new member needing a lot of help

[robx1r]

hey there i'm trying to make a new set of rear LED indicators for my car
but i want it to go like the one on the left can anyone help me out on this or any ideas

 

[Sceadwian]

Micro controller.

 

[robx1r]

can you elobarte i'm not used to components at all!!!! sorry i know ya probably get tis all the time


i was thinkin of linkin 3 of these per side to get the desired affect?

Waterproof Aluminum Module LED Manufacturer

 

[Sceadwian]

Microcontroller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[colin55]

Do you want even-spacing between the LEDs?

Use a bar-graph chip or a stair-case of transistors.

 

[robx1r]

yeah i was going to use 3 evenly spaced blocks ind i'm trying to keep it simple and compact so it can fit in the light housing

 

[colin55]

How many LEDs?

Give us a lot more information. We are not mind-readers.

 

[robx1r]

sorry mate i posted up the one block i was thinking of using

it would be 3 blocks of 9 leds

 

[colin55]

How does 3 blocks of 9 LEDs reference to the animated drawings you have supplied?

Can you be more specific.

 

[Sceadwian]

Each block is going to be one dot. He's looking for a simple directional light bar. I'd just use a simple micro controller and whatever driver circuit for the LED modules. The modules say they run directly off 12 volts so I'm not even sure they need a full driver or just a simple transistor switch. Keep in mind RobXr1 that if this is for a vehicle in the United states that the only colour you can use is yellow, red blue or green are not allowed for civilian use. I recommend a micro controller to sequence the LED's because the pattern you're looking for would be needlessly difficult to do in discrete logic.

 

[robx1r]

How does 3 blocks of 9 LEDs reference to the animated drawings you have supplied?

Can you be more specific.

i'm rubish at art

no as Sceadwian said i'm just looking for a simple solution, or ideas for that matter

and i'm in ireland i'm not getting rid if the amber casing just replacing the bulb with this unit

are micro controlers hard to programme etc etc???

heres a pic of the car

 

[colin55]

You still have not answered my question.
Did you know the Irish were the first to invent paper.
The only problem they had was perfecting white ink.

 

[robx1r]

You still have not answered my question.
Did you know the Irish were the first to invent paper.
The only problem they had was perfecting white ink.

which question is that?
and i'll ignore the subtle snubery

 

[ccurtis]

are micro controlers hard to programme etc etc???

No; not if you know how. If you don't know how, you will have to learn. Or, just as you are doing here, you can ask for help and maybe someone will actually help you. Imagine that.

 

[robx1r]

thanks as i said i've a very basic knowledge of circuitry, tbh i havent really a notion of how to get this to work

 

[colin55]

How does 3 blocks of 9 LEDs equate to the animation you have provided above?

 

[robx1r]

How does 3 blocks of 9 LEDs equate to the animation you have provided above?

i'm rubish at art

it was a sketch the number of lit up leds has no importance be 3 or 5 i presume the theory can stretch that far?

 

[Sceadwian]

Rob, as long as you're comfortable with technical terminology and aren't afraid to read micro controllers are relatively easy to start with. There two schools of thought around here primarily, AVR's and PIC's. There are more PIC users here (I use AVR's) but either one has good support. There are free basic compilers for both AVR and PIC lines and for someone new to micro controllers as long as you can get the software installed and read a few instructions you'll be blinking LED's in no time. You would have to make a transistor driver for the LED modules as well micro controller only put out a little bit of current, so you need to determine the current they draw when they're on.
For that particuar animation the scrolling string a micro controller would be the easiest sollution. You could have 1 LED on at a time scrolling left or right with simpler digital logic like a 555 and a shift register, but a micro controller and driving circuit give you more flexibility and an overall simpler setup.
Programmers for micro controllers are relativly cheap. Bellow is some starting reading, give it some thought.

Atmel AVR - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PIC microcontroller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Common Atmel chips are slightly to seriously faster than common PICs and are easier to program in assembly, but for your usage either would work fine.

 

[colin55]

Before you contemplete using a microcontroller, why don't you just tell us what you want to do.
I don't know why you have been told about micro's when no-one even knows what you want to do.

 

[Sceadwian]

Colin. I thought his post had been clear the animation made sense to me.
He wants to light up a string of LED's going from left to right until they're all lit. And then turn them off one at a time from left to right until they're all off. It will give the appearance of a moving line. All the ambulances around here have turn signals that do this. I'm going to guess that he of also wants to be able to go from right to left as either a turn signal or caution indicator. You'd have a hard time replicating that pattern using discrete logic. You could get something like it easily, but not that particular pattern.