Electronics help with delay circuits

I want to create a circuit for my custom case i will be building, that when a button(toggle) is toggled to closed, the circuit will wait a few seconds, turn off the LEDs currently on in the case and turn on a different set, light up a different LED and turn a fan on high(bypass a resistor with transistor). the circuit will then light a few LEDs in order, and turn on some other LEDs, possibly along with some servos and flashing LEDS, then it will turn on two servos in order, and wait for you to toggle the switch off, it will then turn the servos in the opposite direction and fade the LEDs to blue (original color).

i was thinking of making this with 555 timers or a PIC, because i could also do alot of other stuff with my PIC. i need a guide for 555 delay circuirts, or on programming PICs

 

You can't do all that with a 555, if you have the rest sorted then use one, if not then use a TheAnimus, i mean PIC

 

hey i also like Atmels and arms

 

just the delay parts are the circuits i want, controll of leds and other stuff will be through transistors and other sub-circuits.

what i am looking for is if i can time a series of actions to happen with a 555, how to do it, and if not then some nice links to PIC programming

 

okay i think i should do a getting into PICs faq thing!
what do u need:

PIC Programmer:
Most important part, there are lots of options open to you, but regretably ones for under £70 tend not to be most reliable for ALL PICs so you must first decide which PIC series you are going to want to use.

PICs:
Last time i checked microchip had over 200 product lines, thatsa lota spicy meatballs.
So what you need to do is work out what your going to do, what your wanting to interface, and what sort of processing you need.
best PIC for someone getting started is (now) considered the 16F870
it has Analoge sampling capability on 4 pins, 22 digital IO pins (the 4 shared with analouge samping) and has a built in UART (used for serial communication makes it very easy to hook upto your rs232 port).
This PIC will set you back about £2

Prototype board + Components:
A Must have!
20mhz oscilator + * 15pf caps

links:
www.piclist.com
www.microchip.com

good books
Art of Electronics (desk referance for EVERY electronics student)
Programming and Customizing PICmicro mictrocontrollers (catchy name!)

 

hmm that sounds pretty complicated, maybe my current project should be just a bunch of 555 delay timers, i think the PICs will have to wait for my next project when i have the time to learn them

 

Its not something most people can learn overnight, most people take a week.

 

That could be an up/down counter with each output in turn switching over a flip-flop controlling the led or servo. Final output switching off the clock.

I'm more of a leg man, myself.

 

all you need is a StrongARM.

oh dear god, geek jokes.

 

If you only need a fairly simple delay, up to about 5-6 seconds, you could go with something as simple as a slightly modified version of my graphics card delay relay circuit. (See other thread in this forum)

Otherwise, for something slightly more sophisticated, go with the NE555 timer option. If you need more info on how to use them, R.A. Penfold has written a short book about them. You can obtain it in places such as Amazon and Maplins for about a fiver.

If you want something really fancy, go for the PIC. Best bit is that if you decide to completely change the timings in the future, or want it to change automatically once every hour for example, you won't need to change the circuit - just mod the software.

For a good intro guide, check out the one Hazer has made for us. (big thumbs up!!)

Two points.
1) Yes. Bad geek joke. (I wonder how many people here got it?)
2) (Trying to take it seriously!) 203MHz is rather an overkill for switching on a light... "How many StrongARMs does it take to switch on a lightbulb?!"

Arrgh. You've got me at it too now.

 

Bodger currently my RISC PC is just sitting gathering dust, in a little shrine, with some dead Pentium 1's (MMX of course) as an offering

No ne way before this becomes an where wintel got it wrong thread, there is no way any micro higher than a PIC should be used for this sorta thing. (Ie, no atmel, no dragonball, no ARM).

 

I agree. One question though - if you were starting out doing PICs now, what PIC would you choose for starters? Personally, I'd still go with the 16F84, since it has a reasonable range of features and there is a freeware C compiler available for it. But what does everyone else think?

Edit: just noticed your recommendation for the 16F870 above. Is there a freeware C compiler available for it yet?