Oscillators are everywhere in electronics.  They are a basic building block upon which the whole structure of electronics and computers is based.  This kit looks at the 3 basic types of multivibrators.  They are designed to have zero, one or two stable states; the astable (the prefix "a" means "not") or free running MV, the monostable MV (also called the one-shot) and the flip-flop or bistable ("Bi" means 2, bistable means 2 stable states.)  In the flip-flop MV a trigger pulse or control signal is required to change from one state to the other.   MV's use regenerative (positive) feedback; the active components present within the circuit operate as switches being alternately cutoff or driven into saturation.   These circuits have now largely been replaced by timer IC's like the 555.   However, a basic understanding of them is still essential since they are still used in many circuits.

This kit builds each of these three circuits and allows you to experiment with them.   To understand how these circuits work will also make sure you have an understanding of resistors, capacitors, RC characteristics, the transistor as a switch and the light emitting diode (LED).

Operates with 9vDC.