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Help with strobes!

darnell norwood

Feb 8, 2018
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I want to make a strobe light system with 555 timers. I want to know what i need to make it
The pattern needs to go

Left light:L Right:R
R needs to make quick 3 flashes and L needs to make quick 3 flashes after that.(x2)
Then R needs to do 1 quick flash and L needs to do 1 quick flash. (x3)
Then, R needs to make 2 quick flashes then L 2 quick flashes

But then if I press a button it needs to stop strobing then it would act like a turn signal based on the button i press (left and right button.) This part is not needed if it isn't possible. I'd be using something like this:
AL82AB_4_500.jpg
as the lights.I already purchased 2 lights.

If you could draw a labeled schematic and a parts list that would be great! Thanks.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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Why build when you can buy? Visit the links on this Google web page result for the search string "emergency vehicle strobe lights."

If I were going to design and build a flasher/turn-signal sequencer like you described, I would use a Microchip PIC microcontroller and a couple of logic-level MOSFET power transistors to control the lights. Easy to program the flash duration and sequence timing with a PIC. No real advantage to kludging up a circuit using 555 timers, but maybe someone here will chime in with something simple... (don't forget to include the turn-signal option!:cool:)
 

BobK

Jan 5, 2010
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+1 on a microcontroller.

If you are not experienced with them, Arduino is probably your best bet.

Bob
 

WHONOES

May 20, 2017
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Could use a 555 a couple 4017 Johnson counters and perhaps a bit of logic.
 

KJ6EAD

Aug 13, 2011
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Could use a 555 a couple 4017 Johnson counters and perhaps a bit of logic.
It would take at least 5 4017s and quite a bit of additional logic, what Hop was referencing I think, when he used the term kludge.
 

darnell norwood

Feb 8, 2018
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Why build when you can buy? Visit the links on this Google web page result for the search string "emergency vehicle strobe lights."

If I were going to design and build a flasher/turn-signal sequencer like you described, I would use a Microchip PIC microcontroller and a couple of logic-level MOSFET power transistors to control the lights. Easy to program the flash duration and sequence timing with a PIC. No real advantage to kludging up a circuit using 555 timers, but maybe someone here will chime in with something simple... (don't forget to include the turn-signal option!:cool:)
I'd rather build because the ones on the market dont fit my needs and I want to try a project
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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What should the code be?
That's for you to determine, based on your requirements.

This is a self-help forum, meaning we help those who help themselves. You said:
I'd rather build because the ones on the market dont fit my needs and I want to try a project
So, it is your job to define your requirements that fit your needs and begin the project. We will help, but there is no longer a living member here who will provide you with schematics, a parts list with Bill-of-Materials, etched circuit board artwork and a finished and debugged application program. Free beer tomorrow, but none today.

For a beginner, which I assume you are, the Arduino Uno single-board computer is probably the easiest to understand and to interface to the real world, as @BobK suggested in post #3. It is programmed in C++ using an application programming interface (API) installed on a PC. The API is a free download. Google is your friend to help find it. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of user groups and forums directed at all things Arduino. Join a few and read some of the member posts before jumping into your project. You may find you are about to re-invent a wheel that has already been invented many times in the past.

The PC with the Arduino API installed is connected to the Arduino Uno with a USB cable, which also provides power to the Arduino. After the program (called a sketch in Arduino-speak) is debugged and working to your satisfaction, the Arduino is disconnected from the PC and operates as a stand-alone "embedded" processor for your light sequencer. The sketch you wrote in C++ is compiled on the PC into machine code for the Arduino microprocessor and downloaded into non-volatile program memory on the Arduino. This is what allows the Arduino to operate as a stand-alone processor, now embedded into your vehicle lighting system.

The vehicle will supply 12 V DC power to the Arduino, but this should first be reduced to 5 V DC and that voltage applied instead of the full 12 to 14 V DC typically available from an automobile electrical system.

It is beyond the scope of my response to provide you with detailed programming instructions. You should familiarize yourself with the Arduino Uno and learn the rudiments of C++ programming language. Your program will examine switch inputs and produce two outputs, one for each light, based on whatever logic you assign to the switch actuations. The sequencing is performed by your programmed delays, according to the logic of your program sketch. Externally, you would use those two outputs to drive the gate of a logic-level input MOSFET associated with the left and right group of lamps. The MOSFETs perform the heavy lifting of providing several dozen amperes of current to the lamps. Remember, the current of an incandescent lamp that is cold is as much as ten times larger than the current when the lamp is hot. It takes only a few seconds for an incandescent lamp to cool after current is interrupted, so your MOSFET will be switching large amounts of current each time your program commands a lamp to light up. You should provide adequate heat sinks for the MOSFETs.
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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Oh no another 555 timer fan lol :)
Adam
Yeah, but complicated by the fact that the OP wants their dongle to also function as normal brake turn-signal lights when the R or L (push-button?) switch is pushed:

But then if I press a button it needs to stop strobing then it would act like a turn signal based on the button i press (left and right button.)
We have to assume there is some, as yet undefined, method to cancel the turn signal function and perhaps begin the strobe function again. Maybe a second push on whichever button, L or R, that canceled the strobe function and began the turn signal function would cancel everything so both lights are now off. Then if the OP pressed both L and R buttons simultaneously the strobe function would begin anew. Lots of ways to kludge up... er, design... circuits that use just two buttons to do multiple things.
 

