Lamp project

[staboss]

Hi everybody, first post.

I have a light design that i need help with so here goes;
i has sound detector to turn the light on but i also want a dimmer switch on it, as well as this it has a motor to slowly turn the lights around.
What are the possable ways of doing this, thinking about cost first.

Help appreciated
Thanks

 

[Vizier87]

bottom-up approaches like yours are hard to explain. I'll give one part of your jigsaw puzzle: Sensors (sound detector) gives output which need to be processed, I suggest use microcontrollers ( for tutorials) and to turn on lights you'll need relays or/and transistors which will be driven by the microcontrollers too.

You'll bite off more than you can chew dude, the way you posted the question.

 

[Mike odom]

We don't know what kind of lamp load you want to drive, power or voltage.

Here's one way it can be done. decoder sets variable on time. retrigger would be constant, so as to create a pwm signal. It may need a 556 (dual 555). The front end is what 'the Clapper' uses, hint: it processes sound (needs two sharp pulses w/i one second to issue a clock pulse) and it doesn't have a micro on it. Instead of the ctr/decoder, it has a bistable f/f to give on or off condition. I modified one to work on 9V instead of 120VAC (it uses a zener to regulate 12V for it's circuit board) and turn on a buzzer.

 

[Mike odom]

I also see there is a thread going " Need help with 555 PWM with current limiter" in this same section.

 

[staboss]

what if i was to get pre assembled components i.e clapper project kit, dimmer switch etc, how would i go about attaching these together ( total newbie)

 

[Hero999]

Good suggestion but I think this will require something more complicated than a 555 timer, although you could use the same bootstrapping mechanism with a PIC which will enable you to just connect the circuit in series with the load.

What voltage is the lamp?

If it's AC, you need a TRIAC and it will become much harder to have a simple series connection but it shouldn't be impossible.

 

[Mike odom]

I'm not sure. You raise some pretty significant problems when you say 'toal newbie'...

Can you solder? If not, google soldering techniques or tutorials... soldering is the only reliable method for attaching electronic parts together.

How will you build your interface circuit? Breadboard, copper clad, etch pcb, solderless breadboard??? Do you know what each of these are?

You still haven't described your load or power source.

How familiar are you with electronic parts? If you tear the clapper apart, will you know what you are looking at, or do we need to guide you step by step? It's been 15 years since I tore one apart.

 

[staboss]

i was thinking of getting one of these >>**broken link removed** and some how linking it to dimming light and a motor.

I can solder a bit but not very advanced things.

 

[Hero999]

That's just an on-off switch, I thought you wanted a dimmer?

What about a voice activated dimmer?

Here's a Star Teck dimmer:
Star Trek Voice Activated Light Switch & Dimmer - Geek Your Home - Office Desk Toys, Geek Swag & Cool Gadgets at KlearGear.com

Here's a smarter dimmer which isn't as fun:
Voice-Activated Dimmer Does What It's Told - Christmas Lights - Gizmodo

It talks about a clap activated version but I couldn't find it, maybe it's discontinued?

 

[Mike odom]

You still haven't described your load or power source.

see above quote.

That board looks ok and you can pull the clock pulse going into the micro to feed your dimmer circuit, but it seems like it's more than you need. The microphone front end isn't that bad. I once built a traffic light that switched on noise level from green to yellow to red for use in a school cafeteria. I didn't know how much gain I would need on my front end, so I built a prototype with mulitple gains set by dip switches and took my wife out to a restaurant to test it and set the ambient background gain. I don't have access to the schematic I used as it was for work and it went into my work notebook, but I do have the prototype I built and can retrace that for you.

Any electec micro amp schematic will work, you're just trying to put a driver on the output. The output of the amp will have a potentiometer to set the level at which the input sound causes the output driver to trigger. Since you are 'clocking' a logic chip, you don't want slow rise/fall times (analog circuit). That's why you see the 'scmitt trigger driver' ouput of the amp circuit. This will trigger at a certain 'threshold' level on the input and give a nice clean 'fast' edge on the output to the clock of the next device.

A project may seem 'daunting' at first, but by developing a block diagram (like the one I gave you) and then tackling one block at a time and getting each piece working before going on to the next you accomplish two things: you can see progress in steps as you go, and if you hook everything together and it doesn't work, you won't know what's wrong or where to start looking.

I would suggest you do the input block first. If you want to 'buy' it instead of build it, that's a project consideration (save time over money). If you have the time to build it, I would suggest building it. This is a simple project and it would enormously enrich your knowledge of how electronics work. Buying off the shelf and mixing and matching is what an EET does - EEs design their own!!!! (or know when it's best to buy off the shelf).

 

[Mike odom]

see above quote.

I do have the prototype I built and can retrace that for you.

I'll be out of town the next two days but can post that by Saturday if you want it. Else, if you proceed to purchase, we can work on the dimmer circuit. When your board arrives we can then test it.