mindlessmalk
New Member
Hello everyone!
I have been working with folks at electronics-lab.com and have build my very first circuit board after hundreds of back and forth messages. I think i may have burned out my resources there . Anyway I figure the more input i can get the better.
I am still pretty new to circuit design, though i am now able to read a schematic, and I am confident that i can put it together once i have the design... So here goes...
I need to make a circuit that will power about 30 white LEDs. I want them to turn on and off quickly (like a flash) in a random fashion, so that it creates a twinkling effect. Ideally the circuit would apply a random voltage for a random amount of time to a random LED.
I assume I will need some kind of timing IC (maybe a 555?) but it seems like there will need to be a lot more.
I would like to be able to adjust the timing in one way or another, so i will be using small pots instead of resistors in some places. I find this helps me to understand how the circuit is really working.
I have been scouring the net for any kind of schematic that would help me out. So far i am empty-handed.
Here is what i think i need:
I will have to arrange the LEDs into smaller groups.
Hopefully i can find some kind of IC that will take a single input voltage at one pin, and send an output voltage to a series of pin (perhaps 4 or 5).
The IC would control which of the 5 pins receives the output voltage, and only one of the 5 pins would receive a voltage at any given moment.
This way i could set up a group of controller ICs (maybe 6-8 of them) to control each of the 30-40 LEDs that i wil have on a board.
Using this method, only one LED from each IC could be lit at any one time, so a maximum of 6-8 LEDs will be lit simultaneously.
The part i am having trouble with is finding what type of IC would fit the bill.
I am looking for an IC that will generate a random signal to one of its (many) output pins.
Someone from the other forum told me to look into PICs, which i do not have any experience with. What type of PIC would be best suited for this job?
As usual i will continue to scour the net for anything that will help.
Any ideas? I would appreciate any nudge in the right direction.
Thanks,
Nate
I have been working with folks at electronics-lab.com and have build my very first circuit board after hundreds of back and forth messages. I think i may have burned out my resources there . Anyway I figure the more input i can get the better.
I am still pretty new to circuit design, though i am now able to read a schematic, and I am confident that i can put it together once i have the design... So here goes...
I need to make a circuit that will power about 30 white LEDs. I want them to turn on and off quickly (like a flash) in a random fashion, so that it creates a twinkling effect. Ideally the circuit would apply a random voltage for a random amount of time to a random LED.
I assume I will need some kind of timing IC (maybe a 555?) but it seems like there will need to be a lot more.
I would like to be able to adjust the timing in one way or another, so i will be using small pots instead of resistors in some places. I find this helps me to understand how the circuit is really working.
I have been scouring the net for any kind of schematic that would help me out. So far i am empty-handed.
Here is what i think i need:
I will have to arrange the LEDs into smaller groups.
Hopefully i can find some kind of IC that will take a single input voltage at one pin, and send an output voltage to a series of pin (perhaps 4 or 5).
The IC would control which of the 5 pins receives the output voltage, and only one of the 5 pins would receive a voltage at any given moment.
This way i could set up a group of controller ICs (maybe 6-8 of them) to control each of the 30-40 LEDs that i wil have on a board.
Using this method, only one LED from each IC could be lit at any one time, so a maximum of 6-8 LEDs will be lit simultaneously.
The part i am having trouble with is finding what type of IC would fit the bill.
I am looking for an IC that will generate a random signal to one of its (many) output pins.
Someone from the other forum told me to look into PICs, which i do not have any experience with. What type of PIC would be best suited for this job?
As usual i will continue to scour the net for anything that will help.
Any ideas? I would appreciate any nudge in the right direction.
Thanks,
Nate