Easy

NE555 Monostable Pushbutton Timer

In monostable mode, a 555 pressed once produces a single pulse of a fixed length, then stops on its own — unlike the astable blinker, which never stops. The foundation of any "press to run for a while" timer (stairwell light, delayed shutoff).

Circuit Diagram

+9V NE555 8 VCC 1 GND 4 RESET 7 DISCHARGE 100K 6 THRESHOLD 100uF 2 TRIGGER BUTTON 3 OUTPUT 330R LED

How to Build It

  1. Place the NE555 timer on the breadboard.
  2. Connect pin 8 (VCC) to the positive rail and pin 1 (GND) to the negative rail.
  3. Connect pin 4 (RESET) directly to the positive rail (disabled).
  4. Connect a resistor from the positive rail to pin 7 (DISCHARGE) and to pin 6 (THRESHOLD).
  5. Connect an electrolytic capacitor from pin 6 to GND — the pulse length depends on this capacitor's and resistor's values.
  6. Connect pin 2 (TRIGGER) through a push button to GND (pressing it must pull pin 2 below 1/3 of the supply voltage).
  7. Connect pin 3 (OUTPUT) through a resistor to an LED, then to GND.
  8. Tap the button briefly — the LED should stay on for a fixed time, then turn off by itself, with no further button presses needed.

Bill of Materials

ProductCodeQty
Integrated circuit 1
Capacitor (electrolytic/ceramic/SMD/film) 860020674015 1
LED (3/5/10mm, SMD, power) l-934ID-12V 1
Push button 10100565(ALX-5A025) 1
Resistor DR47K-8/9 1
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