Search found 260 matches

by tetsujin
Wed Feb 16, 2022 4:33 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Control 2 sets of lights using the same 2 wires?!
Replies: 1
Views: 4747

Re: Control 2 sets of lights using the same 2 wires?!

There were (still are, I guess) red/green dual-color LEDs that worked on this kind of principle. At one point I was exploring ways to computer-control individual LEDs in a model, which led to exploring the signaling systems used by model railroad setups for instance. (i.e. you have two "wires&q...
by tetsujin
Fri Feb 09, 2018 12:10 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Guage of wire to use
Replies: 6
Views: 18387

Re: Guage of wire to use

I use 32 awg 7/40 for damned near everything. It'll handle usual LED power loads w/o an issue and fits well into tiny places. The multi-strand makes soldering stronger and easier (I've found). I use a similar wire, a stranded 30 AWG. I chose it years ago because I had been using 30AWG wire-wrap wir...
by tetsujin
Wed Feb 07, 2018 11:26 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Timer Circuit power question
Replies: 4
Views: 15154

Re: Timer Circuit power question

Ok, the datasheet is here https://maplindownloads.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/n33fldatasheet-6735.pdf Also, is there any way of increasing the flash frequency to say 2Hz from the current limit of 1Hz? The oscillation rate is governed by the charge/discharge rate of the capacitor C1. So you either ne...
by tetsujin
Tue Feb 06, 2018 1:06 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Timer Circuit power question
Replies: 4
Views: 15154

Re: Timer Circuit power question

I recently purchased a 555 Astable switch kit from Maplin (cat no N33FL) https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/555-astable-switch-kit-n33fl I want to use it to simulate a Machine gun. The output should cause a white LED to flash (it would be nice if I could drive a speaker too ) The kit specifies a 12V DC sup...
by tetsujin
Mon Dec 18, 2017 7:13 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: PCB design
Replies: 8
Views: 23982

Re: PCB design

If you're making 50 of these it may very well be worth making PCBs rather than using generic breadboards. I've created some PCBs for my own use, currently I use a program called "kicad" and my boards are fabricated (in small quantities) by OSH Park. If you're making 50 of them it may also ...
by tetsujin
Fri Nov 17, 2017 1:10 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: want to use Arduino to control WS2813 led
Replies: 4
Views: 15344

Re: want to use Arduino to control WS2813 led

now i have some new ws2813 led strip , but i want to use arduino to control it , if anybody have this code for it , if ws2812b code can use WS2813? It seems the 2813 is an updated version of the 2812 that uses the same protocol. The main functional difference is that the 2813's have a second data i...
by tetsujin
Mon Sep 11, 2017 2:40 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect
Replies: 15
Views: 31870

Re: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect

Which is why I'd just order them. I'm a wimp when it comes to soldering tiny LEDs. Well, based on my experience building LED clusters for police lights I wouldn't think less of anyone who chose to buy them rather than build them... But did the site you linked sell the LED clusters? I thought it jus...
by tetsujin
Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:02 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect
Replies: 15
Views: 31870

Re: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect

Which is why I'd just order them. I'm a wimp when it comes to soldering tiny LEDs. Well, based on my experience building LED clusters for police lights I wouldn't think less of anyone who chose to buy them rather than build them... But did the site you linked sell the LED clusters? I thought it jus...
by tetsujin
Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:23 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect
Replies: 15
Views: 31870

Re: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect

Video unavailable! It's cool that the site Kylwell linked has instructions for how to build these - but in terms of how to physically construct them the instructions pretty much boil down to "solder them together". That's the part I've been having trouble with, though: Or more specifically...
by tetsujin
Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:15 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect
Replies: 15
Views: 31870

Re: Rotating Police Strobe Lights Effect

I think wiring the LEDs in different clusters together in series sounds like a nightmare, personally. It means that instead of running 5 (or even just 4, if you want to deal with the headache of trying to wire the LEDs into a series loop) wires to each group of 4 LEDs, you now have to run 8, and hav...
by tetsujin
Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:29 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Why is my 555 timer not blinking?
Replies: 30
Views: 371370

Re: Why is my 555 timer not blinking?

