Project: Headlights Timer with a BC547

Pushing on P1 allows C1 charging to full 12V battery supply. Therefore Q1 is driven hard-on, driving in turn Q2 and its Relay load. The headlights are thus activated by means of the Relay contact wired in parallel to the vehicle headlight switch. RL1 remains activated until C1 is almost fully discharged, i.e. when its voltage falls below about 0.7V. The timing delay of the circuit depends by C1 and R1 values and was set to about 1min. and 30sec. In practice, due to electrolytic capacitors wide tolerance value, this delay will vary from about 1min. and 30sec. to 1min. and 50sec. An interesting variation is to use the inside lamp as a command source for the timer. In this way, when the door is opened C1 is charged, but it will start to discharge only when the door will be closed, substituting pushbutton operation. To enable the circuit acting in this way, simply connect the cathode of a 1N4002 diode to R1-C1 junction and the anode to the live lead of the inside lamp. This lead can be singled-out using a voltmeter, as it is the lead where a 12V voltage can be measured in respect to the vehicle frame when the lamp is on.