leo.j.arnold
New Member
Hi guys,
Thanks for all your posts! I've made some progress in the past few days...as I work for a department of a university I got in contact with two electronics lecturers who have been helping me. They have written a PIC program and decided the best solution would be to have 10 PICs controlling the LEDs. With every press of the button the next output of the PIC goes high, when the 10th output is reached every press of the button flashes the 11th output high which is linked to the next PIC in the chain. I am using 10mA high efficiency LEDs with 470ohm resistors, hopefully the PICs will be able to handle having 10 on at once, going to do some testing next week when it is assembled to see if heat sinks are required on the chips. I've got hold of a 5V 2A power supply which should do the job ok.
Also the lecturers have access to PCB making facilities so they've also designed me a board for the PICs. It's still going to be close in terms of hitting the deadline, can see a few late nights coming my way and my weekend will be spent soldering LEDs...
Will post some pictures of the finished thing when it's done next week!! Gotta say that I really like the plastic tube and marbles idea, wish I'd thought of that a week ago!! One of my other ideas pitched to my boss was a Connect 4 style thermometer made out of clear perspex, but clearly that wasn't exciting enough for him.
Thanks again!
Leo
Thanks for all your posts! I've made some progress in the past few days...as I work for a department of a university I got in contact with two electronics lecturers who have been helping me. They have written a PIC program and decided the best solution would be to have 10 PICs controlling the LEDs. With every press of the button the next output of the PIC goes high, when the 10th output is reached every press of the button flashes the 11th output high which is linked to the next PIC in the chain. I am using 10mA high efficiency LEDs with 470ohm resistors, hopefully the PICs will be able to handle having 10 on at once, going to do some testing next week when it is assembled to see if heat sinks are required on the chips. I've got hold of a 5V 2A power supply which should do the job ok.
Also the lecturers have access to PCB making facilities so they've also designed me a board for the PICs. It's still going to be close in terms of hitting the deadline, can see a few late nights coming my way and my weekend will be spent soldering LEDs...
Will post some pictures of the finished thing when it's done next week!! Gotta say that I really like the plastic tube and marbles idea, wish I'd thought of that a week ago!! One of my other ideas pitched to my boss was a Connect 4 style thermometer made out of clear perspex, but clearly that wasn't exciting enough for him.
Thanks again!
Leo