4 flashing led’s
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Lights, Neon, LEDs, HIDs
Forum Discription: Under Car Lighting, Strobe Lights, Fog Lights, Headlights, HIDs, DRL, Tail Lights, Brake Lights, Dashboard Lights, WigWag, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=98791
Printed Date: May 05, 2024 at 9:12 AM
Topic: 4 flashing led’s
Posted By: fknfbm
Subject: 4 flashing led’s
Date Posted: November 08, 2007 at 8:09 PM
Basically what I am looking to do is put a led in each of my park lights. Thats the easy part. I want them to flash in series in a circle around my truck when my alarm is armed. I have a ton of relay, diode, and resistor expreience but I cant seem to figure this out. Any help?
Replies:
Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: November 08, 2007 at 9:23 PM
You're going to need more then relays diodes and resistors to make a control system like this. First, why a circle? Unless you have a very small vehicle no one will ever know that the pattern is a circle. It may be more beneficial to just do alternating flashes (front left, rear right as one set and front right and rear left as the other). This will give the illusion of a chasing pattern, but it will go in circles both ways around the vehicle. Something like this would be very easy with a programmable processor and would require very little associated circuitry and draw very little current. You may also want to look in to 555 timers and possibly some astable monovibrators. ------------- Kevin Pierson
Posted By: techman93
Date Posted: November 08, 2007 at 9:35 PM
They make strobe kits that do patterns and all the parts are ready to install. I am not sure of manufacturer but I did look into this a while back for past customers that had snow plows that wanted high visibility in snow storms. I don't think that would be good in your situation due to current demands and for long periods while vehicle is not charging the battery. LED's with a small control, or LED's that flash by themselves and just calculate the voltage drop and add resistors or you can get a voltage regulator to drop 12v to 5v. Normally LED's use about 2 - 3v each. Wire 2 in series and the voltage regulator per each side of vehicle. run front left to rear left on one side. Then run rear right to front right. If you know what I am saying, the positive output off voltage regulator to the positive lead of the first led then that LED's negative lead to the next LED's positive lead back to ground to complete circuit. If you are using an alarm armed negative, then the positive on the voltage regulator goes to a constant 12v with a fuse and the ground goes to that output on your alarm.
Posted By: fknfbm
Date Posted: November 09, 2007 at 6:42 PM
I like the idea of alternating corners, it does make more sense, I just hadn't thought of it that way. What kind of work are you talking about with that "programmable processor?" Also is there anyway I could get a diagram or anything posted?
Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:24 PM
There is a wide variety of programmable microcontrollers available. A project this size is a great project to learn on - my first ever microcontroller project was actually an alarm LED controller. It only had three lights though, but you could cycle through several different patterns with a pushbutton. You can get a capable processor for about $2 (Atmel Tiny12) and spend about $3 making a parallel port programmer. You can download the programming software (AVR Studio 4)and downloading software (Pony Prog) for free. Then, spend a few hours learning program structure and the basic instructions and you're done. (OK, I will admit, I over simplified it a bit, but anyone with a bit of determination would be able to get through it). A great resource for beginners is www.AVRfreaks.net. The circuit would be pretty basic - a 5vdc regulator, the microcontroller, a few caps, and the LEDs. You should be able to drive the LEDs directly off the output pins of the controller. Or, if you want to take a conservative approach you can add a transistor and 2 resistors for each LED. ------------- Kevin Pierson
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