Introduction: The Simple Flasher Circuit

By
About: I had always loved working with my hands they're an amazing tool that allows us to change our environment which is awesome because that environment happens to be the universe. I didn't always have a passion …

As you may have guessed, the circuit is simple; so if you're the kind of person (like me) who is completely new to electronics and just can't get something to work properly, then this is for you because I was in that position when making it for the first time. I have tried to make building this as easy as possible for you however don't confuse the familiarity you will have for building it with an understanding of how it works. So I really hope that you take some time to look up how capacitors and transistors work and try to visualise how the current is moving through the circuit.

This circuit is one I made my self which is why there's plenty of room for improvement which I hope you can tell me about. It is also one of the first electronic devices that I have ever made so my schematic diagrams may not be very technical and the whole thing may not look very neat.

I have used this circuit in another project I made if you would like to see it : https://www.instructables.com/id/Twinkling-Dodecahe...

Step 1: What You'll Need

Resistors

- (220 to 470 ohm) x2

- (10k) x2

Transistors

(NPN 2N3904) x2

Capacitors

-If you can, get any ranging from 20u to 200u so you can experiment with the frequency of the flashing

- I used 2 (22u)

Battery

Anything that can supply you with 9V

Note:

Just looking at the schematic you should be able to make the entire thing on a bread board right away and you may be done after this step. If not; don't worry I got you covered.

Step 2: Start With the Transistors

Look closely at each picture while putting the components into your own breadboard and eventually you should be done! Congratulations! Now I encourage you to experiment with the circuit by moving around and replacing the resistors and capacitors to see how it will affect the out put of the LED. This should help you with getting a better understanding and will give you a little more confidence when designing your own circuits.

Also, as shown you can try and solder this on to a perforated board to make your creation a little more permanent. It's quite easy to do so. Just arrange the components in the exact same way as the breadboard and connect them in the same way the bread board does. However note that it is not as easy for more complex circuits because you can waste space by arranging it in the same way as you would for a bread board.