"bada bing" "bada boom"

[timothyjackson]

Anybody seen or got a "simple" LED pusling circuit?

Looking for something real real simple.

Seen a fantastic one at: www.radiohardware.net/index.php?id=5

Is this as simple as it gets?

Good Luck to you all.

Timbo

 

[Exo]

That link doesn't work over here...

 

[Optikon]

Anybody seen or got a "simple" LED pusling circuit?

Looking for something real real simple.

Seen a fantastic one at: www.radiohardware.net/index.php?id=5

Is this as simple as it gets?

Good Luck to you all.

Timbo

simple as it gets: buy one that blinks.

 

[timothyjackson]

...the link

www.rabidhardware.net/index.php?id=5


I want it to slowly pulse on and off, not blink.

 

[jrz126]

you mean like fading on and off (like the animation at the bottom of that page? **broken link removed**)? I dont think it gets any easier than that.

you'll have to describe what you're looking for better, isn't pulsing on and off the same as blinking?

or do you want it to blink slowly?
If that's the case you could use an astable 555 timer, with some potentiometers so that you could adjust the flash rate.
You could also use the 555 to control the amount of time that the led is on compared to the amount of time the led is off. (the led would be off for say, a second, then turn on for about 1/4 of a second. then turn off for another second)

Dunno if it'll help at all, but theres a bunch of led schematics here **broken link removed**

 

[timothyjackson]

fading on and off... yep...thats a better way to describe it...

hopefully the original circuit should do.....??

any ideas on how to wire up the 555?

Im new to electronics...so i suppose, if you adjust the ratings of the capacitors and resistors, one can adjust the fading rate??

timbo

:?

 

[jrz126]

if you want them to fade, then you dont need the 555, just build that schematic shown. you should just have to adjust the value of the cap to adjust the fading rate?

That link i gave you in my last post is the same schematic, but there's a much better description of the operation.

 

[timothyjackson]

....ok......would i adjust the capacitor value up or down??? remember... i am in the deep end of the pool here without shorts let alone a paddle.

Thanks for your feedback.. much appreciated.

Timbo

 

[jrz126]

I would think that increasing the cap. would cause a longer fade, but i might be wrong. I'd suggest building the circuit and just change out the cap and see what happens. maybe try changing the 100k resistor too.

 

[Roff]

you mean like fading on and off (like the animation at the bottom of that page? **broken link removed**)? I dont think it gets any easier than that.

you'll have to describe what you're looking for better, isn't pulsing on and off the same as blinking?

or do you want it to blink slowly?
If that's the case you could use an astable 555 timer, with some potentiometers so that you could adjust the flash rate.
You could also use the 555 to control the amount of time that the led is on compared to the amount of time the led is off. (the led would be off for say, a second, then turn on for about 1/4 of a second. then turn off for another second)

Dunno if it'll help at all, but theres a bunch of led schematics here **broken link removed**

Bill Bowden has the transistor installed correctly. **broken link removed** has emitter and collector swapped.
To adjust the fade rate, change the resistor between pins 2 and 7 to a pot in series with a resistor. Changing the cap will change the adjustment range if you use the pot.

 

[williB]

You can make the rate adjustable by using a 100K potentiometer in place of the 47K resistor at pin 2.

hmm i was thinking of using the triangular wave output of a voltage controlled oscillator to make LED's fade in and out..

 

[timothyjackson]

jrz126, Ron H, and williB. Thank you all so much for your time and comments. Much appreciated. I will begin building this simple circuit tonight. Hopefully it will be a success and continue to give me more confidence to learn about electronics.

