Please help. 555 circuit

555

Here the end result of all the suggestions.

Well using something like that to control traffic lights is a felony. I wouldn't recommend it. I would be like a drug. You'll try it once, then you'll like it, then you'll love it, then you'll be abusing it, then you'll get caught. Not by pointing it a the preemptive light control sensor, but by causing an ambulance to slam into something undesirable. Just like meth. When you abuse it, ambulances slam into things. ???
So I was wondering the same thing with the fire trucks triggering epilepsy, but I think that they have a visible light filter over their strobes don't they? If they don't then they should so that only light over 800nm in wavelength is transmitted. I was also wondering if light over 800nm can trigger epilepsy and it can be a 'secret weapon.' I'm sure it's been researched but I don't really care enough to go looking around on google for epileptic night vision strobe attacks. Causing seizures isn't my thing.

So I'm going to be switching to a 20uF capacitor in place of the 47. I plugged all the numbers into an easy 555 calculator using a 1k resistor for R1 and R2, and I got just over 10Hz which was my target, but when I assembled it, I had about 6-7 per second. Luckily I'm a musician and I don't need any special equipment to find out when it's close enough as I'm pretty good at counting with rhythm and time. I can continue leaving out a decoupling capacitor and flip on my am radio to count the pulses by sound instead of staring at the apparent red glow of the china bought "invisible IR arrays" (Rated at over 920nm) I think 10-11 Hz might be my limit doing it by ear but we'll see. I'm not superhuman but it's a really neat self-test. I have already replaced the two 1k resistors with 2 multi-turn 500k pots and this is MODEL 6!!!!!! !@#$%^& I don't know what was wrong with all of the first five (the first two were obvious what I did wrong) but I'm assuming I have shitty components and I don't care to test them yet. I'll do that later. I still have the previous ones assembled. Too lazy to de-solder. So I already have them tuned down a little below 1k each (R1,R2) and it works just fine and doesn't heat up at all running at about 7.5 volts for about 30 minutes. Boy are these things touchy between 600 and 1k. (500k max even with all the turns needed to get the wiper from one end to the other isn't very useful for adjusting between 600 ohms to 1k) ) I'll be pushing the limits of the 555 later on at 13.8v with the same setup. (YES YES I KNOW .!13.8V! I shouldn't but since someone mentioned it I have to try it now)PEER PRESSURE! But before that I have to go to radio shack to see if they have 20uF's in stock which I highly doubt these days (they used to always have stuff like that in stock) now they specialize in cell phones and garbage. Then I have to go to work, and then I have to wait till the sun goes down and then I'm off to 'feel' like a pioneer as I always do when I create something that's already been created.