Hi, first time to the forums and recent electronics experimenter. Been doing XBox case mods so I've learned alot about electronics and wiring, etc. What I want to do is make a basic light chaser type circuit. I live in Canada and there are no parts stores here except Radio Shack. They sell a 555 timer which I understand I will need to buy a 4017 chips to increment the illuminated lights. Would something like a 74HC/HCT4020; 14-stage binary ripple counter do the same basic idea or anything else from RadioShack.ca that I could buy locally. If not, where can I order a 4017 in Canada if possible. Any links to primers that may help me understand more would be appreciated as this is something that's always been an interest to me and I'm finally in a position to learn it and apply it. Thanks for your help.

 

.. if you want to order on the internet, you could try

http://dkc1.digikey.com/ca/digihome.html

That's the Canadian homepage for DigiKey

There is also Electrosonic,

http://www.e-sonic.com/acc/home.aspx

Between the 2 of them you can get any part you could ever think of.

There are quite a few cicuits here on the board, using "search" will turn up a few.

here's a link to a ton of LED flashing circuits:

http://www.commlinx.com.au/led.htm

 

Hi,
The 4020 (or equivalent) won't count in decimal (and give the scanning effect) like a 4017, it will count in binary (with outputs Q2&Q3 not available). I don't know of any other single chip solutions like the 4017 short of using a PIC, but you could use a 7490-type counter with a 74145 or 7442 for ten "scanning" type outputs -OR- a 7493-type counter and a 74154 for sixteen outputs ...
Of course these are "TTL" numbers, I'd probably look for 74LS, 74HC, 74F or 74AS numbers, since you don't see too many old TTL chips floating around these days.
JB