Electronic – Cheap and simple solution for low frequency (period about tens of seconds) pulse generator

555pulseschematics

I need to generate a pulse each let's say 30 seconds. I don't need this period to be any precise (20…40 seconds fluctuation will be OK). The pulse duration should be about 1 ms.

I tried to implement NE555 for this but looks like NE555 don't intended for generation this low frequencies as it would need a relatively big capacitor (I'd like to stay within small and cheap CMD technology so 10uF cap is a maximum) and many MOhms resistors. This can lead me to the topology leakage problems.

So I tried to look for any counting solution but looks like that I will be able to get 100kHz divided by 64K as a maximum which is definitely not enough.

Next I tried to look at the watchdog timers. However after initial filtering I see that the longest period is 1.6 seconds and the lowest price is 33 cents.

Important note: I'd like to have this solution as cheap as possible. I hope to fit within 10-15 cents for BOM of this circuit.

Is there anything staying out of my sight? Any thoughts?

Best Answer

A counting solution is the way to go, if you start with a frequency of 1 kHz and use a 15 bit counter you will get 30.5 mHz. Using a 14 bit counter like CD4060 is also possible if you start with 500 Hz. A second NE555 may be used for the puls width of 1 ms.