I'm trying to make and LED fader, so that i can make 4 pair of blue LEDs kinda wave(have two non-adjacent pair fade in at the same time, giving a fading illusion) This is the closest ive come up with, and i dont understand a lick of it. (doesnt help that i dont really trust its english...) I just need a simple parts list, some places to buy them (RadioShack?) and an explanation in plain english. pretend youre trying to tech rocket science to a really slow monkey. With little cash. A broke, slow monkey. Im talking George Bush simple. (no offence, Mr. President.)
It's just a Schmidt-trigger and Miller integrator coupled to a pair of emitter-followers, nowt complicated. There's a soldering-by-numbers version with a parts list here but I don't think the Shack sells stripboard, though Futurelec have all the bits & cheaper. Japala's brightens 1 led up as the other dims out, but I've never been able to synchronise them perfectly so left mine 1 channel, but you can add the PNP transistor just like Japala/Bill Bowdens & put any number of leds in parallel.
mind you, japala`s implementation is actually only good for red leds, blue ultrabrights will light up very dimly using that circuit - i recommend you either use cpemma`s 12V approach if you`re looking to fade blue leds or mine (if it`s important that it`s 5V : the parts list is simple - everything you see is labeled and it`s value written - VR1 is used to control the blinking speed. i`m using this circuit so it definitely works - and VERY bright with blue leds. where you see the dots it means the components in this junction should be connected together - lines crossing without dots should not be connected - the one exception that i seemed to have missed is the connection between pins 6 and 3 - i forgot to dot the pin 6 connection.
well, i think im gonna pretend i know what im doing, buy a whole bunch of extra parts, and hope nothing blows up. But i guess thats the best way to learn, isnt it? By looking at the above image, correct me if im wrong, but that will fade all 4 in and out at the same time, right? i could probably work with that, but im going more for a ripple effect. If i ever get it to work (and even if i dont) ill be sure to post pics of my bawls case, so keep a look out!!! should be done before school (so im lazy) Maybe ill pick up an electronics for dummies book tomorrow. I need it. Im guessing at most of these diagram symbols. But by next weekend, ill prolly just be digging in. Works for me!
