need LED switcher/ controler/ adjustable ect.

[magyver]

well, just found this site, i have a AS degee in electromechanical (alot of info has been forgotten, been out of school for 6 years...) so i know a little about wiring ect.. so be gentle if you have ideas/or info.. as i have to relearn everything again..

ok, this is what i want to do.. i have some POS outdoor solar led malibu style lights.. they do not work well.. i want to wire up some of my own led's into these (useing the housing but hardwiring some led's into a circuit, no longer solar).

1: i would like them to change colors. this part i need the help on, i know they have RGB led's but the ones i have, green is 3X's as bright as blue so color mixing w/ those is almost non-existant. i got the idea from my underbody led kit.. it can change 7 colors and do 10 patterns.. it uses seperate red, green, and blue led's to get the 7 colors.. i just cant afford another controler to do so.. so is there somthing simular that could use say an RGB led w/ eqaul color outputs to do this and a controler that could do this? maybe a slight fade? or a simple momentary push button to select the color... if it could do a pattern it would be cool.. but not a big deal...

2: be able to do a solid color, and come back to that color when power is on after being off.. IE: if i want white, then white will come on daily, IE either a photo resistor or a timer.. so when it shuts off at dawn white, then it will come on at dusk white.. ya know? if not, not a big deal..

i basicly prefer to change colors or have on a solid one.. but being able to select it is key!

 

[Joel Rainville]

Hey magyver,

Cool project, but it's gonna be hard to get help if you don't come up with at least part of the answer. Try to sum up the project - it takes 2-3 reads to figure out what you really want, and even then it's not really that clear

You're talking about RGB LEDs. Do you mean 3 separate red, green and blue LEDs, or one LED that does it all? The most common tri-color LED isn't RGB, it's actually only RG that also gives you yellow, and shades from yellow to red to green... Do you have those RGB LEDs in your possesion?

Do you want the colors to smoothly blend into each other, or just rotate, with more of a blinking effect? Should it be automatic, or controlled by a dimmer-type of control?

Try to come up with a rough schematic, and give as much detail as you can...

 

[magyver]

ok, i edited it.. i think faster than i can type.. and i never stop to catch up..

and i do have RGB led's, but they hoover... green is 3X's as bright as red and blue..

 

[audioguru]

Your RGB LEDs probably have 4 wires and have 3 separate LEDs inside, with one wire as a common one to all.
Check whether the LEDs are common-cathode or common anode but must be the same as the controller. Then just use your under-car LED controller and connect the separate wires on the RGB LEDs to their proper drive point.
Dim the too-bright green part of the RGB LEDs with a series current-limiting resistor for each one. :lol:

 

[magyver]

well, thats what i was trying to avoid, using the undercar thing.. thats gonna be expensive, i was using that as an example of what i want, not what i want to use... and i beleive the RGB led's i have are common ground... i forget which is annode/cathode... but, i guess im looking for a simple switiching device.. i just cant afford another led undercar kit for this purpose...

 

[Joel Rainville]

well, thats what i was trying to avoid, using the undercar thing.. thats gonna be expensive, i was using that as an example of what i want, not what i want to use... and i beleive the RGB led's i have are common ground... i forget which is annode/cathode... but, i guess im looking for a simple switiching device.. i just cant afford another led undercar kit for this purpose...

You know you're 8 years too old to have lights under your car, right? :lol:

 

[magyver]

**broken link removed**

yeah, i have an obsession w/ lights, mostly LED's.. and if that makes me imature, fine.. who wants to grow up?!

 

[audioguru]

You want to use the 20 bucks worth of parts to make an LED controller like the ones sold for under-car for hundreds of bucks. Try finding the complicated circuit and pcb for it somewhere.

I am about 40 years too old (or more?) for the boom-boom bass coming from the sub-woofer in my new car! It sounds even better than the fantastic one I helped my son install for his car.
No, I don't have long hair in a pony-tail, never did. Sure, I'll let it grow, why not.

I grew up already. Not anymore. :lol:

 

[Joel Rainville]

Ok, that Pontiac looks pretty good with the lights. What I see on the streets though isn't always as tasty...

 

[magyver]

thanks.. i try to make it all tastefull, my whole car is one-off.. no body has 80% of my mods as they are all custom made.. i make my own tail/head lights as well as fiberglass all my own stuff.. if your a car guy, check my cardomain...

