Many integrated circuits have undocumented features or abilities. This is one of them. The TLC555 output (pin 3) can sink a 100mA load to 1.28V. The open drain transistor reset (pin 7) can sink 100mA ...
Relays continue to be useful and popular, but in low-power, battery operated applications they tend to be power wasters. The following relay economy circuits reduce coil power significantly by simply ...