Relays and Timers

Yes.

Any suggestions on how to do it?

How do you plan to trigger it? You don't say.

You are suggesting a simple timer. There is nothing difficult about it.

Another GA

"Another GA"?

Cheap too....

Even cheaper....

So what happened to responsible parenting where you monitor how much time they watch TV per day?

BTW yes I do not have children. It was my choice because I am capable of accepting that I am a lazy slacker with what would likely be poor parenting skills. That and I don't like sharing anything especially the TV.

Momentary contact would be my trigger of choice. But, I could use a 2 hr. spring timer if necessary.

Those are cheap! But I have four 8 pin relays and a couple of timers in my workshop and I thought I could build it with my kids to try to teach them something,

You might find something here you can use...

http://www.bombshock.com/electronics/electronic-timers/electrical_timers_using_the_555ic.html

If you teach your kids how to build it, and you are a good enough teacher to get them to thoroughly understand the principles involved, you are also teaching them how to override it.

Do they get to watch more television as a reward if they can defeat your efforts?

TCM, it's too late for me, and I'm outnumbered! 4 of them, 1 of me (or what's left of me)!

Solar, we attempted to constuct a circuit board using the 555 timer, and a diagram we got off the net for something referred to a repeating interval timer. The kids got BORED, and either I flubbed it or the diagram/specs were inaccurate.

So, I want to build one more out of larger components. I kept the kids attention while I wired and demonstrated the 8 pin relay. I'll try to figure out the configuration. The difficult part, of course, is incorporating the lockout feature into the design.

Maybe I'm missing the point here, but if you teach the kids how to put it together and how it works, then won't they be able to defeat the purpose rather easily? or is that the point? What's to keep them from just bypassing the gizmo altogether? There's a lot more fun projects to do at the link I provided,,,,just sayin'...

I suppose you can build an electronic circuit so if you could use the RTC and calender SD1307 (real time clock ) and a microprocessor as interface you can do every thing regards with the real time. for more information search google

If you had difficulty constructing a 555 circuit, then you did not have good sources. I've been building circuits with them off and on for at least 30 years, and they nearly always work the first time... Try making the 555 simply turn an LED on and off to start. Once you know that works, then add a transistor to put out enough current to actuate a relay. Many relays require more current than a 555 can provide directly.

Find a copy of the 555 Timer Cookbook, any edition. Sorry, I'm not at home right now, so I don't recall the author or publisher.

Just a simple point: the "lock out" period should be about 10 to 14 hours. You want it to force them into the next day, but you don't want to force them to watch at the same or slightly later times each day.

they have that already, it's called a parent

A thorough explanation of who you are and your actual goals would have yielded much more acceptable (to you) responses from all of us.

now that is good answer!!

I did something like that with a few cheap "security" timers. The first one would operate for about 12 hours per day. While it was ON, it would operate another one for about an hour, 4 times per rotation (per 24 hours of operation). But the second one wouldn't run at all when the first one was off.

Actually I used different time settings to achieve a pump time of about 1 minute every 4 days or so. It kept my warm climate plants happy all winter. The first timer also operated my multi-spectrum plants illuminated for about 16 hours per day. I had to work out the timing cycle in Excel to figure out what settings to use. All the plants were strictly legal and otherwise uninteresting!

Lyn,

Since you asked, my sixth grade son has proposed this as a science project. I was attempting to get a learned opinion of whether his timer project was something that was achievable (by him with my help).

His practical application for the project was to time-limit gaming, television watching, computer use, etc. (I know there are devices/programming presently available.)

I tried to steer him to other projects, but he wants to give this one a try. Thus, my attempt herein to inquire as to feasiblity and for suggestions.

Take a look at some of these.

• Build the Timer Circuit
• Reaction Timer - DIY How-to from Make: Projects
  
• 555 Timer CircuitsFlashing LED - Operating Modes - Driving A Relay
• MAKE | 555 Timer Weekend Projects
• Projects, Hacks & Mods ›
• Weekend ProjectsCached How to Make a Simple Timer Circuit Using IC 555 - Homemade ...
  
• 555 timer
• Timer Circuit

Good luck.

while I understand your need... and want to include your children in something stimulating, other than TV, by building a timer..... to limit their TV exposure, why not just build a timer, and sell the TV, let them use the internet, to watch the discovery channel etc...

failing that.... just remove the plug at the end of the cable.... and do what all normal parents do to their kids.. be a pain in the butt!!

Thanks everyone! We are really in over our heads! I even bought a Siemens LOGO programable controller. Now, I'm trying to program it to be the lockout mechanism!

This gives a whole new meaning to "labor of love"!!!!

Sorry for the delay in chiming in .. I had to think for a moment. One of the more difficult aspects will be selecting what type of relay with what time delay and function and so on . with all of the options available is still seems like there are few options in some categories . in terms of the question . you need a 24 hour relay preferably DPDT .. common and normally closed should used in a circuit to disable it's nput switch mechanism (for 24 hours ).. the normally open leg can be used to trigger the input of a 2 hour time delay relay . do you see where I'm going with this ? Now the 2 hour relay will have available switching on its relays for the next 2 hours . after that you are going to have to wait another day . so on