1

ECE 206 Labs 8

LM 555 Oscillating Circuits

Summer 2014
Grant Heileman
July 14, 2014
July 15, 2014






Contents

List of tables and figures2
Abstract ..2
Path and Reference..2-3
Lab. Procedure and Equipment .3-4
Theoretical Analysis ...5
Verification Results .6-8
Results..8
Discussion ....9
Questions.9

2

List of tables and figures
Table 1 Table of calculated and measured resistor and capacitor values with errors..4
Fig. 1) Important equations needed to solve for R1 and R2 /Calculations for circuit one...5
Fig. 2) Important equations needed to solve for R5/Calculations for circuit two....5
Fig. 3) Schematic of astable multi-vibrator .....................................................................4
Fig. 4) Oscilloscope waveform demonstrating the astable multi-vibrator...6
Fig. 5) Schematic of monostable multi-vibrator...............................................................4
Fig. 6) Oscilloscope waveform demonstrating the monostable multi-vibrator....6

Abstract
The goal in this lab is to understand and produce both an astable multi-vibrator
and a monostable multi-vibrator using the LM 555 oscillator chip. In order to visually
observe the functions, of each circuit, a Light Emitting Diode (L.E.D) will be placed. As
a bonus the L.E.D will be introduced and examined in order to further our understanding
of the LM 555 chip.

Path and Reference
Path:
(1)Navigate to Ecelabs.Pbworks.com (2) Click on the ECE 206L Labs link in the recent
updates (right side of page). (3) Navigate to Lab#8 labeled LM 555 Timer/Oscillator
circuit (4) Acquire all necessary equipment noted in the equipment section of this report
(5) Read all safety guidelines regarding the lab at hand. (6) Make sure all components are
of correct value and all equipment is working as intended. (7) Build and examine each
circuits on the ELVIS 2 Proto-board. (8) Double check all calculations and compare with
results found. (9) Record all results in lab notebook. (10) Cleanup all components and
place all circuit components in their respective places throughout the lab.

References:
I) LM555 Datasheet
http://ecelabs.pbworks.com/f/LM555+%28lab+11%29+.pdf
II) Agilent 54621A, DS03152A or DSO1022A Digital Oscilloscope user
manual http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/54622-97036.pdf
III) Agilent 33120A or 33220A Function Generator/Arbitrary Waveform
Generator user manual
3
http://www.home.agilent.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/6C0633120A_USERSGUI
DE_ENGLISH.pdf?&cc=US&lc=eng
IV) Agilent 53631A Power Supply user manual
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/E3631-90002.pdf
V) Agilent 3401A Digital Multimeter user manual
http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/34401-90004.pdf
VI) Basic resistive networks, ECE 203 textbook



Lab Procedure and Equipment

Equipment:
I) -Lab Notebook, Pen
II) -Agilent 54621A, DS03152A or DSO1022A Digital Oscilloscope
III) -Agilent 33120A or 33220A Function Generator/Arbitrary
Waveform Generator
IV) -Agilent 53631A Power Supply
V) -Agilent 34401A Digital Multimeter
VI) 3 BNC/EZ Hook Test Lead (If possible, 1 red and 2 black)
VII) 2 Oscilloscope Probes
VIII) Circuit Breadboard/ELVIS
IX) Lab Parts Kit
X) Resistors (4), 1k Ohm, 180 Ohm, 19.2k Ohm, 10.621k Ohm,
Watt
XI) Capacitor, 2 Ceramic .01uF, 1 Electrolytic 68uf, 100V
XII) Red or Green LED
XIII) LM 555 Timer/Oscillator



4
Procedure:
I) Full Procedure can be found at
http://ecelabs.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/60600807/555Lab.pdf
II) Make sure to follow ALL safety precautions during the lab.
III) Make sure all components of the function generator and oscilloscope are
connected correctly. Make sure the leads of the L.E.D and capacitors are correctly
polarized.
IV) Use caution when connecting power supply and always turn it off when tampering
with circuit.
V) Make sure to discharge yourself and capacitors before handling.
VI) Remember basic techniques of measuring and using the ElvisII proto-board.


















