You want an led switched on/off every hour?
A 555 could probably do that.
How long do you want the off period and how long do you want the on period?
there are programs that will calculate the values for you.
Explain a bit more about what your wanting, how it needs to work, what its used for.
THe more you let us know the better we can advise as there are all sorts of IC's available. (555 being cheap & easy).
Maplin may do a kit for what you want.
Many thanks for your reply
Okay what I need is to make a device which will every 60-90 minutes light up 2 red LED's at the same time, and I would like to be able to choose how long they blink from 1-300 seconds (1 second to 5 minutes). Then I would like to be able to choose the blinking speeds of the LED.
So talking about the whole circuit, I would need a on switch, that simply switches the device on and I want it to go into sleep mode where the device stays in standby for about 90 minutes first (or I would want to choose how long it stays in standby from say 60-90 minutes). Then every 60-90 minutes switch on the 2 LED's for say 90 seconds and then switch off the LED's and then repeat again 60-90 minutes later and keep repeating this pattern through a 24 hour period.
If possible I would like to make this circuit using a button cell battery like the cr2032 watch batteries.
Is this all possible with a 555 timer IC?
EDIT: I found some website in the UK which has tutorials on building this thing, there tutorials are based on 12 volts but I am sure it shouldn't be too hard to convert it to 2 AA batteries which I believe is 3 volts.
http://www.reuk.co.uk/12-Volt-Programmable-Timer-Switch.htm
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Timer-Circuits-With-4060B.htm
http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-REUK-SUPER-TIMER.htm
Is a 555 timer IC the same as a NE555 timer IC?
On the second link I provided in the above it said 'Timing short intervals of milliseconds to minutes can easily be achieved using a NE555 timer chip. Unfortunately, this device is not suitable for timing longer intervals, and so a suitable alternative is required.' there alternative is a 4060B IC which can do the longer timing intervals. Which I believe I would need.
The third link I posted, shows a fully built timer circuit board which is £20. On another page they were talking about thermostats and they said that they can build a battery operated device for £22. Now I don't want to build a thermostat but I am just saying a battery operated timer shouldn't raise the costs by that much let's say if I use this company to build the device. which is the next bit I read, they said:
'Buy a Timer Circuit
This is one of the most complicated circuits discussed on the REUK.co.uk website. Therefore, if you need a timer circuit for a particular application, email with details of your exact requirements and we'll happily put together a bespoke solution.'
the third link I posted is also another timer they sell which is a complete build for £20 known as the REUK super timer, would that be better suited for me?
Now is it really that complicated to build what I have said in this thread so far?
I hope you can please answer my questions
Many thanks in advance
EDIT: Found this
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Convert-Digital-Mains-Timer-To-Low-Voltage.htm
It looks like I can take it from a mains powered source to just 1.2 volts and use a single AA battery and there I have exactly what I wanted from the start. If it could work with 1 or 2 CR2032 button cell batteries then even better. The only problem that timer can only be set from 1 minute intervals in a 24 hour period. I wanted second accuracy, as in 1-300 seconds to make LED's blink. But surely it can be done by building such a circuit. Now that we know what I am trying to do can be done with these mains timers.
Please answer my questions
Many thanks in advance
