LED Dimmer Circuit using 555 Timer – Electronics Projects

Hi in this tutorial I am going to show you how to make a dimmer circuit using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) technique. Dimming of LED is achieved by turning the LED ON & OFF at high frequency with the help of popular 555 timer IC due to which human eye see the strobing effect To build your own Dimmer Circuit using 555 IC you can watch the video embedded below.

Hardware Required

The following components are required to make LED Dimmer Circuit

S.NO	Component	Value	Qty
1.	IC	NE555 Timer	1
2.	Battery	9V	1
3.	Breadboard	–	1
4	Jumper Wires	–	1
5	Resistor	1K, 220-ohm	1, 1
7	Variable Resistor	10k	1
8	Ceramic Capacitor	100nf	2
9	LED	–	1
10	Diode	1N4148	2

555 Timer Pinout

For a detailed description of pinout, dimension features, and specifications download the datasheet of 555 Timer

LED Dimmer Circuit

Useful Steps

Follow all steps carefully from the video tutorial at the end of this post (Highly Recommended).

• STEP # 1 ( Connect IC )
• Connect 555 timer IC on the breadboard
• STEP # 2 ( Make power connections )
• Pin 8 of 555 Timer – To VCC of Battery
  Pin 1 of 555 Timer – To GND of Battery
• STEP # 3 ( Connect Resistor )
• Connect wire BTW pin 2 and pin 6
  Connect pin 4 to VCC
• STEP # 4 ( Connect Capacitor )
• Connect 100nf ceramic capacitor on pin 5
  Connect 100nf ceramic capacitor on pin 6
• STEP # 5 ( Connect resistor #1 )
• Connect 1k ohm resistor pin 7
• STEP # 6 ( Connect Variable resistor )
• Connect 10k ohm variable resistor on board
• STEP # 7 ( Connect diodes and make connections )
• Connect diode BTW right leg of the variable resistor to pin 7
  Connect diode BTW left leg of the variable resistor to pin 7
  Connect wire BTW middle leg of the variable resistor to pin 6
• STEP # 8 ( Connect resistor and LED )
• Connect 220-ohm resistor on pin 3
  Connect LED on pin 3
• STEP # 9 ( Testing )