Electronic Learning Series Page 1 of 7

Electronic Learning Series

Basic Electronic Theory
555 Timer Theory & Design
OPAMP Theory & Design
PIC Theory & Design

Power Supply Design

Electronics Design Program

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This file is a program to help design different circuits.

Basic Electronic Theory

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555 Timer Theory & Design

The 555/556 timer is one of the most versatile and popular chips made. It is very inexpensive and
easy to use. There are two basic modes of operation. 1: Monostable Mode and 2: Astable Mode. In
the monostable mode the 555 acts as a "one - shot". It would be used for the purpose of obtaining

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a one pulse of variable length. In the astable mode the 555 will retrigger itself to output a stream
of pulses of variable length. Basic information about the timers are shown below.

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Monostable Mode

In the basic monostable mode the timer will be triggered by applying a negative pulse to pin 2.
That will cause the output of the timer to output a pulse on pin 3 for a time period determined by
the values of R1 and C1 in the circuit below. The supply voltage has no effect on the length of the
pulse. The formula to determine the duration of the output pulse is as follows T = R1 x C1. For
example if R1= 100k ohms and C1= 10uf then the length of the pulse would be 1 second. Typically
circuit designers already know what the length of the pulse is going to be, they would then need to
calculate the values of R1 and C1. In this case we will have to pick a value for either R1 or C1 and
then calculate the value of the other component. To obtain a 10 second timing pulse we will use a
100k ohm resistor for R1 and calculate C1's value. C1 = T / R1. C1 = 100uf. To calculate the value
of R1 when the value of C1 is known the formula would be R1 = T / C1.

Astable Mode

In the astable mode of operation pin 2 and 6 are tied together to cause the timer to retrigger itself.
The output pulse is on pin 3. The output pulse is shown in the diagram below. To calculate the T1
time (output high) use the following formula T1 = .693(R1 + R2)C1. To calculate the T2 time
(output low) use the formula T2 = .693( R1 x C1 ). If you need to know the frequency of the output
use this formula Freq. = 1.44 / (R1 + 2R2)C1.

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P! " P # heor y $ % esign

# he per ational ! mplifier & p ! mp ' can ( e used in many differ ent ) ays. # he p* amp has t) o
inputs an in+ er ting input & * ' and a non* in+ er ting input & , ' and one output. ! signal applied to
the in+ er ting input ) ill ha+ e its polar ity r e+ er sed on the output. ! signal applied to the non*
in+ er ting input ) ill r etain its polar ity on the output. # he gain or amplification of the signal is
deter mined ( y a feed( ac- r esistor that feeds some of the output signal ( ac- to the in+ er ting input.
# he smaller the r esistor . the lo) er the gain. Some typical op* amp pin outs ar e sho) n ( elo) . # he
most common ar e the 7/ 1 and 1/ 0 1 dual op* amp. # her e ar e many mor e a+ aila( le.

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Sho) n ( elo) ar e the ( asic in+ er ting and no* in+ er ting amplifier cir cuits. # he gain of the cir cuit is
not dependent on the supply + oltage.

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Another common way that opamps are used are in comparator circuits. A comparator circuit will
compare the voltage on the two inputs and then making the output high or low. This is
accomplished by having one input the voltage reference (Vref) and the other input is the voltage
input (Vin). Shown below are the two ways to hook up a comparator circuit.

The circuit below shows a basic comparator circuit that you can experiment with.

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PIC Theory and Design

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