thoughts and direction on this LED circuit idea

[shapeshifter]

all,

my skills with digital ciruits are quite limited, or more acurately
nonexistent , so am seeking your thoughts on the viability of the following
circuit idea and possibly a pointer to someone who can help me build it.

the goal is to create something of a starfield. im thinking N number of led
clusters each containing M leds. for immediate practicality, probably 4 or 5
clusters with 10-20 leds per. each cluster will pulsate, slowly turning on
and off (ideally with adjustable pulse rate) either all-at-once or perhaps
randomly within the cluster and after some time (variable?) will stop
firing and trigger the firing of the next cluster (the next cluster chosen
either in some predetermined sequence or perhaps randomly chosen). all leds
will be a single color, probably blue or violet. power is from a portable,
ie, battery, source.

if i had a schematic i could build it and im wondering if there is something
already out there or if not if you can point me to someone who could custom
design this. btw, this is for a non-commerical art project, so resources are
limited.

any thoughts? is this too complex for a beginner?


thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Rich Grise]

all,

my skills with digital ciruits are quite limited, or more acurately
nonexistent , so am seeking your thoughts on the viability of the following
circuit idea and possibly a pointer to someone who can help me build it.

the goal is to create something of a starfield. im thinking N number of led
clusters each containing M leds. for immediate practicality, probably 4 or 5
clusters with 10-20 leds per. each cluster will pulsate, slowly turning on
and off (ideally with adjustable pulse rate) either all-at-once or perhaps
randomly within the cluster and after some time (variable?) will stop
firing and trigger the firing of the next cluster (the next cluster chosen
either in some predetermined sequence or perhaps randomly chosen). all leds
will be a single color, probably blue or violet. power is from a portable,
ie, battery, source.

if i had a schematic i could build it and im wondering if there is something
already out there or if not if you can point me to someone who could custom
design this. btw, this is for a non-commerical art project, so resources are
limited.

any thoughts? is this too complex for a beginner?

Well, yes and no. If you want it to look like the sky, shouldn't they
be twinkling? Or is this what you're describing already? If so, I'd
do 10-20 clusters with 4 or 5 LESs per. That thing about randomly within
the cluster, that's kind of a tall order - but you could do it the way
they do twinkling Xmas lights. I'm sure someone's got a 2-transistor LED
flasher out there! You could use a flashing LED in series with each
string, but I don't know if they come in the colors you're looking for.

To have each one individually controlled, you'd use a matrix, and multiplex
them, of course.

Good Luck!
Rich

 

[Soeren]

the goal is to create something of a starfield. im thinking N number
of led clusters each containing M leds. for immediate practicality,
probably 4 or 5 clusters with 10-20 leds per. each cluster will
pulsate, slowly turning on and off (ideally with adjustable pulse
rate) either all-at-once or perhaps randomly within the cluster and
after some time (variable?) will stop firing and trigger the firing
of the next cluster (the next cluster chosen either in some
predetermined sequence or perhaps randomly chosen). all leds will be
a single color, probably blue or violet. power is from a portable,
ie, battery, source.

Sounds like a job for microcontrollers in my ears.

One tiny controller (eg. 16F84, 16F628 or similar) for each cluster,
with a program to fade the LEDs in a (pseudo)random fashion when
selected from yet another controller, which select each cluster, again
in a (pseudo)random fashion.

if i had a schematic i could build it and im wondering if there is
something already out there

I seriously doubt it, as you have chosen a rather special setup.

or if not if you can point me to someone who could custom design
this.

It would probably be a tad expensive.

btw, this is for a non-commerical art project, so resources are
limited.

Unfortunately, that doesn't make it neither faster nor cheaper to
design.

any thoughts? is this too complex for a beginner?

Nothing is too complex if you get somebody else to do it


--
Regards,
Soeren

* If it puzzles you dear... Reverse engineer *
New forum: <URL:http://www.ElektronikTeknolog.dk/cgi-bin/SPEED/>

 

[Watson A.Name \Watt Sun - the Dark Remover\]

all,

my skills with digital ciruits are quite limited, or more acurately
nonexistent , so am seeking your thoughts on the viability of the following
circuit idea and possibly a pointer to someone who can help me build it.

the goal is to create something of a starfield. im thinking N number of led
clusters each containing M leds. for immediate practicality, probably 4 or 5
clusters with 10-20 leds per. each cluster will pulsate, slowly turning on
and off (ideally with adjustable pulse rate) either all-at-once or perhaps
randomly within the cluster and after some time (variable?) will stop
firing and trigger the firing of the next cluster (the next cluster chosen
either in some predetermined sequence or perhaps randomly chosen). all leds
will be a single color, probably blue or violet. power is from a portable,
ie, battery, source.

if i had a schematic i could build it and im wondering if there is something
already out there or if not if you can point me to someone who could custom
design this. btw, this is for a non-commerical art project, so resources are
limited.

any thoughts? is this too complex for a beginner?

Not too complex, but the quality will be greatly dependent on how much
you put into it, both time _and_ money. If you want to build some
shimmering circuits, here's one type.
http://members.shaw.ca/novotill/FireLightFlicker/index.htm

You can also build a phase shift oscillator with a few transistors,
which can make the LEDs look like eyes fading in and out.

Here's another:
http://members.shaw.ca/novotill/PwmLedChaser/index.htm

Operating from a battery puts more limitations on your circuit. Too
much current and you will be replacing batteries often. If you can make
the LEDs on time short, it will save a lot of battery current.