NE555 Timer Delay Module

Hi,
Have you adjusted the pots all the way form one end to the other, they are 10 turn pots?
What are you using as your power supply?
Tom.. :slight_smile:

TomGeorge:
Hi,
Have you adjusted the pots all the way form one end to the other, they are 10 turn pots?
What are you using as your power supply?
Tom.. :slight_smile:

They will turn continuously in either direction. Its just a flat head screw,not the usual plastic phillips type head pots.
The power was the car.

I didnt really have a way to test off the car, besides this looked like a fairly simple diagram compared to some things Ive made before so I didnt really anticipate any issues.

Like I said, all lights almost work as they should. The issue is not being able to change the timings.

What Im finding odd is that instead of the lights sequencing they all will blink at the same speed no matter how much or which direction I turn the pots.
Tail lights stay on as they should,brakes come on and stay as they should.
But blinkers/hazards will all blink at the same rate.

The power LED on the module lights when power is connected. The 2nd led will blink and so will the power led when I activate the blinker. Both LED's flash at same exact rate.
The relays are also clicking on/off at same rate as LED's.

Now for the diagram above I have been chatting with another guy that used the same diagram,parts and car type with proper results. I showed him the same pic as above and he says it should be working. SO we are both kinda stumped why the timing will not change.
I figured both of us are just over looking something, I cant see all 5 being bad out of the box.

If it helps this is the cars wiring diagram.

NOTE:
On the 2 outer lights(circled) they were originally 2 wire sockets, they were changed with FORD 3 wire sockets so as to function same the middle and outer.

Oops, in that diagram, the circled lights are backwards, they are the inner lights and vice versa, the labeled inner are actually the outer.

Did you replace your flasher circuit with an electronic version?

Possible your blinkers are simply blinking too fast for the relay boards work correctly?

Hi,
If you connect the relay input directly to the battery, do you get a delay?
That is the relay clicks sometime after the connection is made?

How long is the first indicator light on for when you have it flashing.
Indicator lights are usually only ON for about 1/2Second and OFF for 1/2Second.

With your circuit, the delay relays are only powered for that 1/2Second, so you cannot get a delay longer than the 1/2Second.

Tom... :slight_smile:

Slumpert:
Did you replace your flasher circuit with an electronic version?

Possible your blinkers are simply blinking too fast for the relay boards work correctly?

Best of my knowledge its already an electronic version. The repair manual diagram above has an electronic flasher in it.

Also the ones online that have the same car and did this same thing didnt change anything other than cutting out the single 2 wire socket on each side and replacing it with a 3 wire socket just like on the middle and outer lights.

I know Im probably just over looking something here, I just dont have any idea what would keep the pots from affecting the timing.

This is the guy Ive been chatting with trying to figure this out. He did what Im trying to do on basically the same car.

Mustang Sequential lights

TomGeorge:
Hi,
If you connect the relay input directly to the battery, do you get a delay?
That is the relay clicks sometime after the connection is made?

How long is the first indicator light on for when you have it flashing.
Indicator lights are usually only ON for about 1/2Second and OFF for 1/2Second.

With your circuit, the delay relays are only powered for that 1/2Second, so you cannot get a delay longer than the 1/2Second.

Tom... :slight_smile:

I havent tried to the battery yet.
I believe it is a very short delay, not even a second.

When the lights do flash, they are your typical turn signal speed.

As for the circuit, Im following the diagram above and the link in my last post is the same exact thing. He used that same diagram to do what Im trying.

Hi,
Looking at the link, its a massive show and NO tell.
There is no setup instructions that I can see.

You will have to set the delay times up on a battery, so you can see if you are adjusting it correctly.
Connect to the battery and do not disconnect until relay has activated.

Tom... :slight_smile:

TomGeorge:
Hi,
Looking at the link, its a massive show and NO tell.
There is no setup instructions that I can see.

