and the count down begins. When the timer is ON, the remaining time is also shown on the LCD screen. When the time elapsed, the timer stops and the LED turns OFF. You can interrupt and stop the timer at anytime by pressing the Start/Stop switch once more. The firmware for PIC is developed using mikroC Pro for PIC compiler. The use of Timers are avoided for simplicity. The time delays are created using the Delay_ms() function of mikroC, which seems to give reasonably accurate timing delays.

Download Mikroc Source Code And HEX File

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PIC Digital Clock Timer

his clock timer uses a PIC16F628 microcontroller to display 3 and 1/2 digit time and control an external load. The clock includes a calendar with leap year and optional daylight savings adjustments. The timer output can be set from 1 to 59 minutes and manually switched on and off. The clock also has a correction feature that allows an additional second to be added every so many hours to compensate for a slightly slow running oscillator.  The oscillator uses a common 32.768 KHz watch crystal and the frequency can be adjusted slightly with the 24pF capacitor on the right side of the crystal.

There are 7 displays that advance each time the 'D' switch is toggled. To make adjustments, set the RA5 switch to the "B" position and then toggle the E and F switches to advance the data in the hours or minutes digits. Then toggle the "D" switch to move to the next data. After the 7th display, it will go back to the top and display the current time. Or, just press the time switch 'C' to get to the top at anytime. When done setting everything up, set the RA5 switch to the "A" position so the data cannot be accendentally changed. You can still view everything with the "D" advance key, but the E an F switches will just turn on or off the alarm at RB7. I use it with an external transistor to switch on and off a radio.

PIC Digital Clock Timer Circuit Diagram

The 'Daylight savings' setting (in the 6th display in the minutes digits) is used to enable daylight savings time adjustments, one hour ahead on the 2nd sunday in March, and one hour behind on the first sunday in November. The entry will be either 0, 1, or 3.

0 = Daylight savings time disabled (default).
1 = Savings time enabled and current time is standard time.
3 = Savings time enabled and current time is daylight savings time.

The last 2 entries on the list (Year and Correction) is for the current year (1 to 4) (4 = Leapyear) so today's setting (2006) will be 2 since leapyear will be on year 4 which is 2 years from now. The correction setting will add a second every so many hours for fine adjustment to the oscillator frequency. My setting is 18 which adds a second every 18 hours. It's pretty accurate and only loses 3 seconds a month. You probably want to run it for a couple weeks to figure out what correction is needed for the crystal you have.

Switch functions:

RA0         (C switch)         =  Display Time
RA1         (D switch)         =  Advance to next data (alarm, calendar, etc)
RA2, RA3    (E and F switch)   =  Advance hours and minutes (in setup mode).
RA2, RA3    (E and F switch)   =  Toggle alarm output on/off (in run mode)
RA5 in the 'B' position (open) =  Setup Mode

Download asm file

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28 LED Clock Timer

This is a programmable clock timer circuit that uses individual LEDs to indicate hours and minutes. 12 LEDs can be arranged in a circle to represent the 12 hours of a clock face and an additional 12 LEDs can be arranged in an outer circle to indicate 5 minute intervals within the hour. 4 additional LEDs are used to indicate 1 to 4 minutes of time within each 5 minute interval. The circuit is powered from a small 12.6 volt center tapped line transformer and the 60 cycle line frequency is used for the time base. The transformer is connected in a full wave, center tapped configuration which produces about 8.5 volts unregulated DC. A 47 ohm resistor and 5.1 volt, 1 watt zener regulate the supply for the 74HCT circuits.  

28 LED Clock Timer Circuit Diagram

A 14 stage 74HCT4020 binary counter and two NAND gates are used to divide the line frequency by 3600 producing a one minute pulse which is used to reset the counter and advance the 4017 decade counter. The decade counter counts the minutes from 0 to 4 and resets on the fifth count or every 5 minutes which advances one section of a dual 4 bit binary counter (74HCT393). The 4 bits of this counter are then decoded into one of 12 outputs by two 74HCT138 (3 line to 8 line) decoder circuits. The most significant bit is used in conjunction with an inverter to select the appropriate decoder. During the first eight counts, the low state of the MSB is inverted to supply a high level to enable the decoder that drives the first 8 LEDs. During counts 9 to 12, the MSB will be high and will select the decoder that drives the remaining 4 LEDs while disabling the other decoder.

