Hey guys, just started tinkering about a week ago. I build a "flip flop" LED board yesterday using **broken link removed** and it all lights up, and flip flops, but the lights do not change color at an even pace. The pattern is as follows : red for a second, then a flash of blue, repeat. I've been messing w/ resistors to the LEDs, and it's made slight differences, but nothing big. should i change the resistors to the capacitors?
The base resistors and the capacitors are mainly responsible for the frequency, if it's not pretty even it may be because you've got a wrong value?, or one of the capacitors the wrong way round?
the caps are right. what do you mean i might "have a wrong value"? it's basically like the red is always on and the blue is always off. but then it flickers to blue, with the red never fully going out...
I hate being new at stuff, b/c i dont know how to exactly explain it. haha oh well. thanks, keep the ideas coming. What else can i do that would be fun with LEDs and radioshack parts?
Make sure that the resistors are of the correct value (470hm: should be yellow-violet-brown and 10khm: should be brown - black - orange) or, better yet, measure them with a DMM.
It is easy to read the wrong color as some reds and oranges are very similar.
If, for example, you used 1khm: instead of one of the 10khm:, then one of the leds will be on for one tenth of the desired time.
giant_kyle said:
it's basically like the red is always on and the blue is always off. but then it flickers to blue, with the red never fully going out...
I hate being new at stuff, b/c i dont know how to exactly explain it. haha oh well. thanks, keep the ideas coming. What else can i do that would be fun with LEDs and radioshack parts?
The original circuit uses a red led an a green one, and you say you used a blue led. Different color leds have different voltage drops, so test the circuit first with two red leds or one red ans one green as in the original circuit.
What happens if you replace the blue LED with a red one? Does it even out? The blue should drain the cap a good deal faster than the red one, assuming it's not a super-bright red LED.
I failed to make sure my brain was in gear before engaging my keyboard. The different LED value would just affect the brightness, not the flash time, unless I'm still screwing it up.
all works well guys. thanks. now i want to make something that will detect when i'm getting a phonecall on my cingular phone, and blink a LED. any ideas??
all works well guys. thanks. now i want to make something that will detect when i'm getting a phonecall on my cingular phone, and blink a LED. any ideas??
the legend i was using to "decode" my resistors was wrong, so i swapped out all 4, and BOOM perfection. any ideas about the phone call detector? that'd be neat in my jetta.
BTW, i made these to mimic police lights for my RC truck. These are going to work perfectly!!! thanks again, now onto the cell phone call detector
the legend i was using to "decode" my resistors was wrong, so i swapped out all 4, and BOOM perfection. any ideas about the phone call detector? that'd be neat in my jetta.
BTW, i made these to mimic police lights for my RC truck. These are going to work perfectly!!! thanks again, now onto the cell phone call detector
haha, i found one here so i just need to run to RS and buy up some parts. I usually have my music up so i dont hear my phone. so a visual LED, perhaps mounted on my GPS would def get my attention.