Wondering if someone could help me build a cycling power supply for cameras in a surveillance system. Id like the cameras to be power cycled every 24hrs. All widi cameras have issues with losing signal etc. If I cycle power they work fine until next time which could be days. I want to learn electronics and build a 555 timer circuit to do this. Can anyone help with a diagram or components or anything?
Thank you
If you would have a diagram that you have.
You can certainly post it here to have it looked at.
A 555 timer is not well suited for long timing periods. The longest practical time period without adding divider stages is minutes.
Also clock accuracy with all RC (resistor/capacitor) timers is just too large when working with days or longer.
I recommend a crystal controlled timing circuit.
However as soon as you get to crystal controlled timers, the least expensive and easiest solution is usually either an SBC (e.g. Arduino) or a special purpose programmable timing device.
Great info. All that is foreign to me but I’ll learn it. The cheapest option is the $10.00 xmas light timer. That however teaches me nothing. I was hoping to buy $10.00 worth of components and build something that’ll cycle these cameras probably once every 8hrs.
I was going to suggest the sort of wall plug-in style timer you mention as the easiest, and in low quantity, the cheapest way to go. However, if you want to learn along the way, then I understand why that isn’t too satisfying.
If learning is part of your goal, I would recommend learning the Arduino platform with something like the A000066, as the standard platform,
and then you can miniaturize with something from this group. With some of the smaller ones, you can get closer to your price target.
With these you can get a relatively accurate clock base upon which to time your power cycles, and if you want real accuracy, you can connect them to an RTC (real time clock), which will give you a quite accurate time base and also keep track of minutes, hours, and even days, in some cases.
Here’s a few published Arduino timer projects to get you started, there are many more out there.
Thank you so much. All this is so overwhelming. Im sure once I get into it and pick up lingo itll get easier. I will absolutely look into these projects. Again Thank you
