User manual
Intended use
The product is intended for the visual representation of a running light with 6 LEDs. The speed of the chaser
is innitely variable via a trimming potentiometer.
Always observe the safety instructions and all other information included in these operating instructions.
Please read the operating instructions carefully and do not discard them. If you pass the product on to a third
party, please hand over these operating instructions as well.
Any use other than that described above could lead to damage to this product and involves risks such as
short circuits, re, electric shock, etc.
This product complies with the applicable national and European requirements. All names of companies and
products are the trademarks of the respective owners. All rights reserved.
Package contents
• Assembly kit
• Operating instructions
Safety instructions
The warranty/guarantee will be void in the event of damage caused by failure to observe
these operating instructions! We do not assume any liability for any resulting damage!
We do not assume any liability for material and personal damage caused by improper
use or non-compliance with the safety instructions! The warranty/guarantee will be void
in such cases!
• For safety and licensing reasons (CE), unauthorised conversion and/or modication of the
product is not permitted. Follow the mounting instructions.
• The product is not a toy and it should be kept out of the reach of children.
• The product must not become damp or wet.
• In order to avoid short-circuits and their consequences, the ready assembled kit must be
installed in a suitable enclosure.
• Build the assembly only if you are sufciently skilled to perform the relevant soldering tasks.
For assembling use a suitable electronic soldering iron (small soldering tip, max. heating
power 50 W).
Improperly constructed kits are not covered by the warranty.
Description of the circuit
The heart of the circuit is the timer IC “NE 555”, which is connected as a multivibrator. R1, R2 and Elko C1
act as frequency-determining elements. Adjusting the speed of the chaser light happens via the trimming
potentiometer P1. Because the timer IC “NE 555” tends to oscillate very easily, the capacitor C2 is used for
its vibration suppression. The output pin 3 directly energizes the counter module 4017.
If the reset input (reset) is on “Low” (0 V), it turns the corresponding output to “High” (+ UB) on every rising
edge (junction “Low-High”) at the cycle input (pin 14); whereas all outputs which are not affected remain on
“Low” .
If in the meantime the reset input detects “High”, the element instantly resets to the numeral “zero”. In this
state the zero output is “High” and all other outputs (except “Carry Out”) are set to “Low”. After the reset input
has detected “Low”, the circulation of the chaser light starts anew.
A pivot is created when a counter output is connected to the reset input. The output 6 (pin 5) thus causes
the counter module to reset.
Since the output of the CMOS chip 4017 is not capable of feeding sufcient power to the LEDs connected,
the inverting buffer 4049 is used as the LED driver.
The resistor R3 limits the current ow through the LEDs . Since only one LED is active, only one resistor is
required for all LEDs.
General information on assembling the kit pieces
For the LED chaser light to work after assembly, you must carry out the construction conscientiously and
carefully.
Double check each step and each solder joint twice before you are going to build the next component!
Adhere to the described building stage; do not skip any of the building stages! Tick each item twice, once
for building, once for testing.
In any case, take your time. Building an assembly kit is no piecework, because the time which you are spend-
ing here is three times less of the time you would have to spend on troubleshooting.
If the assembly is not functioning, an assembly error is often the cause, like components are incorrectly
installed such as ICs, diodes and electrolytic capacitors. It is also important to pay attention to the coloured
rings of the resistors, as have some slightly confusable ring colours. If you cannot recognize the coloured
rings clearly, measure the resistance with a suitable meter.
Also take into account that all IC pins (legs) are really seated in the socket. It happens easily that a leg gets
bent when you insert the IC pins. Just a little pressure, and the IC must almost automatically enter the socket.
If this is not the case, then most likely a pin is bent.
If the circuit board’s components assembly is all right, examine the board for “cold” solder joints. These
appear if either the solder joint was not heated up sufciently so that the soldering tin does not have proper
contact to the wires, or if during the cooling process the connection is moved right at the moment of solidica-
tion. Such mistakes can often be spotted by the matt appearance of the soldering joint’s surface. A corrective
measure would be to reheat the solder joint in a proper way.
Building the assembly
The components are installed on the side of the circuit board where the components’ inscription
is. The components are soldered to the other side of the circuit board (with the conductor traces).
a) Resistors
First, the angularly bent resistors are inserted into the corresponding holes (acc. to component diagram).
Then bend the wires of the resistors by ca. 45° apart, so that they do not fall out when you turn the circuit
board. Solder the resistors on the back carefully to the conductor tracks. Now cut off the projecting wires with
a suitable electronic side cutter.
The resistors used here in this kit are carbon lm resistors. These have a tolerance of 5% and are marked
by a gold coloured “tolerance ring”.
Normally carbon lm resistors have four coloured rings. Hold the resistor in such a way that the gold-coloured
tolerance ring is located to the right of the resistor’s body to be able to read the resistor’s colour code. The
coloured rings are then read from left to right.
If you cannot see the coloured rings clearly, we recommend that you use an appropriate meter
to determine the resistance value. However, do not touch the two pins of the resistor with your
ngers (especially in case of high-resistance) during the measuring procedure, because skin
resistance will alter the reading.
R1 = 2.2 kΩ red / red / red
R2 = 10 kΩ brown / black / orange
R3 = 820 Ω grey / red/ brown
R4 = 100 kΩ brown / black / yellow
b) Diode
Now the connecting wires of the diodes are bent at right angles correspondingly to the contact spacing and
inserted in the allocated holes (acc. to the component diagram). Ensure by all means that the diodes are
installed with the correct polarity, mind the location of the cathode stroke.
Bend the wires of the diodes by about 45° apart, so that the components do not fall out when you turn the
circuit board. Solder the diode to the traces using a short soldering time and trim excess wires.
D1 = 1N4148 Universal silicon diode
c) Capacitors
Insert the capacitors into the already marked holes until they rest on the circuit
board. Bend the wires on the side of the solder slightly apart so they won’t drop out.
Solder the wires neatly up with the conducting traces.
Consider the correct polarity (+/-) of the electrolytic capacitors. Depending on the
manufacturer, the positive or the negative pole is marked with an appropriate sym-
bol.
The polarity of the lm capacitor C2 is irrelevant.
C1 = 2.2 μF Elko
C2 = 0.1 µF Film capacitor (0.1 µF = 100 nF = 104)
C3 = 10 μF Elko
Make sure that the soldering process does not take too long, because this will heat up the electrolyte too
much, and this may damage the capacitor.
d) IC sockets
Next, attach the three IC sockets to the board on the corresponding position.
Warning!
Notice the notch or other markings on the socket: this is the marker for
ICs (pin terminal 1).
1 x 8-pin socket
2 x 16-pin socket
Prevent the socket from falling out by bending two diagonally opposite pins of the
socket. Now all the pins can be soldered. Make sure you are not using too much
solder; this leads to a short circuit between two pins.
e) Soldering pins (contact pin)
Press the soldering pins for connecting the operating voltage by means of at or
needle-nose pliers from the assembled side into the corresponding holes on the
board (labelled as “+” and “-”).
Then, the pins are soldered on the side of the conducting trace.
f) Trimming potentiometer
In the course of this step the trimming potentiometer is installed and soldered to
the board.
P1 = 250 kΩ
G
O P E R AT I N G I N S T R U C T I O N S www.conrad.com
6 Channel Chaser Light (Assembly Kit)
Item no. 190128
Version 03/15