LED project.

[Johndog]

Hello to you all. I am an electronics novice, please keep that in mind.
I am starting a project which is to aide children to improve their rhythm and timing. I need to create a strip of led's in a row, the first led would be the starter and would flash 3 times before the othe lights would come on sequentially ( like the lights on Kit, in knight rider) to the last light then back, creating a visually moving light back then forward to the original start position. I would be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.
Regards johndog

 

[Audioguru]

A Knight rider is made with one or two CD4017 (low current) or 74HC4017 (much higher current) sequencer ICs and some diode OR gates. Another 4017 IC can turn the first LED on and off 3 times with OR gates. Each 4017 has 10 outputs (you didn't say how many LEDs) and are clocked with an oscillator that can be a Cmos 555 IC.

Or a microcontroller can be programmed and used to do some of it.

 

[Johndog]

A Knight rider is made with one or two CD4017 (low current) or 74HC4017 (much higher current) sequencer ICs and some diode OR gates. Another 4017 IC can turn the first LED on and off 3 times with OR gates. Each 4017 has 10 outputs (you didn't say how many LEDs) and are clocked with an oscillator that can be a Cmos 555 IC.

Or a microcontroller can be programmed and used to do some of it.

Thanks for your reply. Your clearly very knowledgeable. This information is over my head. Not your fault, but my lack of technical electronics means i dont understand. What kind of people could i contact to help me? Regards johndog

 

[AnalogKid]

A Knight Rider display is such a common thing that you can google it an find lots of schematics, project pages, and a few kits. Your requirements are unique only in that the first LED flashes three times before the rest of the display kicks in, then flashes singly when its turn comes around - correct?

If so, some questions. What starts the display? What stops it? Does the sequencing speed need to be adjustable? How many LEDs total in one device? And, why do this? How does this improve rhythm and timing? How do the children interact with the device? I'm not challenging your idea, just trying to get the big picture.

What is your skill set for assembling a small circuit? I'm assuming this has to be package in an enclosure of some kind and battery powered - yes?

ak

 

[Johndog]

A Knight Rider display is such a common thing that you can google it an find lots of schematics, project pages, and a few kits. Your requirements are unique only in that the first LED flashes three times before the rest of the display kicks in, then flashes singly when its turn comes around - correct?

If so, some questions. What starts the display? What stops it? Does the sequencing speed need to be adjustable? How many LEDs total in one device? And, why do this? How does this improve rhythm and timing? How do the children interact with the device? I'm not challenging your idea, just trying to get the big picture.

What is your skill set for assembling a small circuit? I'm assuming this has to be package in an enclosure of some kind and battery powered - yes?

ak

Thank-you for your reply. The first led flashing is to indicate that the sequence is about to begin. It would flash once at the end of the return cycle. A button would start the cycle, it would only do one cycle at a time. It would need to have three diiferent speeds. It would have 10 led's and would also need to be adjusted to do shorter cycles, ie 9, 8 etc. I do have knowledge of a basic circuit. It would be in a box and battery powered.
Regards johndog

 

[Harald Kapp]

Here's a kit that provides the hardware and the software for the standard larson scanner aka Knight Rider display).
The source code is also available on the same page. You'll have to adapt the program, to fit your specific needs - or find someone who can do that for you.

 

[Edugimeno]

If I was in this boat, I would definitely take the microcontroller route. Find the smallest one you need and I could help with programming. I.E. Arduino Nano has 22 digital I/O pins so that's how many (at most) LED's you would be able to hook to it.
If you need normal LEDS, you just need a resistor for each of them. If you need Hi-Lumen LED's you would need a transistor and 2 resistors, at least for each light.
An Arduino Nano clone from China costs $3. And it has the flexibility that you can use an analog input to control the speed, another one to control the times it blinks the first led, another one to control....well I said full flexibility

 

[Harald Kapp]

I could help with programming

A generous offer.
The kit I linked in post #6 is AVR based, a modification of the code should not be too difficult.

