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formula1
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556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

02/29/2008 4:32 PM

So I bought this, not knowing what it does...
-But I know the purpose I want it for....

I need a Timer/switch that switches between two outputs every Half a second.

And I bought this Thinking... "Well.... I'll figure it out... or find some help online..."

Unfortunately I can't seem to find any websites that give a simple explaination without giving diagrams I would need to decifer "heiroglyphics style"... Thus....

I am lost... and want to be found....

Do ya'll know what I can do?
PS: I would like to know
1) How to change the timers frequency
2) Input location
3) the output(s) location(s)
4) Do I need a circuit board to work this thing or can I just do it without it?
5) How much easier is a circut board to use? I imagine much easier... But I dunno how to work it

Pretty much I'm asking you to figure everything out for me.... so.... yeah....
-Clues would at least help if your not into that sort of thing...
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formula1
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#1

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

02/29/2008 7:24 PM

Why, thankyou! I've been considering on entering an engineering forum for quite a while now, and this one seems to be both active and helpful.

I'll take a look at some of that stuff...
I'm kinda intruiged by this "free MIT courses" thing...


Though this doesn't necessarilly fix my immediate situation, it might help me in the long run...
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Skeeter
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#2

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

02/29/2008 11:11 PM

You might start by doing a Google search for "555 timer schematics".

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formula1
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#7
In reply to #2

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/01/2008 11:56 PM

hm..................

THat kinda helped...
I'm pretty Sure I searched for similar things before and came up with nothing.... weird....
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drobertson
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#3

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

02/29/2008 11:42 PM

The 556 is a great little chip. As I am sure you have figured out it is basicly two 555 timer ICs in one package. Regretably you will need to do a little deciphering of heiroglyphics to make it work.

With a little google searching you should find dozens of circuits that should do basicly what you want.

Here is a brief explination of how the chip works. A resistor and capacitor are used in combination to form the basis of the timing ciruit. The resistor limits the flow of current to the capacitor determining the speed of charging. The trigger pin is connected to the charging capacitor. When the charge reaches 2/3 of the supply voltage it the output is triggered. At the same time the discharge pin is shunted to ground. By using another resistor you are able to determine how long the output stays triggered.

This is a very simplified description but it should give you the basic idea. The web site above will give you all the basic configurations the chip is used in and the formulas for calculating the timing periods. Overall it is a great chip that has numerous uses.

It is actually a very easy chip to use, but on the other hand if you don't know much about electronics this will probably seem fairly cryptic. The 555 and 556 are considered great learner chips and there are tons of tutorials on their use. With a little time working on a breadboard you should get the hang of it.

Good luck and I hope this was at least a little useful.

-Doug

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formula1
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#8
In reply to #3

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/01/2008 11:59 PM

Ah.... I suppose I can't get away from my problems without a bit of reading... Nonetheless, Thanks for the link, I suppose my school days truly will never end...

It seems that the bread board is a must... This could be rather fun...
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#10
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Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 3:50 AM

I can't get away from my problems without a bit of reading.

Yeh...it's a pain...I normally try pouncing on things and patting them about a bit, maybe a little rubbing or scratching might work? If all that fails I sometimes have to resort to reading.
Pouncing is best fun

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dkwarner
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#14
In reply to #8

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 10:06 AM

For any intelligent person, when your learning days are over, your days are over!

Dick

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dkwarner
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#4

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/01/2008 12:11 AM

If you don't already have a copy, find a copy of 'IC Timer Cookbook', by Walter C. Jung, originally published in 1977 by Howard W Sams & Co, Inc. Play with the 555 first, then move on to the 556. If you consider this 'New Age', then you have some catching-up to do, but there is a lot of fun in the process. Experiment, experiment, experiment, experiment, experiment,... If you don't have a spring-contact protoboard, get one!

Have fun!

Dick

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formula1
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#9
In reply to #4

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 12:01 AM

I definitely need to catch up...

But I've always been attracted to experimentation... But I feel like I'm so instant gratification oriented...
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Vulcan
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#11
In reply to #4

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 5:19 AM

Agree with the Timer Cookbook. I've had it for decades and used it for a lot of my circuits. It has the both the 555 and the 556.

Just one thing. Lots of people think the 555 and its siamese-twin sister, the 556, are dinosaurs and won't have anything to do with them. You can do a lot with it but impressive it won't be.

Don't believe them. I've done a lot of impressive projects with them and, as long as I kept the chassis closed and sealed, no one was the wiser.

'Course, someone would have opened them by now and know that I duped them into buying a device that looked so advanced that it probably had microprocessors in them!

Comment from one of my old clients:

Hmmm, so that's why it was so cheap!

Hey, it worked didn't it?!

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#12
In reply to #11

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 5:22 AM

Yup,
I'm with you...we want simple, cheap, reliable.
(Do you think Bill Gates is reading this?)

Del

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#13
In reply to #12

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 10:02 AM

Amen! (on both comments)

Dick

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Vulcan
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#15
In reply to #12

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/02/2008 11:13 PM

(Do you think Bill Gates is reading this?)

Nah, he's probably a Rube Goldberg fan.

