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HN readers: what products do you know of that used the 555 IC? I'm working of a catalog of popular consumer electronic devices that used this chip. Anything yo

HN readers: what products do you know of that used the 555 IC? I'm working of a catalog of popular consumer electronic devices that used this chip. Anything you know of that used this chip would be helpful.

gluelogic 11y ago
Cool! Will it be something on the web?
- paulgerhardt 11y ago
  Personal project to start. See if it turns into something more. I'm imagining something like 'reverse-dns' for electronic chips. That is, today if you take apart a consumer device, you can can see what chips are in them and get the datasheets pretty easily (a 'Whois' lookup) - but there isn't an equivalent for looking at a chip and seeing which products it was used in ('reverse lookup'). I've done this successfully with a few radio modules but I wanted to start with something more iconic like the 555. My question is if there is a product that exists solely because of the 555 just as the Texas Instruments Speak & Spell existed solely because of the TMC0280.
craigjb 11y ago
It's actually incredibly rare in consumer products. Especially since an 8-bit micro controller can cost much much less in bulk today. Edit: and 8-bit micros come much cheaper than Digikey when you buy consumer product volumes directly.
- paulgerhardt 11y ago
  Do you know what it is was used for in non-consumer products?
  - HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
    It's in a number of ancient DC time-delay relays.
squilliam 11y ago
I design and manufacture an electronic cigarette device that uses a 555 to PWM a MOSFET for variable power output. Super simple and robust but will be switching to MCUs soon for more features.
squilliam 11y ago
I design and manufacture an electronic cigarette device that uses a 555 to PWM a MOSFET for variable power output. Super simple and robust but will be switching to MCUs soon for more features.
noipv4 11y ago
BBC micro http://www.8bs.com/inbbc.htm http://www.8bs.com/inbbc.htm

gluelogic 11y ago

Cool! Will it be something on the web?

paulgerhardt 11y ago
Personal project to start. See if it turns into something more. I'm imagining something like 'reverse-dns' for electronic chips. That is, today if you take apart a consumer device, you can can see what chips are in them and get the datasheets pretty easily (a 'Whois' lookup) - but there isn't an equivalent for looking at a chip and seeing which products it was used in ('reverse lookup'). I've done this successfully with a few radio modules but I wanted to start with something more iconic like the 555. My question is if there is a product that exists solely because of the 555 just as the Texas Instruments Speak & Spell existed solely because of the TMC0280.

craigjb 11y ago

It's actually incredibly rare in consumer products. Especially since an 8-bit micro controller can cost much much less in bulk today. Edit: and 8-bit micros come much cheaper than Digikey when you buy consumer product volumes directly.

paulgerhardt 11y ago
Do you know what it is was used for in non-consumer products?
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
  It's in a number of ancient DC time-delay relays.

squilliam 11y ago

I design and manufacture an electronic cigarette device that uses a 555 to PWM a MOSFET for variable power output. Super simple and robust but will be switching to MCUs soon for more features.

squilliam 11y ago

I design and manufacture an electronic cigarette device that uses a 555 to PWM a MOSFET for variable power output. Super simple and robust but will be switching to MCUs soon for more features.

noipv4 11y ago

BBC micro http://www.8bs.com/inbbc.htm http://www.8bs.com/inbbc.htm