Time is probably the most commonly controlled process variable. Timers are all over the place in industrial control. Odds are, if you need some type of timer, no matter how strange, you can find it off the shelf.
Now, many of these timers used a chip usually referred to as the “555.” The LM555 originally made by (I think; someone will correct me) National Semiconductor was a very versatile device, but it was at the heart of many time-delay relays, short timing circuits, etc.
So once upon a time, if you wanted to build a basic timer, odds are you would wire up a 555 into a circuit. To build a handful, or just one, you’d use a perf board,
maybe you might use wire wrap or even dead-bug construction (my favorite!)
It would be time consuming,but maybe you had no choice because the timer had some weird requirement that no off the shelf timer had, or needed to fit into an oddly shaped space.
What does this have to do with Arduinos? Well, you can program any timing sequence into an Arduino. Say you want the heater on a commercial ironing board to come on for five seconds when the operator lowers it, a 555 does it easily. If you want the heater to come on for five seconds and when the board is raised again, a fan to blow for 10 seconds to cool the clothing, the 555 can still be used. Maybe you need two of them. But now, the Arduino becomes an easier solution. Whether you need one time sequence, or dozens, a single Arduino can be programmed to do it. When you factor in the labor of wiring a circuit board with the 555, the low off the shelf price of the Arduino makes it even more attractive.
This is the wonder of the time we live in: an off the shelf microprocessor board is now inexpensive enough to be used for logic replacement.
Amazing
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