Explains a lot of things about his products.

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JScott13
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#5

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/01/2008 8:17 AM

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bill_Bowden/555.htm#555leds.gif

there's a little calculator there I've found very helpful in respect to just what you were asking about. Hope it helps!
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#6

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/01/2008 2:33 PM

I would say always use manufacturers data sheets and appliction notes as your first port of call. National Semiconductors generally have excellent app' notes.

have fun

Del

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#16

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/03/2008 4:26 AM

For a single IC design you can get away with just soldering wires and components onto the legs of an IC socket lying on its back. but, make sure that you have a drawing which correctly shows the pin numbers (they're now the mirror image of the top view of the IC shown in the data sheet)

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#17
In reply to #16

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/03/2008 4:36 AM

Or bend the legs out flat so you can do it the right way up.

(Of course we've never forgotten the mirror image thing when looking at the track side of a board ... Last week I mangaged to take about an hour to correctly connect 4 wires ... I shalln't bore you with the excuses...but....zzzzzzzzzzzz)

Del

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#18
In reply to #17

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 10:22 AM

ARRRGGGGH the mirror image thing...

Like most engineers, I'm usually pretty good with spatial relationship stuff... but still I make these stupid mistakes, with ICs and other things. The most memorable was in cutting linoleum for a floor, and I reversed the cut for a little alcove for a refrigerator -- leaving a nice square whole in the floor covering right in front of the fridge (the covering was intended to extend under the fridge).

It was the kid of thing where, if I had a video of my measuring and cutting, I could post it on YouTube and people would just howl, seeing me blithely cutting in the wrong direction! (The only viewers not laughing would be the free energy nuts, who would take the fact that the fridge still ran, even without the linoleum under it as a sure sign that anti-electricity works, that aliens are invading the planet, and that GM owns the rights to a suppressed car that runs on hair balls.)

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#19
In reply to #18

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 10:30 AM

I have a nice little triangle of carpet, patched in at the foot of the stairs, where the 'scrap' I'd allowed was the wrong side....

(Dratt your industrial spys have obviously been peeking at the KrisDelTM hair ball engine)

Del

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Skeeter
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#20
In reply to #19

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 4:41 PM

Just back into making my own PCBs after many years away from digital stuff. (My new home-built recumbent bike needed running lights, a brake light, and turn signals.) So... the first board turned out perfectly; didn't even have to patch any traces. But, when it came to attaching parts, the traces were all on the wrong side of the board. Then, it came back to me that somewhere in the process I was supposed to reverse the pattern, BEFORE printing on the blue transfer paper. At least I had achieved a "perfectly" useless board. :)

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#21
In reply to #20

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 6:56 PM

I have done that, I just soldered the components (carefully!) on the same side as the tracks, worked fine!!

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#23
In reply to #21

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 11:03 PM

I suspect that anybody that has made more than a dozen boards has done something equivalent - I certainly have!

Dick

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#25
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Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/06/2008 7:28 AM

Dead right!!!

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#22
In reply to #17

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/05/2008 10:51 PM

Mirror image

Yeah, I remember one board I made. I put pin 1 on the wrong side which resulted in a board where one IC was sitting on the copper side while the rest of the ICs were on the component side.

On another board, I did the same thing. My fix was to bend the pins back the other way so that they would go in correctly and have everything on the same side.

Obviously, I was too lazy to make another board but I didn't have enough boards and ferric chloride.

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#24
In reply to #22

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/06/2008 7:28 AM

For personal usage, I find that totally acceptable.

For quick testing in the company too, but the production PCB needs to be correct, don't you agree?

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#26
In reply to #24

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/06/2008 7:19 PM

production PCB needs to be correct

Oh, good heavens, yes! Boards for clients need to be perfect. These were personal projects so little imperfections are okay since I'm the only one seeing them.

I did try, once, to have a board with components on both sides. Reason being, the circuit was very complicated and I was having trouble routing copper traces (PCB routing software were non-existent back then). The circuit worked fine but I never did one again. I never got a call from the technician who's job it was to repair it (it never failed, to my knowledge) so that was a good thing.

The torture of waiting for a complaint, however, was not worth it.

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martin-electrical
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#27

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

03/08/2008 1:24 PM

A 556 timer is a dual 555 timer if you have a 2000+ car you have it in your windshield wiper bottle level detector.

Besides the ic cookbook there is a 555 timer circuit book that shows you over a hundred circuits you can play with I bought this book in the late seventies from Jameco Electronics mail order and yes they are still open and have a web site in I think New Jersey. You might even find it at Circuit City the guys who bought out Radio Shack......
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#28

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

09/02/2008 9:16 PM

Formula1:

The 556CN IC is a dual 555 IC, but in an 8-pin DIP (dual in-line package) configuration. Try this site:

http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm

If you can take the time to figure out the 555 timer info, you should be able to easily translate what you've learned to the 556CN.

Good luck!
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#29
In reply to #28

Re: 556CN Dual Timer IC: I don't know how to work this New Age Contraption

09/02/2008 9:56 PM

Oh- nevermind... I didn't realize that so many people had already chimed in on this one, with ideas far superior to my own...
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