LED Chaser Circuit using CD4017 and NE555 Timer

You can build simple LED chaser circuits using CD4017 and NE555 timer. There are hundreds of projects in the internet for making such simple LED chaser circuits.

This is the schematic for a very basic 10 LED chaser circuit. It used a 10 uF capacitor for C1. The 10K pot can reduce the flash speed from not moving to whatever minimum time constant is possible with the C1 value you choose. Don’t bother with ultra-bright LEDs for these “chaser” projects as cheaper, lower millicandela (mcd) LEDS work fine. I favor blue and green LEDS. The 4017 decade counter is a fabulous part and can be driven to flash a row of LEDs with a 555 timer chip or a discrete BJT multivibrator.