How to Make a Timer with More Red

Building the Loop

A timer is a Diode feeding back into itself through a Latch. Place a Diode, place a Latch, and wire the Latch output back to the Diode input. Each pass through the loop adds delay, so the Latch toggles at a steady rate.

Tuning the Rate

Add more Diodes in the loop to slow it down. Each Diode adds its own delay, so a loop of three Diodes is slower than a loop of one. Remove Diodes to speed it up.

If you want the timer to drive a machine rather than a lamp, run the Latch output into a Pulse Gate. The Pulse Gate converts the steady toggle into a clean pulse, which is what most machines expect on their input.

For a timer that only runs when a condition is met, put an AND Gate between the Latch and the output. Feed the Latch into one input and your condition into the other. The timer then only passes pulses while the condition is true.

Use the Hexidecrubrometer on the Latch to confirm it is actually toggling. If it never changes, the loop is broken — check that the Diode output reaches the Latch input and that the Latch output reaches the Diode input.