Lighting Up Model Aircraft

This circuit provides aircraft modellers with extremely realistic beacon and marker lights at minimum  outlay. The project ’s Strobe out-put (A) provides four brief pulses repeated periodically for the wing  (white strobe) lights. In addition the Beacon output (B) gives a double pulse to drive a red LED for indicating the aircraft’s active operational status. On the proto-type this is usually a red rotating  beacon known as an Anti-Collision Light (ACL). The circuit is equally useful for road vehicle modellers, who can use it to flash headlights and blue emergency lights. 

Circuit diagram :

Lighting Up Model Aircraft Circuit Diagram

All signals are generated by a 4060 14-stage binary counter and some minimal output selection logic. Cycle time is determined by the way the internal oscillator is con-figured (resistor and capacitor on pins 9/10) and can be varied within quite broad limits. High-efficiency LEDs are your first choice for the indicators connected to the Bea-con and Strobe outputs (remember to fit series resistors appropriate to the operating voltage Ub and the current specified for the LED used). 

The sample circuit is for operating voltages between 5 and 12 V. Cur- rent flow through the two BS170 FET devices must not exceed 500 mA.

Author : Werner Ludwig