You know, sometimes I don't have the patience to learn..i just want to jump on in there and do it. - any how.

good luck to you all...

timbo

 

[audioguru]

I built 3 fading LED circuits in 1 box using red, green and blue ultra-bright LEDs. The LEDs fade at slightly different rates and the colours mix randomly when shining on the ceiling. It makes thousands of colours including white. A linear ramp doesn't smoothly dim very low because your vision is logarithmic, so I put the timing caps in a bootstrap arrangement so that they charge and discharge logarithmicly. My fading rates are really slow: 8 to 10 seconds up and the same down. Try it, it looks cool.
Now the store sells a digital one where the LEDs shine on a glass ball with reflective bubbles inside. Its fading jerks in about 16 or 32 steps. It does many combinations of LED tricks and even includes sounds such as waves and birds! My LEDs look better because they fade very smoothly.

 

[jrz126]

no problem, a big part of learning is asking questions when you don't understand.

 

[timothyjackson]

I built 3 fading LED circuits in 1 box using red, green and blue ultra-bright LEDs. The LEDs fade at slightly different rates and the colours mix randomly when shining on the ceiling. It makes thousands of colours including white. A linear ramp doesn't smoothly dim very low because your vision is logarithmic, so I put the timing caps in a bootstrap arrangement so that they charge and discharge logarithmicly. My fading rates are really slow: 8 to 10 seconds up and the same down. Try it, it looks cool.
Now the store sells a digital one where the LEDs shine on a glass ball with reflective bubbles inside. Its fading jerks in about 16 or 32 steps. It does many combinations of LED tricks and even includes sounds such as waves and birds! My LEDs look better because they fade very smoothly.

Do you have this circuit to share????pretty please///

 

[audioguru]

Hi Tim,
I'll post my Fantastic Fading LEDs circuit as a project after finding my misplaced design file.
If you like bright, but fading LED circuits, try my Plants Watering Watcher-2 project. It is fairly small, with an LED that flashes and dims according to the resistance (dryness) of a plant's soil: low-resistance wet soil makes it flash very dimly and high-resistance dry soil makes it flash brightly as a warning. It's an impedance meter too since it has AC at its probes to avoid unplating and corrosion. It runs for a long, long time on only two AAA battery cells. My project is here:
https://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/science/018/index.html

 

[timothyjackson]

fantastic. love it.

is this your job or your hobby??

I need help translating circuit diagrams into actual board. Im stuck on one particular schematic, a little complicated - don't know where the wires/components connections should go....

timbo..

 

[audioguru]

Hi Tim,
I was a tech but retired now that I am still fairly young. My last employer keeps calling me to help them with this, that and the other. Now I charge them 4 times what they were paying before! Since they are an electronics manufacturer, their 1500 local dealers also keep calling me to help them. You could call me a consultant now, but electronics will always be my hobby.

In my project I show a Veroboard layout. Hey, Veroboard is made in the UK (but I used a pretty good Chinese copy)! Veroboard has its printed copper strips going horizontally, and the parts and a few wire jumpers (straight lines) go vertically on the top of the board. 3 jumpers go under the IC. 4 jumpers connect to and hold the probes. A few cuts are made in the copper strips with a hand-drill and are shown by a red "X". A daughter board is added to the main board with 8 short wires. It keeps the electronics the same size as the battery holder.
Clear as mud? Just try it.

 

[timothyjackson]

4 x the rate, respect to you.

Just hit my first stumbling block for the bill bowden circuit. It doesn't work! hehe. Don't know why. Some of the wiring configurations are a little confusing.

Let me know when you fantastic fader is up on electronics-lab.

Take care

timbo

 

[audioguru]

Hi Tim,
Your "eyes" circuit doesn't work? Is it the one with the single transistor?
Which wiring configuration was confusing? Do you have a voltmeter?

Looking at the schematic I can see that Bill Bowden's circuit is very dependent on battery voltage and the forward voltage drop of the LEDs.
If the battery voltage drops a bit to 8.0V or less under load, and the LEDs have a forward voltage drop of 2.5V each or more, then the LEDs won't light at all! Many green, blue and white LEDs have a forward voltage drop of 3V or more. Most red LEDs are 1.8V to 2.2V and should be fine.