**broken link removed**

but i tried emailing the company that makes my undercar kit, but they are more interested in me buying a whole new controller for $75 bones.. i mean, all i want is the shcematic... but no dice.. i've tried that.. im not a noob when it comes to forums, i frequent about 7.. all i can say is i tried, but now i need the pro's help.. hopefully someone will have a idea for me..

is there a name of the thing im looking for? counter/divider/driver/? that i can use to search from? there is a schematic website that has thousands of circuits w/ all the necessary documentation.. but i dont know what to look under....http://www.discovercircuits.com/list.htm i just dont know what to look under.. every link has like 50 more so yeah...

 

[audioguru]

Hi Magyver,
Nicely lighted car. Up here in Canada the cops would drag it off the road and charge you with having a vehicle with non-factory lighting and color that impersonates a snowplow (blue lights are reserved for snowplows, even in summer).

You could spend a lot of time and parts by making a circuit to dim LEDs, another to sequence them in a chaser etc. or you can program a microcontroller to do all that stuff and much more.

 

[magyver]

the only thing i have experience on is an AB micrologix 1000.. its what is on my robot in my homepage link.. but that is large and is 24V, oh, and i dont have it... LOL

 

[jrz126]

:shock: Whoa...Somebody else that is obsessed with cars and LEDs...I have 62 blue leds in my headliner:
**broken link removed**
I designed my own controller to have them change patterns with the music as well.

I'm also considering the idea of replacing them with the RGB LEDs and putting some colorfading in there.

Oh yeah, and my Cardomain is https://www.cardomain.com/profile/jrz126

 

[magyver]

ok, do you have a link to your circits?

:shock: Whoa...Somebody else that is obsessed with cars and LEDs...I have 62 blue leds in my headliner:
**broken link removed**
I designed my own controller to have them change patterns with the music as well.

I'm also considering the idea of replacing them with the RGB LEDs and putting some colorfading in there.

Oh yeah, and my Cardomain is https://www.cardomain.com/profile/jrz126

 

[jrz126]

actually, I do...they arent very good though, and I think I might be missing one or 2 items.



link #1 is the logic circuit. and link 2 has the current limiting resistors and transitor arrays to provide extra current.

The clock and I/O in link #2 are connected to one of the outputs of 4017 IC's in link 1. they are just used to divide the clock signal, giving me a slower output.

This circuit is just for making single color leds light up in different patterns corresponding to the music though.

 

[magyver]

yeah, i have built that circut, and led chaser.. w/ a 4017 and a 4011 and had it adjustable.. but not quite what im looking for.. do you have the fader circuit available?

 

[jrz126]

oh...I was still in the thinking stage of that, I made a post about it a few weeks ago, might give you some ideas...
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/gear-tooth-sensor-air-gap.17411/#post-103666

 

[indecided]

I know this thread is a bit old, and whoever wanted to make the RGB fade/flasher is probably bored of it.

But here's a link anyways. Bit-Tech has had their Rainbow LED circut up since '03. And i've been wanting to build it since then.. which is now becoming a reality since I moved to the states. Check out the dude who built it with seperate LEDs, to be exact Lumiled Superfluxes. Whoooaaa. Tops the Mathmos Aduki!

https://www.bit-tech.net/article/92

Basically a 555 and a 4029 counter, and a couple of transistors to drive the output. And since apparently the green is 2-3 times brighter then the rest, you could just alter the resistor values.

Modding the circut for individual LEDs...what modification? You just need to wire them individually!

Check this guy's "aduki" out. I crave. Badly..scroll down.

https://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=14800&page=6&pp=20

 

[audioguru]

This spring, I bought some tri-colour fading solar-charged garden lights that were cheap and do the same thing. They have a real glass hollow globe with its surface sort of cracked or fractured so the tri-colour LED's light inside reflects from the cracks but can also be seen through the glass.

They are in planters on my ground-level deck and are bright enough to light the ceiling of my 2nd floor bedroom fairly far away.
Wifey: "What's that!". Me: "I dunno, is our deck on fire?".

They came with a stainless steel rod about 1/2m long for sticking in the ground and the solar pack is halfway down.

I got a similar indoor tri-colour fading LEDs thingy with a solid glass "fractured" globe cheaply and it is controlled with a uC that can do many different effects including sounds. It can vary the sound of birds chirping to the light, surf sound or a lightning storm. I can see all the digital steps in its fading.

Years ago I made some analog slowly fading LEDs thingys that use 3 ultra-bright LEDs fading at slightly different rates to produce all colours of the rainbow at slowly changing brightness levels randomly. My wifey says to "turn off that thing" but my daughter has had hers operating continuously for years. :lol:

 

[musthave]

well i guess we never grow up, Im 45 and still like flashing lights and loud music and i found the ultimate fading leds **broken link removed** they have video of it the first one is good think of the possibilities.