Wall-E LED Sequence

[MonkeyBoy191]

Hey guys, well i want to start by saying this is the first time i've done anything with circuits in 10 years, and even then it was little things in high school.

anyway, im in the process of building a wall-e Usb hub with my dad and im trying to get the circuity right but dont know where to start really.

i have an idea of how all the usbs are going to connect but thats not the problem, the problem im having is working out how to make the wall-e charging sequence for the front of him.

here is an example of what i mean..... YouTube - Wall E goes Mac

i want the lights to turn on in sequence when i turn him on and also make the noise as they do so (i guess i will need a recording module for that), then when i turn him off they do back down in reverse order.

as i said i dont know a lot about this sort of stuff so please treat me like a total nood

thank you in advance for any help.

 

[Reloadron]

You have a few options. You could use a uC (Micro-Controller) to take care of the LEDs and audio which though not too complex for someone not set up to program them can be challenging. Option two is much less challenging and uses discreet components.

The heart of the LEDs would be to use a LED Bar Graph display driver like the LM3914 which can be found here. Then use a LED bar graph similar to those found here.

The signal for the LM3914 input could be derived from a simple RC network where a capacitor (C) is slowly charged through a resistor (R) and the voltage charge across the capacitor is the signal into the LM3914. It would have a ramp effect and the LEDs would light in sequence as the voltage increased at the input.

There are likely several other ways but this might be a good start. There was a time when Radio Shack sold both the LED bar graph displays and the LM3914, I don't know about now.

Going discreet components you could just use one of those recording chips also I think sold by radio shack. Just record a sound byte or so and have it play back.

Anyway there are a few starter thoughts.

Ron