(as a few had noticed, I had an error in the schematic shown. It’s been updated, thanks!)
A recent question from a friend who made a really cool BlinkM hoodie was: How can you turn a momentary button press into an on/off toggle?
There are tons of ways to do this if you like getting into electronics. Most all work off of some flip-flop like principle. And while I could have suggested a true flip-flop chip, I thought it would be cooler if you could use a 555 timer chip (which contains a single flip-flop and a couple of comparators). After scouring my childhood collection of Forrest Mims electronics books and a few 555 timer devoted websites (two of the best I found were: http://www.bowdenshobbycircuits.info/ & http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm), I cobbled together the following circuit based off a few almost-what-I-wanted examples.
This is what it looks like in use:
The schematic is pretty straightforward, but does use a bit of feedback trickery to get the toggle functionality:
(old incorrect version here)
The parts cost is pretty low. The 555 timer chip can be had for about $0.43, the 2N3904 transistor for ~$0.40, and various resistors & capacitors are essentially free if you have them.
The circuit has 3 external two-pin connections: 5V&Gnd, button input, and the two pins of the thing to switch. In this case, the switched thing is a power supply to a BlinkM.
By changing the transistor to a beefier one, you can switch much larger loads. The little 2N3904 transistor in there now can switch around 200mA, but a bigger NPN or FET transistor and you could switch a few amps.
It can be made pretty small on a tiny breadboard (courtesy of FunGizmos.com) like this:
It’s not the greatest for battery-powered applications. When “off” it draws about 4-6mA, depending on the brand of 555 timer chip you use. When on it draws that plus whatever power the switched device draws. Best to put a proper power switch on the battery pack to eliminate this quiescent drain.
