I'm trying to find a simple and easy design for a project my friend decided to build and now needs help with (of course!). He has built a 6 foot light house at a local hang out and needs a simple flashing light circuit. We are trying to create a circuit that would flash on 4 seconds off 2 etc. He has it wired for 120VAC with all the bells and whistle for the light house, with the exception of the light. He left that part to me. I'm new to creating circuits and seek some expert advice....all info is greatly appreciated!! Thanks
well, in short, the best way to make is look nasatlig is to add a spinning light, using a mirror and motor with a steady on light, but if he realy wants a flashing light, its very possible.. im not sure how tho.. hehe
the best way is to use a 555 circuit.
i can make the flashing circuit, but i am not sure how to drive the bulb. is the light a 120V or is it low voltage
i'll be back with the schematic soon.
You will probably need some zero-crossing detection in your drive-circuit, otherwise the music in the hangout might suffer. I *think* the MOC3020 optocoupler does exactly that. It may be the 3040 as well (or was it the 3021 - ahh, the stuff people forget). Just enter them in Google and I'm sure you'll find all the application notes you'll ever need.
The alternatives are a noise cancellation circuit with very expensive coils, or synchronising the 555 timer with the net frequency - don't immediately know how to do that, other than "AND"ing the timer output with a zero crossing pulse.