Merry PICmas kit

psycho · Post by **psycho** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:56 pm

I am not one for kits (or Christmas), but, this one I like, as my better half lives for the season. I read the article and couldn't find any mention of the size of the tree. Does anyone know how tall it is?

Thanks,
Kevin

Bigglez · Post by **Bigglez** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:04 pm

psycho wrote:I am not one for kits (or Christmas), but, this one I like, as my better half lives for the season. I read the article and couldn't find any mention of the size of the tree. Does anyone know how tall it is?

I haven't seen one in person, but there is a video of it here.
My best estimate is that it stands 150mm tall, plus the
battery and base (not shown in the image).

dacflyer · Post by **dacflyer** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:28 am

looks neet, 5 modes i saw.
years ago there was an artical in another electronics magazine that was
3D and it used 3 LM3909 flasher IC's
i made several of these way back then, i opted to buy the circuit boards. they wasn't cheap, but it was still a fun project.

psycho · Post by **psycho** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:37 am

If I remember right, there are 11 different patterns. I showed my wife the video and she likes it. So, I'll get it for her for xmas. It will be for me, too, because I get to put it together

psycho · Post by **psycho** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:47 pm

Update! I sent the size question to Nuts & Volts and they said it is 6" wide & 8" tall.

myothermind · Post by **myothermind** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:43 pm

8" x 6" is exactly right. There are two D cell batteries at the base.

Technically there are 12 patterns if you include the powerdown pattern. You can see all except the drip pattern on our website at
http://myothermind.com/tree-patterns.html

All of the patterns are done in code, so it is much more sophisticated than a few LM3903s

psycho · Post by **psycho** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:47 pm

Did you buy the kit or are you one of the article's authors?

myothermind · Post by **myothermind** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:50 pm

I am one of the authors. I did all of the programming for it. Feel free to hit me with any questions you might have.

psycho · Post by **psycho** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:57 pm

So YOUR responsible! Just kidding. It looks great! Like I said before, my wife loves xmas so this would be a nice little project.

myothermind · Post by **myothermind** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:58 pm

It was an absolute blast doing the tree. A couple of the patterns have had significant input from my wife so I can understand
-- John

Mike6158 · Post by **Mike6158** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:57 pm

My soldering skills have laid dormant for about 3 years. I resurrected them to build not one but three of Picmas trees. I'm happy to say that all three lit properly on the first try. I wasn't surprised. The kit is well supplied, well described, and the layout is simple. If I had one nit to pick it would be that the top LED should be white

I built one of my trees with a white LED at the top. The LED came from my surplus

I can't wait for the next three to get here. No... I'm not OCD. They are pre-Christmas gifts. All but one that is

I have to admit that all three running at the same time looks pretty cool so I'm going to miss them when I give them away

myothermind · Post by **myothermind** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 8:52 pm

We are so glad we helped you resurrect your soldering skills and give you a chance to show them off for a christmas gift! A forest of trees all blinking does look really impressive. I've had a dozen of the earlier version running . (I don't know the record for who has had the most running at one time though...)
-- John

Mike6158 · Post by **Mike6158** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:13 am

myothermind wrote:We are so glad we helped you resurrect your soldering skills and give you a chance to show them off for a christmas gift! A forest of trees all blinking does look really impressive. I've had a dozen of the earlier version running . (I don't know the record for who has had the most running at one time though...)
-- John

John, A few years ago I had a design for a tree the was "kind of" like what you guys came up with. Life came along and bumped it to the back burner. It doesn't matter since I have yet to work on my PIC programming skills and I'm certain that I couldn't have written anything close to what you did. I program industrial PLC's and HMI's for a living and that eats up a lot of my time. The PIC seems like a natural progression and I hope to do something with it someday.

Can you imagine a 6', 7', or even 8' tall version of the PICmas tree?

Maybe use a "master" PIC to control multiple "slave" PIC's via a serial network. The star would have it's own PIC and it's own set of routines. You could control the world!!!!

Ahem... well... maybe the neighborhood at least

Cool stuff...

PS- An LED star has probably already been done commercially but... what a cool idea that would be... hint hint...

Bigglez · Post by **Bigglez** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:18 am

Mike6158 wrote:If I had one nit to pick it would be that the top LED should be white :grin: I built one of my trees with a white LED at the top.

It is unlikely that white LEDs can be used in the
current design, as it runs form only three volts
(while on battery power). Most Blue and White LEDs
require more than three volts to operate.

Mike6158 · Post by **Mike6158** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:34 am

Bigglez wrote:
Mike6158 wrote:If I had one nit to pick it would be that the top LED should be white I built one of my trees with a white LED at the top.
It is unlikely that white LEDs can be used in the
current design, as it runs form only three volts
(while on battery power). Most Blue and White LEDs
require more than three volts to operate.

Mine works on batteries. It's a little too directional for my taste but it works...

T&L Publications

Merry PICmas kit

Merry PICmas kit

Re: Merry PICmas kit

Wonderful wonderful project!

Re: Wonderful wonderful project!

Re: Wonderful wonderful project!

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