All kinds of LED Flasher circuits for all kinds of projects
LED Flasher Circuits
Here are some LED Flasher circuits that you can build and use for all kinds of things.
* A fake alarm for the inside of your car.
* A flasher for the front and back of your bike.
* Model Railroading.
* The uses are endless…
This first set is for use with a 1.5V battery.
They all have a minimum of parts and are pretty easy to build. Most of the parts can be purchased at Amazon Store.
Since you will be using only 1.5Vdc, there is no danger of getting shocked.
If you’re not sure where to get 1.5Vdc, just tape two 6″ lengths of insulated wire with about 1/2″ striped off each end, to both the plus and minus side of a AAA, AA, C or D size battery. (Do Not Use A 9V Transistor Battery), Be sure to get the polarity correct. The + is the little button on the top of the battery. (Yeah I know, most people know that but I’m just being thorough.)
Double check your work before applying the voltage.
The LED in the finished circuit should start flashing as soon as the voltage is applied.
Glowing Eyes
Now here we have a few LED flasher circuits that are a little different.
This one looks like a pair of eyes slowly brightening and then dimming over and over again. I really like this circuit. I built several a while back and put them in plastic Easter eggs. I drilled out holes for the eyes and put the LED’s through the holes. Then put them in bushes around the yard to give the appearance of ghostly eyes. This is the circuit I used…
If you hard wire this circuit onto a Perf Board, it can be very small and fit together with a 9V battery into a normal sized plastic Easter egg.
The circuit was updated in 2020 by adding a few more LED’s that alternate.
Try these out and maybe you can come up with some cool ways to use them.
Bicycle Light
Now the next LED Flasher circuit I want to show you can be used as a bicycle light.
It’s a pretty simple circuit but some of you might have to learn a little bit about 555 timers. Bill Bowden has a short tutorial on his website about them at Bowden’s Hobby Circuits.
There is also a great Frequency and Duty Cycle Calculator available there.
If you build two, they can be used for the front and the back of your bike. The front would use white LED’s and the back would use red LED’s.
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