Run a 4017 Decade Counter for One Cycle Then Stop

When making any electronic projects, have you wanted a sequence of events to transpire once and then wait for a trigger input? In my case I'm making a heart rate monitor with a funky visual display.

Well here's a handy way that uses the 4017 decade counter chip.

I used a 555 timer chip to regulate the timing of the sequence.
This instructable assumes you know how to use a breadboard and set up a 555 chip in astable mode.

The circuit starts when you push a button or give it a digital input to. It is active low, meaning the digital input must be a pulse to Minus or a brief connection to GROUND.

I've explained how to in the video in the next step.

Step 1: Connect Pin 15,13 and 3 Together

After setting up your 4017 chip with a timer such as a 555, let's set it up to run as a monostable device. IE. something that does something once and then waits for further input.

So take two scraps of jumper wire or whatever you usually use to do make such connections and connect pins 15, 13 and 3 together.

Step 2: The GO Button

Connect a button from pin 15, 13, or 3 to ground. When the circuit is waiting, this will kickstart it again by overwhelming the positive voltage from pin 3 and connecting pins 15 and 13 to ground.

Handily the button needs no debounce system because this circuit functions as a debouncer.

And of course you could trigger the circuit using something other than a push button. But I'll leave that up to y'all.

That's it. Pretty simple but handy for any one-time sequences you want to run.

Have fun kids.

Please leave me a comment if this was useful to you :)