Very Low-frequency Oscillator to Power Tr-Color LED's
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 4:35 pm
I'm building some "nighttime" special effects for my Super Mouse Trap module. I took an old vacuum tube, removed the pins and drilled the holes out to fit a 5mm LED. I stuck a few monochrome LED's in it, and by varying the voltage got some interesting effects from the colors reflecting off the chromed interior parts. Went with two-colored LED's and Red/Green/Yellow mixing worked even better. Now I'm using tri-color.
I want to automate the color changing. Right now it's powered by three LM317 circuits with three 5K pots. Ideas I've had for doing this:
1) Three mechanisms from CD drive platters moving pot positions. Slightly different motor voltages would generate randomness & varying colors.
2) Three 8-bit, constantly changing registers and three DAC's powering three high-power op-amps as buffers
3) Three very slow sawtooth generators with a high-powered buffer. I like this one the best. I'm looking at 1/10 Hz or slower, with a max output of 5V (thyanks to dropping resistors, this part is negotiable; I just want to be able to drive any kind of LED, including ultraviolet)
I want to automate the color changing. Right now it's powered by three LM317 circuits with three 5K pots. Ideas I've had for doing this:
1) Three mechanisms from CD drive platters moving pot positions. Slightly different motor voltages would generate randomness & varying colors.
2) Three 8-bit, constantly changing registers and three DAC's powering three high-power op-amps as buffers
3) Three very slow sawtooth generators with a high-powered buffer. I like this one the best. I'm looking at 1/10 Hz or slower, with a max output of 5V (thyanks to dropping resistors, this part is negotiable; I just want to be able to drive any kind of LED, including ultraviolet)