You will have to set the delay times up on a battery, so you can see if you are adjusting it correctly.
Connect to the battery and do not disconnect until relay has activated.

Tom... :slight_smile:

Yeah, its not a great how to on anything but I chatted with him and he gave me the diagram he used and its the one from my OP.

Here's what I tried.

Instead of using the car battery I have an old bench test power supply that simulates running 12v car electronics in the house.

Only connecting the VCC and GND wires to power the "Power" led lights immediately but the other module LED never lights nor any clicks.
To be honest Im not really sure what I should expect. I tried to figure out how to trip the relay but relays are bit of weak spot for me.

What would be the simplest way to trip the relay for testing, not worried about testing with the blink function since I know I would need an electronic flasher? I assume just powering the module should eventually trip the relay.

BTW forgot to mention that the diagram shows LED's for lights but these are just your standard 3157 bulbs.

When you apply power to the relay module via Vcc and Ground, a timer starts. As soon as the timer expires (after 1 to 10 seconds depending on the setting of the potentiometer) the relay should be energized and the blue led should switch on. The relay will stay energized until power is removed.

You have understood that the potentiometer is multi turn precision type. It may require 20 turns to travel from its minimum to its maximum value. Once it reaches an extremity, you can still turn the screw but it simply doesn’t do anything. You may hear a very slight click on every rotation once it has reached the extremity, however.

6v6gt:
When you apply power to the relay module via Vcc and Ground, a timer starts. As soon as the timer expires (after 1 to 10 seconds depending on the setting of the potentiometer) the relay should be energized and the blue led should switch on. The relay will stay energized until power is removed.

You have understood that the potentiometer is multi turn precision type. It may require 20 turns to travel from its minimum to its maximum value. Once it reaches an extremity, you can still turn the screw but it simply doesn’t do anything. You may here a very slight click on every rotation once it has reached the extremity, however.

Thanks.
Yeah the blue led never lit nor any clicks.
Im thinking they are bad.

Update.

Finally got 1 module to actually adjust. Takes several turns just to make any noticeable changes.
Also to trigger the relay it needs more than 12v.

The 12v power supply I used wouldnt do it.

Straight to the car battery sitting around 12v after car not running all day made such a small click that if your finger wasnt on it you wouldnt know.

Start the car and relay has a good loud click,although another I tried had nothing ever trigger.

Can you post a schematic of your circuit before you added the relay modules that shows their normal wiring ?

Im thinking they are bad.

but they all do the same thing so Im not sure if its a user error or possibly something up with the timers.

I'm thinking it's the wiring. I think there is something not right. First of all the chance of getting a bad relay module is super slim to begin with . The chance of getting multiple bad modules is like nil.
I don't like your schematic. Can you draw it differently so it is easier to see the wiring.

If I were you I would simply assume I made a big mistake and start over by putting everything back to the way it was and then add just one module. Have you taken any voltage measurements with a DMM ?
If you can remove the relay modules from the schematic and show how it was before you added them that would help.

raschemmel:
Can you post a schematic of your circuit before you added the relay modules that shows their normal wiring ?

I'm thinking it's the wiring. I think there is something not right. First of all the chance of getting a bad relay module is super slim to begin with . The chance of getting multiple bad modules is like nil.
I don't like your schematic. Can you draw it differently so it is easier to see the wiring.

If I were you I would simply assume I made a big mistake and start over by putting everything back to the way it was and then add just one module. Have you taken any voltage measurements with a DMM ?
If you can remove the relay modules from the schematic and show how it was before you added them that would help.

The diagram I know isnt easy to read, I personally didnt draw it. I assume the relay diagram is what you are referring to as not liking.
As for the way the car was before adding anything, the schem is in post #7. Sorry if I didnt link the pic correctly, not a big forum user. But right clicking and open in new tab shows it much bigger.

I have put everything back to original then trying to add 1 module. I got the light without a module to work as normal for the car, then the light with the 1 module connected would only flash at same speed as the one without. The timing set screw would do nothing.