turbogt16v

Mar 27, 2015
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All that fucions are easy to program in arduino,no need for 2 button.
There is a section in this forum that deals with microcontrollers .
Only problem is, there are no many people here that are into that section,but others will give you every possible solution on hardware electronics
 

hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
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ko-pw131105ghab_2_lg.jpg
All that fucions are easy to program in arduino,no need for 2 button.
There is a section in this forum that deals with microcontrollers .
Only problem is, there are no many people here that are into that section,but others will give you every possible solution on hardware electronics
"No need for 2 button?" Did you actually read the OP's requirements?

if I press a button it needs to stop strobing then it would act like a turn signal based on the button i press (left and right button.)
It looks to me like the OP wants at least two buttons, Left and Right, to act as turn signals when the lights aren't doing their fancy flash dance.

Of what use to the OP is the forum section on microcontrollers, if the OP doesn't express an interest in actually using microcontrollers? There are a LOT of folks here on EP that are willing and able to help with microcontroller projects. What have YOU done to contribute to solving the OP's problem?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a 555 timer and a bucketful of TTL or CMOS logic ICs to implement the functionality that the OP described. I would have done this in the 1970s, But this is the 21st Century and there are newer and, IMHO, better ways to accomplish the task. Pick a PIC (any PIC) and add two PB switches and two logic-level MOSFETs. Write a few lines of code, and voila! You are done. Some programming skill, a PICKit 3 programming pod, and some electronics assembly required, but no rocket science is involved.

This is an ideal project for a newbie hobbyist who wants to get involved with microprocessors without spending a lot of money. Unfortunately, from what has been posted so far, the OP is just another "drive by" poster looking for a quick answer.

A few months ago the Tamiami Amateur Radio Club here in Venice, Florida, held a members' auction to allow club members to donate and dispose of their "boat anchor" electronics and earn a little cash for the club. All proceeds of the sale were received by the club treasurer to be spent on club business, as voted by the membership. So, there was a huge crap-pile of semi-ancient "junque" that went really cheap... pennies or less on the dollar of its original cost.

Among those treasures were four NOS (New, Old Stock) stepping switches with multiple decks, such as were used in telephone exchanges to select dialed telephone numbers. Not many people knew what these devices were, much less how to use them. However, I was first exposed to these wonders of mechanical and electrical ingenuity in the 1960s while serving with the U.S. Air Force. I was aware of their existence sometime prior to that, having seen them used in pin-ball machines and in a science fair exhibit wired up as an "electrical calculator"... with NIxie tube read-outs no less! But I had never had the opportunity to "play" with them until my tour of duty that began in May 1963.

It took all the self-restraint that I could muster to NOT place a bid on these switches. But they would have been almost ideal components to implement the flash-dance protocol the OP has asked for, And, no, I am NOT going to provide a schematic on the off chance that the OP can get their hands on a stepping switch. Attached below is a picture of what I am talking about.

The moving contact on these switches always rotates in the same direction (counter- clockwise in the attached image), sequentially making contact with the inwardly protruding radial contacts. Another contact in series with the actuating coil allows the switch to "self step" from one position to the next position by strategically interrupting the coil current after each step. And another contact allows the switch to automatically self-step and then stop at a "home" position.

Wiring two or more of these puppies up would allow an almost infinite number... well, a LARGE number... of flash sequences as "programmed" according to which switch positions were wired to operate the lamps. But the COOLEST thing about such a kludge is the NOISE they make as they ratchet from one position to the next position, very rapidly or under the control of a timer such as the ubiquitous 555 timer. Sounds very 1950ish computer-like: Clackity-clackity-clack-brrrrrpt (as it homes).

One minor disadvantage, IIRC, is the coil requires about 300 V DC at several hundred milliamperes to produce enough force to turn the moving contacts.
 

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turbogt16v

Mar 27, 2015
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Ok i have read it again, and you are wright about op effort on resolving problem.
But it seams that he wants to put it in car with 2 turn signals acting as button already so,in theory there is no need for any button.
 

AnalogKid

Jun 10, 2015
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It would take at least 5 4017s .
There are 22 total flashes in one complete cycle, so that is three 4017's, 22 OR-ing diodes, two LED driver MOSFETs, and two gate pull down resistors. One or two unused 4017 output stages could be inserted among the three pattern steps for a small visual break.

22 diodes sound like a lot and look scary on a schematic, but the logic flow is simple and straightforward, and the cost is pennies. If the LED current is under 200 mA (100 mA is better), the 555 can be source of the LED current, so its duty cycle sets the look of a blink without more parts.

ak
 

AnalogKid

Jun 10, 2015
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I want to make a strobe light system with 555 timers.
If you mean nothing but 555 timers, it will take at least 22 of them, plus other stuff. As above, this can be done with one 555 plus counter IC's better suited to this task.
If you could draw a labeled schematic and a parts list that would be great!
I'm sure it would be.

With the information now presented in this thread, why don't you take a stab as a schematic first?
AND, post a link to the strobe's you have.
ak
 
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