The 555 chip is definitely one of the most well used and versatile devices going. I am not sure that your modification will be quite right for the use you mention, but just Google something like "555 monostable" and you should be able to get your circuit to give a desired delay. Experiment...

Why not do a complete service on the board? Other things than just caps can fail, such as switches, diodes, LEDs and so on ...

Or you could see if there are replacement boards available on Ebay?

Take the greatest care with mains electricity. It can be lethal, so switch off when working with 230v!

Hello

You could try Ebay - they often have out of the usual devices.

Hello. The main difference is that over-current protection comes into effect when a current increases from a design limit. This may be anything from less than 1% to any amount of tolerated current. Short circuit current is probably a fault where there may be no real limit or knowledge of the size of...

Hello Your ideas about heat, and cracks in the board are sound. The second pic shows he internal fuses on the board, marked as F1, F2 etc. If you have a meter, it would be an idea to get the machine into a working condition and check that the voltage remains the same on the fuses when compared to a ...

Hello.

Sorry - no pics coming through. Ask Simon, the webmaster

Hello I am very surprised that you did not find a suitable switch in a net search. Try Amazon and look for 'remote switches for 230v switching ' and be prepared for a huge number. I think you may find you will focus on the type you need in quite a short time. I looked at a single page and found some...

Hello. The difficulty I have when looking at your pics is that there is a bit of information overload because I do not know what the items are that you have bought, or indeed, what they are for. Do you have any schematics or manuals? Without them you may be rather up the creek without a paddle. I am...

Hello Have you considered making a separate PSU, with a mains transformer/bridge/cap/three-terminal regulator (such as LM 7805 - there are very many about)? You common the input to the regulators and take the output to feed the USB. A small cap, say .01 uF should decouple each USB +ve line. Don't fo...

Hello If the colours are (L to R) red, black, black, gold, then it is probably a 20 ohm resistor. I am likewise puzzled with the white bands, but these may well be extra bands to denote type of resistive material, stability, voltage rating (yes, resistors do have them!) and so on. Look at the resist...