5
Theoretical Analysis
Fig. 1)

Some important equations for determining the values of the resistors R1 and R2 in
example 1 are listed in to top of Figure 1. The last 4 digits of my UNM ID were used to
pick a frequency. That frequency came out to be 1057 Hz. The equations were used to
determine what resistor values were needed to create a Duty Cycle of % 60. The
calculations for circuit 1 can be seen at the bottom of Figure 1.
Fig. 2)

An important equation found in the LM 555 documentation and its calculated result is
shown in Figure 2.
6
Verification Results
Table 1

Astable Multi-vibrator

Fig. 3)
Figure 3 is the schematic of the LM 555 astable multi-vibrator circuit.

Element Theoretical Measured Error % Error
Resistor 1
29.74 KOhm

32.81 KOhm


3.07

% 10
Resistor 2
59.48 KOhm

61.95 KOhm

2.47

% 4.1
Resistor 4


1 KOhm

987.84 Ohm

12.16

% 1.2
Resistor 4


180 Ohm

178.88 KOhm

1.12

% 0.6
Resistor 5
13.428 KOhm

13.321 KOhm

0.11

% 0.8
Capacitor 1
10 nF

9.18 nF

0.82

% 8.2
Capacitor 2
10 nF

9.38 nF

0.62

% 6.2
Capacitor 3
68uF

67.7 uF

0.3

% 0.4
7

Fig. 4)
Figure 2 shows oscilloscope representation of the pulse waveform created by the LM 555 circuit
built for example 1. We measured a period of 1.02 mS giving us a frequency of 980 Hz. This seemed very
far off of our original mark of 1507 Hz (35.0 % off to be exact) but it is not as bad as it first seemed and
will explain why this happened in the results.
Monostable Multi-vibrator
Fig. 5)

Figure 5 is the schematic of the LM 555 monostable multi-vibrator circuit.
8

Fig. 6)
Figure 6 shows oscilloscope representation of the pulse created by the LM 555 circuit
built in example 2. We measured a pulse width of 1.1 s giving us an error of 10% from our original
estimate of 1 s.
Results
Part 1: The first part of this lab consisted of making an astable multi-vibrator out of the
LM 555 chip. You will notice in Table 1 that the error on R1 and R2 is large. This is
because we did not have a 29.74 KOhm or a 59.48 KOhm resistor. The closest we could
find were a 33 KOhm and a 62 KOhm resistor. Since it was not imperative that we have
a frequency of exactly 1057 Hz we decided it was ok to use what we had instead of
building an equivalent resistance. This is also why our measured frequency came out to
be 37% off of the 1057 Hz prediction.
Part 2: The second part of this lab consisted of making a monostable multi-vibrator out
of the LM 555 chip and using a L.E.D to visually demonstrate the circuits function.
There was a 10% error, which I believe is somewhat high considering our measured
resistance was within 1% of the expected. I thought that bouncing of the switch caused
this; however, the oscilloscope did not show any switch bouncing that would have caused
this. I was left to conclude that the accuracy of my LM 555 chip must be around 10 %.
However after that being said the circuit worked very well, lighting up only once per
switch connection.
9


Discussion/Summary
It was very simple to set up the circuits working with the LM555 Timer by using the
procedure given to you and the LM555 data sheet. I got a little confused with the
calculations but was guided toward the right direction and now have a much better
understanding of a signals duty cycle. I liked how our frequency and resistors were
unknown and we had to calculate them. We messed up in circuit two because we didnt
know that L.E.Ds had polarity. We were taught how the current flow from the terminal
pins excites photons out of the diode and that by hooking up the L.E.D backwards we
essentially made it impossible for current to run through the circuit. This lab was very
enjoyable and was a great learning experience of the LM555 Timer and how oscillators
can be constructed.




Questions



What applications can you think of to use these circuits?
-This is such an important design that there is almost an unlimited amount of uses for
this circuit; in particular it is often used in large power supplies or machines that undergo
amplifiers, for instance the power supply on a lot of stereos use these circuits because it is
easy to blow the amplifiers on the speaker if the unit is turned on and off too quickly,
They use a capacitor to safely release the power to ensure no components are damaged.

Why is there a resistor in series with the Light Emitting Diode?
-There often is a resistor in series with an LED to limit the current flowing through the
diode, if it is not there, the diode can pull too much current and burn out.