Ok original car circuit before anything added. Note the lights circled were 2 wire sockets replaced with Ford 3 wire sockets with colors corresponding to the other listed in this diagram:

The diagram for modules: The colors I used correspond with the car schematic above with exception of the red. The green wire on car was cut and module placed in between.

Hopefully this is easier to read and Im here because I do assume a mistake somewhere's, I just cant see it. Im following the color diagram exactly. Somewhat lost here.??

Let's try a different approach.
Foeget the car.
Pretend it doesn't exist.
Pretend you bought the module to delay a led string or whatever.
Wire it up as if you only doing that and see if it works. Make dure you use the Normally non- conductive contact and use a different circuit for the light you are switching that is NOT connected to the relay Vcc or GND. Two separate circuits. Two separate power sources.

If that works, then you can begin to isolate the issue by changing the wiring to one single supply.
If that works then you can move to step two and add the second module.
Finally , you should be able to simulate the car wiring before actually installing it in the car.

Here's what i got so far.

I went through all 5 one at a time. Only connected VCC and GND to the car battery.

3 would trigger the relay immediately. No matter how much I turned the pot no changes at all in delay. Counter clockwise is suppose to increase dealy. I turned for a full 2 minutes just to be sure in clockwise,never a change.

4th on would never trigger with same technique above.

Then the 5th of which I never hooked up or tried, still in package worked just as it was suppose to.

To me this sounds like I messed up in the beginning by mistakenly shorting something and toasted the 4 I kept trying. Only thing I can think of.

I mean at this point they are so cheap I may just order so more. Im sure they werent bad but I have my moments where I dont realize something I did then poof....lol.

As for raschemmel comment, sorry Im not quiet sure what you mean, I am by no means great at this stuff but I usually learn as I go for what Im needing to do over the years and these modules are new to me. Ive dealt with relays in cars, car alarms and such but not like these.

As for raschemmel comment, sorry Im not quiet sure what you mean, I am by no means great at this stuff but I usually learn as I go for what Im needing to do over the years and these modules are new to me. Ive dealt with relays in cars, car alarms and such but not like these.

I don't know which comment you are referring to so I am going to assume you mean the following:

I'm thinking it's the wiring. I think there is something not right. First of all the chance of getting a bad relay module is super slim to begin with . The chance of getting multiple bad modules is like nil.
I don't like your schematic. Can you draw it differently so it is easier to see the wiring.

If I were you I would simply assume I made a big mistake and start over by putting everything back to the way it was and then add just one module. Have you taken any voltage measurements with a DMM ?
If you can remove the relay modules from the schematic and show how it was before you added them that would help.

A word of advice , from a professional technician:
I have done thousands of projects in the past 38 years and they almost alway follow the same pattern:

  1. Engineer designs something.
  2. Engineer tells me to build prototype.
  3. Engineer gives me shipping reciept of some number to pick up parts from shipping/receiving.
  4. I pick up parts.
  5. I unpack and organize parts.
  6. I test all parts.
  7. Everything that works correctly gets received for the project.
  8. Anything that doesn't work gets set aside for engineer to inspect before contacting vendor.
  9. I build prototype.
  10. I test prototype.

In view of the above, do you think it would be possible to build the prototype with bad parts ?
Remember what deep throat said : "Trust No-one !"

Well you buy something , don't build anything with it until you've done your due diligence as
Shipping Receiving.

Out of curiosity, what was the battery voltage when you tested the 4 units ?

Good advice.

Normally I would check something like that but I didnt.
Honestly I think I messed them up not paying attention, wouldnt be the first time. Also I remember now in the beginning blowing the blinker fuse and remember that is when my issues started. That fuse slipped my mind. Age I guess is catching up to me..lol.

The car battery was between 12.5v-13v, hooked up a slow charger on it so to make sure I had enough volts with the car off.

I knew my problems were most likely user error but couldnt put my finger on where.