cool led drirectionals

Hey Guys,

first off apology for re-posting if I am re-posting or posting in the wrong place let me know, but I have a question.

My step-dad wants to add cool LED directional lights to his car. He is driving a 2000 Pontiac Mantana (I Spelled it that way on purpose). In the front bumper of the Mantana there is a slit that would be perfect to add in LED directional strip, but he was inquiring with myself about the possibility of having the strip blink sequentially in a certain direction (ie. it would start at the inner most light and then move outward in the direction he is signalling). Having limited knowledge of the electrical components I would imagine that one would have to construct a strip with either capacitors, resistors, or another component to make the light-strip do this. If anyone has any suggestions let me know, I want to help him out.

Ignoring the legalities, yes - there are many possibilites.

But you should be able to find various solutions. I have seen ciruits to imitate some production 3-light sequenced flasher, the old Knight-Rider chaser (was that recycled for Cylons?).

A simple and versatile method uses a 4017 which is a "one of 10" decade counter. Ooooh - scary - it's a chip!
But in principle it's simple - every time it gets a pulse, it jumps to its next output. The pulse if from a clock - typically a 555 timer or other source.
I have the basic circuitry somewhere which can be set to count to any output/number - ie, 1 to 3 or 1 to 10 and reset (back to 1).
The complexity is adding whatever is required to power the load (LEDs), and the power supply & protection in the auto environment. (That assumes the "complexity" of constructing an electronic circuit isn't a problem.)

You'll probably find several version based on the 4017 - including ones that move like a bar-graph by keeping them lit until reset, or until "waved" back out. There are lots of combinations! Also other chips like a "dot-bar" driver chip that could to dot (one lit) or bar displays.

And there have been relay versions that do the same.... somewhere.

But search...
Or think about what you, er, sorry, he wants. (Get ideas from searching.)
Then consider what you can get - ie, LED strip 8 long x 3 hi; so do 8 (3 dots hi) across, or 4 (2x3) dots across, or fade from left to right, or a bargraph version of those, are a chaser version...
Not that all are simple - ultimately the solution is something like a PIC - and even I haven't used those (but I'll use a microprocessor!).   

If the circuits don't scare you, I could post some....