 

[AnalogKid]

If you need normal LEDS, you just need a resistor for each of them.

A difference between this project and a standard KR display is that in this case only one LED is on at any given time. You need only one current limiter.

In a KR display there is no off time between stages. Do you want the appearance of a stepping dot (with an off time between each LED and the next), or more of a continuously moving, flowing dot?

ak

 

[Johndog]

A difference between this project and a standard KR display is that in this case only one LED is on at any given time. You need only one current limiter.

In a KR display there is no off time between stages. Do you want the appearance of a stepping dot (with an off time between each LED and the next), or more of a continuously moving, flowing dot?

ak

Definitely a flowing dot, this would be visually better. Regards johndog

 

[Audioguru]

I recently made a "flowing" LED sequencer using a CD4017 IC and a resistor, diode, capacitor and transistor on each output. The original article said the LEDs look like "Comet Trails" that slowly fade as the sequencing moves from LED to LED.

 

[Harald Kapp]

Definitely a flowing dot, this would be visually better

A 'flowing dot' can be realized in software by PWM modulating the state of the LEDs. Not too difficult.

 

[Johndog]

This sounds very positive, Audioguru are you in the UK. If it can be done i would like a working mock up made so i can start tests. I would pay for materials, labour and postage if reasonable?
Regards johndog

 

[Arouse1973]

I might be able to help you also. If I was doing this I would use a little Arduino board to drive it. It is possible to do it without a micro but would be more complex and probably cost more. How many LEDs do you want? What colour and size, have you thought about that yet?

Thanks
Adam

 

[Johndog]

I might be able to help you also. If I was doing this I would use a little Arduino board to drive it. It is possible to do it without a micro but would be more complex and probably cost more. How many LEDs do you want? What colour and size, have you thought about that yet?

Thanks
Adam

Thanks Adam. It needs to be the most cost effective version but still achieving the desired functions. I would like 20 led's, number 1(flasing 3 times) red and the other 19 green. Let me know how much you believe it could be done for. Regards johndog

 

[Arouse1973]

Hi John.
ok tell me how much you want to spend first, thats the main thing. I mean the material costs. What size LEDs do you want? How bright? How far apart do you want them. Maybe you could do a drawing?

 

[Johndog]

Hi John.
ok tell me how much you want to spend first, thats the main thing. I mean the material costs. What size LEDs do you want? How bright? How far apart do you want them. Maybe you could do a drawing?

Hi.
Thank you for your reply. As i said in my opening post, i am not an electronics person so i dont know about electronic drawings. Brightness and size of LED are'nt important at this stage. Do you mean size of LED as mm size or electrical output?. I dont expect material costs to be high, you would have more of an idea of material cost than me. Are you based in the uk?
I understand you may think i am being vague, however the mockups of the knight rider pictures you can find online are an example of what i need.
Regards johndog

 

[Arouse1973]

Hi John. Yes I am in the UK. Ok we can go for 5 mm super bright red LEDs. The initial costs will include the dev Arduino type dev board, that's about £10, the LEDs are cheap say another £2 and then a piece of strip board say £3. If you want to make quite a few it would be better to have some proper PCBs made I think.
Thanks
Adam

 

[Johndog]

Hi John. Yes I am in the UK. Ok we can go for 5 mm super bright red LEDs. The initial costs will include the dev Arduino type dev board, that's about £10, the LEDs are cheap say another £2 and then a piece of strip board say £3. If you want to make quite a few it would be bette

Hi John. Yes I am in the UK. Ok we can go for 5 mm super bright red LEDs. The initial costs will include the dev Arduino type dev board, that's about £10, the LEDs are cheap say another £2 and then a piece of strip board say £3. If you want to make quite a few it would be better to have some proper PCBs made I think.
Thanks
Adam[/QUOTE
Thank-you Adam this sounds like an accepptable budge for materials at this stage, How much would it cost for yourself to build and how long would it take?

 

[Johndog]

Thank-you Adam this sounds like an accepptable budge for materials at this stage, How much would it cost for yourself to build and how long would it take?