car blinker circuit?

The horn will be putting all sorts of voltage spikes onto your supply voltage. This is because most horns are a coil (electromagnet) and pair of contacts. Each time the horn diaphram is attracted to the electromagnet, it causes the contacts to open, the diaphram then returns to it's original position allowing the contacts to touch again. The magnetic field in the coil collapsing as the current is shut off causes a high voltave spike, it is this series of spikes that is causing the timer circuit to reset at odd intervals instead of the cycle rate you have selected by the component values you used.

You would need to filter these spikes out of the supply to the timer chip to stop this from happpening..... try putting an inductor in the + supply line, with a cap to neg on the 555 side of the coil. It could also be worthwhile putting a 17 volt zener accross the cap to help shunt any remaining spikes to 0v.

  • ---- ciol ------|-------- 555 power input | | --- filter --- cap | (17 volt zener in | parralell if desired) 0v

The inductor in the supply line will try to keep the current into the filter cap constant, as inductors resist change in the current through them. The filter cap will smooth out the remaining voltage spike left on the supply.

Pip

Reply to
Pippa Reeves
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Thanks Pippa

I'll try that. I've not worked with inductors. I see various types - RF chokes, ferrite coil packs, mini coil packs. Which type should I use?

1 to 1000 uH of the RF chokes available - choice not critical?

I really need to fix this, as I've found that just running the engine causes the same problem!

Jordan

Pippa Reeves wrote:

Reply to
Jordan

Hi Jordan,

something like CAT. NO. LF1272 from Jaycar should do the job nicely. It is a 100uH rated at 3 amps DC.... I don't know how yoou have the output of this flasher circuit wired up, so I assumed that you would probably be running the full load current through the choke.... that's why I suggest one that is pretty beefy physically and low DC resistance. If the load current of the lamps is being switched by a FET or bipolar transistor, relay etc, you may possibly be able to seperate it's current draw from the supply that is running the 555 and use a physically smaller choke just filtering the 555 power, but not the lamp supply.

As for the cap, I would throw something like a 220 uF electrolytic, with a

100 nF polyester cap in parralell..... You may ask why the little baby size cap accross the electrolytic? It is there because the construction of an electrolytic makes it not very good at filtering very high frequencies, whereas the little polyseter one, is designed for RF stuff, so has really good high frequency response. Because the thing you are trying to filter out is high voltage pulses, these have a very fast rise time, so to a cap they tend to look like a very high frequency pulse.

None of these component values are really critical.... after all you are just trying to 'stomp' on high voltage pulses that are superimposed onto the supply voltage.

have fun,

Pip

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Pippa Reeves

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Professor

The Telstar unit won't work on 6 Volt systems.

I've given up trying to get the 555 circuit to be stable, having tried most of the suggestions for filtering. It seems that the RFI from the magneto is just to strong. So, I'm using a standard 6V blinker can and load resistors in parallel with the LEDs - not the favoured solution but it works OK for now.

Heaps of thanks to all for trying to help.

Jordan

Professor wrote:

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Jordan

The Telstar unit will operate the flashing easily down at 6V... but the audio feedback may or may not function.

Professor

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Professor

According to their FAQ:

"Question: Will FlashAlert work on 6V systems? Answer: No... FlashAlert operates from 8 to 16VDC."

If you say it only affects the audio feature, how do you come to know this?

I'm not sure if Atmel makes the chip for it, but it's the only maker I've been able to find that makes IC's specifically for electronic blinker cans, and they also don't support 6V.

Even if it could be used, I might still have the same EMI problem, as the ignition magneto is unshielded and unsuppressed - I don't want to go that far.

Thanks Jordan

Professor wrote:

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Jordan

How do I come to know this. I'm the designer...

Professor

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Professor

It's nice to be able to talk to the designer. Do you have any comments regarding Atmel's recommended supply voltage range (9V to 15V for U643B)? I'm assuming you're using their IC's.

Jordan

Professor wrote:

Reply to
Jordan

Actually, the FlashAlert uses the 556 timer chip...

Professor

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Professor

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