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Where have you actually come across a 555 timer in the wild?

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Brumby:

--- Quote from: tautech on July 25, 2016, 08:23:26 pm ---Nobody's mentioned kitchen toasters.  :)

--- End quote ---

Yes they have...


--- Quote from: david77 on April 01, 2014, 08:11:58 pm ---In my 20 EUR cheapie toaster, used as timer for the bread ejector thingie. With the obligatory knob on the side to choose how burnt you'd like your bread.

I've used it and will continue using it myself for all kinds of things, but you can hardly call what I do "production".

--- End quote ---

T3sl4co1l:
I once took apart a microwave that used a UJT (Uni-Junction Transistor).  I think I've got you beat on that ;)

Tim

Cubdriver:
They were used as watchdog timers in the microwave generators a company I used to work for made for a piece of semiconductor processing equipment.

-Pat

Enigma-man:
I saw a 555 used in a super simple switchmode step-up converter to power Nixie tubes.  Nine volts in, 170V out.
Comes in kit form with PC board and parts.  After doing a search for "nixie tube power supply" it showed up
in one of the images.  I suppose one could buy it today if one were looking for such a thing.

http://www.ledsales.com.au
The attached image is not mine

Stray Electron:

--- Quote from: thomastheo on March 31, 2014, 02:25:14 pm ---Hundreds of millions of NE555's are produced every year, but I don't seems to actually come across them very often in products I've torn down or had a peek in. I have a little drawer full of them somewhere, but i doubt all those chips are manufactured only to be destined for our collective parts bins ))

I'm very curious to see where you have actually encountered them in the wild, and the particular function they've been drafted to perform in actual commercial/industrial products. They're so versatile, there must be some interesting applications out there...

--- End quote ---

  Back in the late 70s I worked for a major US food processing company. We used packaging machines that were made by Triangle Packaging Machine Corp in Chicago.  All of the timing in them was done via 555s.  There were a couple of dozen in there. This machine took a roll of plastic film and formed the bags like you get frozen vegetables in. It formed rolls of plastic sheeting into the tubes, heat sealed the side seam, filled them from one of four hoppers, pulled them down and heat sealed the tops and cut them off of the roll and formed and heat sealed the bottom of the next bag. The entire process took about 3 seconds and every operation was timed by a 555 circuit and each timer triggered the succeeding ones.  It actually worked pretty well but if something went wrong everything that followed it went wrong and things could get "interesting" real fast!

   Some of the old HP gear used 555s to drive a switcher type power supply. IIRC I've seen them in some of the HP-IB disk drives and, I think, in one of the old HP desktop calculators.

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