i want to make a Christmas lights Tester, althought they run off of 240 ac Mains, i want it to be a bit safer than that, and i basically need to test the bulbs (they are old bulbs with a filliment NOT leds), and im also still rellevtively new to electronics especially IC's, and i wanted to experiment to get more of an understanding
Depends on the current required - but you get little from a 555 anyway.
But this is why we asked for more details, you don't need AC to test lights anyway - DC is perfectly fine. Are you testing individual bulbs?, and are they 15V each?.
well im not so sure on the voltages of the bulbs, mainly because it had 2 wires, Live and Neutral and was wired straight to the plug, these lights are about 20 to 30 years old, and i wish to test individual bulbs, with a 9volt batery the fillement lights up but it does not light the bulb, i thoguht this was due to it being DC and not the AC the bulb usually uses
well im not so sure on the voltages of the bulbs, mainly because it had 2 wires, Live and Neutral and was wired straight to the plug, these lights are about 20 to 30 years old, and i wish to test individual bulbs, with a 9volt batery the fillement lights up but it does not light the bulb, i thoguht this was due to it being DC and not the AC the bulb usually uses
No, AC makes no difference - if it's only lighting slightly you've got too little voltage, or your source can't supply enough current (and a 555 certainly couldn't).
Divide your mains voltage by the number of bulbs, that tells you what voltage they are - so 240V and 10 bulbs would be 24V bulbs.
But you have no need to light the bulb brightly, if the filament glows with too low a voltage then it's fine.
if you have some other idea in mind to do with these bulbs, you better tell your idea. if what you need is only to test it and see wheather its ok or not, then what you get when you use 9V is enough to confirm it.
Old outdoors Christmas tree lights were 120V each (in Canada) and were all in parallel. For years I used clear ones as "night lights" because they were extremely inexpensive and in packages of many the day after Christmas.
No idea what you're on about. 15VAC and pulsated 15VDC are completely different, both in amplitude, RMS, delivered power, etc. There are no 2 ways about it.
No idea what you're on about. 15VAC and pulsated 15VDC are completely different, both in amplitude, RMS, delivered power, etc. There are no 2 ways about it.