Comments on: Blinking An LED With a Single Transistor https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/ Fresh hacks every day Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:27:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Michal Kobuszewski https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197209 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 09:27:48 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197209 Hey, the unijunction transistor is essentially made for this!
If the requirement is to only use one transistor, why not configure it as a LC or phaseshift sinewave oscillator, and attach the LED around the collector?

]]> By: Creekree https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197194 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 08:52:06 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197194 In reply to El Gru.

Congratulations, I spilled some coffee reading this!

]]> By: Cyk https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197177 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 07:37:51 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197177 In reply to AZdave.

Needless to say that all transistor manufacturers tell you to avoid this.
Nevertheless it works. I’ve used this trick back then when semiconductors were expensive, so you
tried to use as few as possible. I once made a blinking LED hose with several of these circuits, and it worked for years.

]]> By: El Gru https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197167 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 07:17:18 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197167 In reply to Obi Juan.

I use a car to blink LEDs.
God mode engaged.

]]> By: captnmike https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197147 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 06:05:06 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197147 In reply to Tom S..

Yes a RPI/Arduino would seem to be overkill – BUT – if you want a specific blink rate using a 555 and getting the correct values for a specific blink rate/pattern can take a significant amount of time even using the online 555 calculators for us that don’t do this on a regular basis. There are related processors that are smaller and cheaper – Adafruit sells the Trinket M0 that is small and uses the Arduino IDE for programming, a valid solution in my view if you value your time at any more than maybe $ 1.00/hr or so. The Trinket M0 is about $ 9– there are a few older processors that cost a bit less but are still not to bad to program.

]]> By: Christoph https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197137 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:42:26 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197137 In reply to Mike Lima.

+1

]]> By: Obi Juan https://hackaday.com/2025/10/20/blinking-an-led-with-a-single-transistor/#comment-8197101 Tue, 21 Oct 2025 03:58:17 +0000 https://hackaday.com/?p=868684#comment-8197101 In reply to Tom S..

Why?

Blink: The circuit above.
Blink!: 555 circuit
BLINK!!!: Arduino
HULK BLINK!!!: Raspberry Pi

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