Secret Diagram

This simple circuit has helped me out on many occasions. It is able to check transistors, in the circuit, down to 40 ohms across the collector-base or base-emitter junctions. It can also check the output power transistors on amplifier circuits. Circuit operation is as follows. The 555 timer ( IC1 ) is set up as a 12hz multi vibrator. The output on pin 3 drives the 4027 flip-flop ( IC2). This flip-flop divides the input frequency by two and delivers complementary voltage outputs to pin 15 and 14. The outputs are connected to LED1 and LED2 through the current limiting resistor R3.

Circuit Diagram

The LED's are arranged so that when the polarity across the circuit is one way only one LED will light and when the polarity reverses the other LED will light, therefore when no transistor is connected to the tester the LED's will alternately flash. The IC2 outputs are also connected to resistors R4 and R5 with the junction of these two resistors connected to the base of the transistor being tested. With a good transistor connected to the tester, the transistor will turn on and produce a short across the LED pair. If a good NPN transistor is connected then LED1 will flash by itself and if a good PNP transistor is connected then LED2 will flash by itself. If the transistor is open both LED's will flash and if the transistor is shorted then neither LED will flash.

The below Simple Timer with Transistor Circuit Diagram is a simple timer that uses only two Darlington transistors and a capacitor base to generate a delay. When SW1 is pressed, the timer starts, the time setting is set by VR1. The duration of the timer is given by the values ​​of the potentiometer VR1 and the capacitor C1 that this circuit is 220 pF. To reach other durations of time must change the values ​​of these two components.

There are eleven transistors, including four in the output stage. Q1 and Q2 transistor must be between 3 and 5  amperes power transistors. Q4 and Q5 must be between 100mA and 500mA driver transistors. Other transistors are 10mA small driver transistors. Q1, Q4 and Q2, Q5 are complementary pairs, they make complementary darlington pairs.

The circuit above shows a 4-transistor utility amplifier suitable for a variety of projects including receivers, intercoms, microphones, telephone pick-up coils, and general audio monitoring. The amplifier has a power isolation circuit and bandwidth limiting to reduce oscillations and "motorboating". The values are not particularly critical and modest deviations from the indicated values will not significantly degrade the performance.

Three cell battery packs giving about 4.5 volts are recommended for most transformerless audio amplifiers driving small 8 ohm speakers. The battery life will be considerably longer than a 9 volt rectangular battery and the cell resistance will remain lower over the life of the battery resulting in less distortion and stability problems.

4 Transistor Amplifier for Small Speakers Circuit
 

 The amplifier may be modified to work with a 9 volt battery if desired by moving the output transistors' bias point. Lowering the 33k resistor connected from the second transistor's base to ground to about 10k will move the voltage on the output electrolytic capacitor to about 1/2 the supply voltage.

This bias change gives more signal swing before clipping occurs and this change is not necessary if the volume is adequate. As before, the two 4.7 ohm resistors may be replaced with a single 10 ohm resistor in series with either emitter.