I'd also like to remind everyone how easy this is with a Microcontroller like Arduino: You can set those two values however you like. There's no restriction on the duty cycle as there is with a 555, and you don't need to rewire your circuit if you change your mind about the flash rate or duty cycle...
by tetsujin
Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:38 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: 3 mm LED lights Series or Parallel
Replies: 9
Views: 17343

Re: 3 mm LED lights Series or Parallel

I was watching Jay Chladek's YouTube channel and he used 3V LEDs in his Moebius Cylon raider build. Since he powered it with a 3V battery pack (two AA batteries) and wired everything in parallel, it was all 3V so no resistors were necessary. I did the math on this at one point - but the problem wit...
by tetsujin
Fri Aug 25, 2017 5:32 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Why is my 555 timer not blinking?
Replies: 30
Views: 371370

Re: Why is my 555 timer not blinking?

I think you miscalculated your RC time and you have an LED blinking at too fast a rate for the eye to detect. I think your off blink time is about 10 msec. I suggest increasing your resistor and or capacitor values to get a longer RC time. Turns out you were right! I had been calculating it on the ...
by tetsujin
Mon Jun 19, 2017 11:56 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Advice on Lighting Kits
Replies: 19
Views: 61318

Re: Advice on Lighting Kits

$7 is expensive? I'll have to admit my ignorance about Arduinos. I saw one for four times that price, or at least whatever it was I believed it to be an Arduino. Perhaps it was pre-programmed or something. I should look up some tutorials on how to use them. I do know that they are good for more tha...
by tetsujin
Mon May 01, 2017 2:38 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: LED Filaments
Replies: 7
Views: 13540

Re: LED Filaments

Well bear in mind these things don't truly emit a 360 degree arc of light anyway. Which I think would be acceptable for light sabers in most cases. If it's upright, face the darker side towards the figure as most people won't be able to look through the painted plastic. If it's pointed forward, poi...
by tetsujin
Mon May 01, 2017 2:14 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: LED Filaments
Replies: 7
Views: 13540

IIRC there are similar products available commercially for clothing effects. https://www.aliexpress.com/popular/led-lights-strips-for-clothing.html The URL is a bit incorrect, those appear to (almost) all be electroluminescent strips, not LED products. There's a few exceptions, like This one , whic...
by tetsujin
Mon May 01, 2017 1:39 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: LED Filaments
Replies: 7
Views: 13540

Re: LED Filaments

perfect (for instance) for a 1/12 scale light saber. I like the way you think! First obstacle I see to that is the return circuit. How would you complete the circuit without a noticeable line through the light? Is there any sort of conductive clear coat? Well bear in mind these things don't truly e...
by tetsujin
Mon May 01, 2017 9:38 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: LED Filaments
Replies: 7
Views: 13540

LED Filaments

So I can't be the only one who sees some model-making potential in these things right? Basically, there's a kind of LED light bulb on the market called a "LED Filament" bulb. The idea is that it's meant to emulate the look of an old light bulb, with a visible incandescent filament inside g...
by tetsujin
Wed Jan 25, 2017 5:56 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Tiny circut to blink a light??
Replies: 3
Views: 10220

With that kind of space I could (and would, honestly) use one of my microcontroller boards: Raven PCB project (a bit outdated) The smaller boards are in the neighborhood of 9mm x 11mm and can be cut smaller (at the expense of some I/O pins) Disadvantages: You need to know how to program a microcontr...
by tetsujin
Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:35 pm
Forum: Scratchbuilding
Topic: Quick and Dirty Resin Casting?
Replies: 9
Views: 21588

