Electronics > Beginners
Sequential tail lights
Zero999:
I'd probably dust of some old microcontrollers I have lying around: the 16F505. I'd power it off a shunt regulator, as it will be resistant to high voltage spikes. If the LEDs need to be really bright I'd use strings of four in series, for each light and BJT constant current sources to drive them.
james_s:
I would actually advocate toward the discrete logic approach for a beginner. There's less to go wrong, less chance of a software bug and a hardware problem compounding things. The coding is not difficult, but for a beginner with no programming experience it can be pretty daunting.
Either way, the mechanical/optical portion is going to be much more difficult to get right than the electronics.
Brumby:
robjodicarter - You may have noticed the engineer brains have been suitably stimulated. There are several ways of achieving your desired result - and I have a feeling there will be more than one idea finding its way onto a breadboard.
Don't worry. This is normal. Even though you have found a way to achieve your goal with a pre-built module, engineering brains like to solve problems ... and when there are flashy lights involved, it's like moths to a flame..........
Now I'm thinking about where my spare Arduino boards are hiding... Ah, found a UNO board! ... Now where are those LEDs?....................................
robjodicarter:
I'm just looking for an inexpensive way to do it with the coolest results. I have time and patience just the knowledge is what I need. Any ideas on where to look and gain some?
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Brumby:
I find the best way to learn something is to tackle a project - just like the one you brought here. While you have found a practical and inexpensive solution for your real-world need, you could try building some of the other solutions suggested.
These won't necessarily need to provide the high current you would need for a vehicle (but you could go that extra step if you wanted to) or have the reliability and compactness requirements, but you could do so on a breadboard with a fistful of components.
3 alternatives I can list at the moment:
1. Discrete transistor design. This is the one that your module uses - but we can build it from parts.
2. LM3914. We can add a rising voltage source to give the look you were after - or we can give it a signal from a different source and use it as an indicator. Indicator of what, you ask? There are a lot of answers to that.
3. Arduino based. Here you can make the LEDs do practically whatever you want them to do - and you can have them respond to different inputs if you want. This is a good starting point if you want to get into microcontrollers - and it's still a useful exercise even if you don't. It's relatively pain free. It does involve learning a bit of programming - but there are REALLY easy ways to slip into this and you will probably have your first LED blinking within an hour.
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