The decoded outputs are low when selected and the 12 LEDs are connected common anode with a 330 ohm current limiting resistor to the +5 volt supply. The 5th output of the second decoder (pin 11) is used to reset the binary counter so that it counts to 11 and then resets to zero on the 12th count. A high reset level is required for the 393 counters, so the low output from the last decoder stage (pin 11) is inverted with one section of a 74HCT14 hex Schmitt trigger inverter circuit. A 10K resistor and 0.1uF cap are used to extend the reset time, ensuring the counter receives a reset signal which is much longer than the minimum time required. The reset signal is also connected to the clock input (pin 13) of the second 4 bit counter (1/2 74HCT393) which advances the hour LEDs and resets on the 12th hour in a similar manner.

Setting the correct time is accomplished with two manual push buttons which feed the Q4 stage (pin 7) of the 4020 counter to the minute and hour reset circuits which advance the counters at 3.75 counts per second. A slower rate can be obtained by using the Q5 or Q6 stages. For test purposes, you can use Q1 (pin 9) which will advance the minutes at 30 per second. The time interval circuit (shown below the clock) consists of a SET/RESET flipflop made from the two remaining NAND gates (74HCT00). The desired time interval is programmed by connecting the anodes of the six diodes labeled start, stop and AM/PM to the appropriate decoder outputs. For example, to turn the relay on at 7:05AM and turn it off at 8:05AM, you would connect one of the diodes from the start section to the cathode of the LED that represents 7 hours, the second diode to the LED cathode that represents 5 minutes and the third diode to the AM line of the CD4013. The stop time is programmed in the same manner. Two additional push buttons are used to manually open and close the relay.

The low start and stop signals at the common cathode connections are capacitively coupled to the NAND gates so that the manual push buttons can override the 5 minute time duration. That way, you can immediately reset the relay without waiting 5 minutes for the start signal to go away. The two power supply rectifier diodes are 1N400X variety and the switching diodes are 1N914 or 4148s but any general purpose diodes can be used. 0.1 uF caps (not shown on schematic) may be needed near the power pins of each IC. All parts should be available from Radio Shack with the exception of the 74HCT4017 decade counter which I didn't see listed. You can use either 74HC or 74HCT parts, the only difference between the two is that the input switching levels of the HCT devices are compatible with worst case TTL logic outputs.

The HC device inputs are set at 50% of Vcc, so they may not work when driven from marginal TTL logic outputs. You can use a regular 4017 in place of the 74HCT4017 but the output current will much lower (less than 1 mA) and 4 additional transistors will be required to drive the LEDs. Without the buffer transistors, you can use a 10K resistor in place of the 330 and the LEDs will be visible, but very dim. Using the 4017 to drive LEDs with transistor buffers is shown in the "10 Channel LED Sequencer" at the top of this page.

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Generating Long Time Delays

Generating long delays of several hours can be accomplished by using a low frequency oscillator and a binary counter as shown below. A single Schmitt Trigger inverter stage (1/6 of 74HC14) is used as a squarewave oscillator to produce a low frequency of about 0.5 Hertz. The 10K resistor in series with the input (pin 1) reduces the capacitor discharge current through the inverter input internal protection diodes if the circuit is suddenly disconnected from the supply.

Generating Long Time Delays Circuit diagram

This resistor may not be needed but is a good idea to use. The frequency is divided by two at each successive stage of the 12 stage binary counter (CD4040) which yields about 1 hour of time before the final stage (Q12) switches to a high state. Longer or shorter times can be obtained by adjusting the oscillator frequency or using different RC values.

Each successive stage changes state when the preceding stage switches to a low state (0 volts), thus the frequency at each stage is one half the frequency of the stage before. Waveform diagrams are shown for the last 3 stages. To begin the delay cycle, the counter can be reset to zero by momentarily connecting the reset line (pin 11) to the positive supply. Timing accuracy will not be as good as with a crystal oscillator and may only be around 1 or 2% depending on the stability of the oscillator capacitor.

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