Two transistor LED Flasher Circuit

How to make a circuit to make two LEDs flash back and forth.  This is also called a free running multivibrator.

Step 1: The Parts

For this project you'll need the following:

-PNP transistor x2 Q1, Q2
-4.7-22 uf capacitor x2 C1, C2
-470 ohm resistor x2 R1, R2
-100k ohm resistor x2 R3, R4
-5mm LED (any color) x2 LED1, LED2
-Solid core wire, 22 gauge
-Prototyping Breadboard
-4 AA holder x1
-

Comments

[Adambowker98]

How fast do they flash? Like how long are they on before it switches?

[tqnata_1]

[sory for the english] i want to know these things because in the electonics shop want this parametres PNP transistor -model and evretyng for them
-4.7-22 uf capacitor-V=?
-470 ohm resistor -W=?they works
-100k ohm resistor -W=?they works
PLS HELP

[lukeD]

that's cool!!!

[mania123456]

I want to make sure are the values of the two capacitors are 22 microFarad and 4.7 microFarad or not? Also these are npn transistors right or pnp?
Please reply soon and I really appreciate your efforts and creating and uploading such helpful ideas.

[metsfan1938]

what i meant is the values of the capacitors can be any where from 4.7 to 22. they can probably be any value but that is what i experimented with. the transistors are pnp.

[mania123456]

I connected everything perfectly but as soon as I am connectingthe circuit to power supply, both the LEDs are ltting up at once and not blinking at all. I have rewired everything gazillions of times but I thin that there is some major thing that I am not able to see. I am in desperate need of help.

[robot1398]

which transistor did you use @metsfan1938

[mcmahanly]

Is anybody else having trouble with this? I used (2) 2n3906 transistors and said caps and resistors. Only one led lights up. No shorts. I've rewired it numerous times. Same prob. Could it be my capacitors? Im using (2) 22uf capacitors rated for up to 50 volts...not sure if my lingo is correct here. I also tried a similar circuit from Forrest Mims... no dice! Somebody pleas help!

[mcmahanly]

Problem solved: my breadboard was faulty! I had put this circuit together with multiple sets of new components. I even bought new batteries and a charger. It didn't work until the whole circuit was moved to one side on one section with the battery leads close to the emitters/LEDs/resistors. or maybe there is something i'm missing... i need a class and teacher.

[MROHM]

(removed by author or community request)

[godofal]

would it be possible to expand this to create a knight rider circuit??

[Wyle_E]

This simple circuit can only flash one or two LEDs. The Knight Rider effect can be done with a few inexpensive integrated circuits. The old Radio Shack Engineer's Handbook had one version, but that book is long out of print.

IIRC, it used a 1-to-16 demultiplexer chip driven by a 4-bit up-down counter. A 555 timer served as the counter's clock, and a flipflop switched the counter's direction pin between 'up' and 'down' when the LED at either end of the row lit. The 16 LEDs probably cost more than the three integrated circuits.

[godofal]

i know those circuits, but i was just curious if this was possible
nice instructable though, might make a nice use as a fake car alarm xD

[Wyle_E]

I just remembered an old class of circuits called "ring counters". A ring counter is sort of like a multivibrator with multiple stages, with the last stage connected around to the trigger input of the first stage. Triggering one stage starts a short delay, after which that stage shuts off, triggering the next stage. They can be implemented with transistors or silicon controlled rectifiers. I haven't seen one in decades, because it's so much easier and cheaper to use the counter-decoder method. If you're curious, Google could probably find some schematics.

[scraptopower]

Do you have a circuit diagram of this ? That would be really helpful, thanks.

[metsfan1938]

Posted a diagram:)

[Sandisk1duo]

i agree