You know, since the windows on the Enterprise-D kit are recessed, I wonder if it might make sense, instead of drilling out the windows, to cut away material from behind the window instead? Still a lot of individual windows to deal with but you wouldn't have to cut out the window's shape - just thin ...
by tetsujin
Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:14 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: I need to duplicate an LED
Replies: 14
Views: 22545

And there is that. Makes no sense as to why they couldn't fit a half a mm larger battery in the head thus making logistics easier. Sometimes a half a millimeter is just a half a millimeter too much. Could be they designed it as a 1025 slot but screwed up, and said, "Rather than retool this... ...
by tetsujin
Mon Mar 31, 2014 2:11 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: I need to duplicate an LED
Replies: 14
Views: 22545

I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage. One would expect a 1025 to be a half millimeter thicker than a 1020. Ah'm just stating what multiple groups ha...
by tetsujin
Mon Mar 31, 2014 9:24 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: I need to duplicate an LED
Replies: 14
Views: 22545

I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage. That would surprise me, 'cause the numbers for a CR cell are dimensions: 10: 10mm diameter 25: 2.5mm thick So ...
by tetsujin
Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:15 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: Has anyone heard of ic touch?
Replies: 4
Views: 11185

Those are good prices but not like crazy good. It depends on the color of the LED, actually. Red, green, yellow, and orange LEDs (the traditional varieties that have been common since the 1980s) are dirt cheap. Like 6 cents each. Colors at the high end of the spectrum, like blue or white (white LEDs...
by tetsujin
Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:47 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: I need to duplicate an LED
Replies: 14
Views: 22545

What's the number stamped onto the coin cell battery? It may not be as hard to find as you think. You can get the batteries online, popular size in Asia, but it's hard to find in any stores in America. Miniature batteries are a total rip-off if you buy them at retail in the US. Compared to the same...
by tetsujin
Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:17 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: One-day Arduino sale today (March 29th) at Sparkfun
Replies: 2
Views: 7248

Yeah they sorted out the backorder problem sometime this morning. Prior to the fix the sold-out items had the status "not available for backorder" I bought myself a couple Pro Minis and a Leonardo. (Leo's not on sale but I wanted one.) Now that the backorder thing is fixed I'm tempted to p...
by tetsujin
Sat Mar 29, 2014 3:00 am
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: One-day Arduino sale today (March 29th) at Sparkfun
Replies: 2
Views: 7248

One-day Arduino sale today (March 29th) at Sparkfun

Today's the 10th anniversary of Arduino and Sparkfun's having a sale on a few Arduino boards to celebrate. It may be worth getting in on it. Unfortunately there's a slight SNAFU at the moment - according to the promotion, backorders of out-of-stock boards are allowed during the promotion, but the si...
by tetsujin
Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:10 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: SMD led, Bluetooth and the thing with rotating nacelles
Replies: 12
Views: 17936

I´ve only seen a few guys being able to upload sketches via BT. Can you provide a link to the procedure? 'Fraid not. I'd be more inclined to muddle through myself. Probably by using code in my sketch to trigger a reset, like I said. Less convenient but it gets the job done. Wiring a reset line to t...
by tetsujin
Wed Feb 19, 2014 5:41 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: SMD led, Bluetooth and the thing with rotating nacelles
Replies: 12
Views: 17936

there is no way to programm the Arduino over the BT connection. That is not a 100 percent true, because you need to hold a reset button on the Arduino while sending the programm. Hard to accomplish with a sealed model. That's not quite true either... When you reset the Arduino, it starts up and run...
by tetsujin
Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:08 pm
Forum: Lighting & Electronics
Topic: The Brigadier Project
Replies: 8
Views: 12792

Thanks! I hadn't seen that one before, that's pretty cool. Some neat stuff to be found in the E-textiles crowd...

I like the Lilypad battery holders, too - one of the smallest "off-the-rack" battery holders I've managed to find, actually...