loading

Step 7: Modifications

When replacing the toggle-switch by a pushbutton you must switch to the sunset-part by activating some interrupt in the program.

To change the supply-voltage you must recalculate the individual LED strips and the resistors, because with 12V you could only drive 3 white LEDs and you need a different resistor too. A workaround would be to use constant current sources, but these might cost you some bucks and use another few tens of a volt for regulation. 

With 24V you could drive a lot of LEDs in one strip, to control the same amount of LEDs with 12V supply, the LEDs must be separated in two strips which are used parallel. Each of these two strips needs its own resistor and the accumulated current through this channel has more than doubled. So you see, that it makes no sense to drive all LEDs by 5V, which would be convenient, but the current would rise to an unhealthy level and the amount of resistors needed would also skyrocket.

To use high power LEDs with the ULN2803 driver you could combine two channels for a better thermal management. Just connect two inputs together on one microcontroller-pin and two outputs on one high power LED-strip. And keep in mind, that some high power LED spots come with their own constant-current circuit and might not be dimmed by PWM in the power-line! 

In this setup all parts are far away from any limits. If you push the things to the edge you might get thermal problems with the FET or the darlington array.
And of course never use 230V AC or 110V AC to drive this circuit!!!

My next step beyond this instructable is to wire up an microcontroller with three hardware PWMs to control a high power RGB-Spot.

So have fun and enjoy the privilege of your individual sunset and sunrise.
 

Wanted to make this for 2 years... not really sure why I never got around to it! Going to have a crack at it soon, though. I've ordered some LEDs, new Picaxe, etc. I have both 5v and 3v3 FDTI cables - any suggestions on which would work best to program Picaxe?<br><br>Has anyone make a PCB for this? I'm being lazy here, of course!
I guess you have to try which cable works best. <br>And congratulations that you finally started with Picaxe. They are really easy to learn and good for a start. <br><br>Good Luck!
<p>So, after another 2 years - yes, I am embarrassed! - I have built and circuit and programmed the Picaxe. I needed to make a few changes to the Picaxe as the one I bought is a 18M2.</p><p>Alas. I'm not winning! If, for example, I turn on pins B.0 and B.2 and do NOT use the PWM, so set B.3 high to switch the FET, everything works well. If, with exactly the same set up and code, but use the PWM and don't set B.3 high, the LEDs connected to B.0 and B.2 turn on at full brightness, and all the other LEDs start off, but increase in brightness with each step of the PWM routine.</p><p>I will point out here that I haven't built the LED grid yet, I am testing with one LED connected to each output of the ULN2803.</p><p>I have tried numerous things to sort this out, changing the FET for an NPN transistor; swapping the ULN2803 for a different one; adding the pull down resistor to the PWM pin as recommended by the Picaxe (this seemed to stop the LEDs flicking on at power up); adding a pull-up resistor to the GND pin of the ULN2803 (incase the FET was leaving the pin floating); removing the capacitors, thinking there might have been a residual capacitance effect. (I am using a 20V laptop PSU, so I'm pretty confident the supply is clean).</p><p>I have gone through my circuit and your schematic very carefully, and can't see any errors, and I have gone through my stripboard to make sure there are no bridged tracks, dry joints, etc.</p><p>I'm a touch stuck here! Any suggestions?</p><p>Thanks,</p><p>N.</p>
I love this concept! Cool idea, I have added it to the hamster cage (list in my head of future project ideas with no logical order), filed under awesome ideas....inspiring.
Hi everyone,<br> I need help..I wanted to know that if I wanted to use this for the entire roof of my roof (10X10sq ft) how many leds are required and where do place the various colors.<br>And is there a way that I could connect it to a electric watch and it could simulate it for me when ever I wanted to on the press of a button ??<br><br>Thanks<br>Rahul
Im making a wake up light for my final engineering project and and unable to find useful information :( <br>Can anyone help me with the circuit for the wake up light, please.
Wow, step two went by pretty fast.&nbsp;
&nbsp;I love this idea. I have made a sunrise simulator hooked up to two UV lamps for my three exotic birds. You'd be surprized how much happier they are to welcome the day when its being properly simulated.<br /> <br /> Your project here is perfect for people as it naturally adusts your vision to match whats going on outside. if you could integrate a stronger UV source, it would help your body adjust even better. This idea is great for both people and animals that are sensitive to sunrise/sunset.<br /> <br /> Im going to try this as soon as i can collect parts. I also think it would look excellent if it were modfied to point the leds upward and enclose in a simple, thin, 3d rectangular frame with panels made of a heavy rice paper, or a thin opaque white plastic.<br /> <br /> Awesome stuff.<br />
I have some problems finding the components in the U.S. , can anybody help me? <br />
&nbsp;I was wondering if this was projected on white cloth how the&nbsp;other side&nbsp;would fare. if you could find out and let me know it would be a big help. i have a dream of putting a large landscape painting&nbsp;in front&nbsp;of this as one of my walls. Thank you for&nbsp;inspiring&nbsp;this.
It just points to a white wall. <br /> But a big painting is also a good idea. <br /> Lately I saw something like this, that was a silhouette &nbsp;of a city in front of a RGB-LED. This also gave a nice effect.
sorry for being such a newb, but which reader do I&nbsp;need for the sch file?<br />
No Problem!&nbsp;<br /> The *.sch file contains the circuit diagram and can be opened with the &quot;Eagle Layout Editor&quot; from Cadsoft. &nbsp;They offer a free version of their product which might be downloaded from their website<br /> But you could also use the jpgs of the circuit diagramm, they are prints of the eagle software. &nbsp;
That daylight savings is a bunch of crap, now it will be darker earlier.<br />
Daylight savings becomes more of a pain when you're working from first light until dark, and have to travel over an hour each way, to and from work, makes for a restless week for the first week after the Fall time change...<br />
No kidding.&nbsp; I only see sunlight on the weekends these days!<br />
I can't stand the dark and rain.<br />
Yeah, either way it's gonna be dark in the morning.<br />
You would be a happier person if you concentrated on changing what you can change and just get over what you can't change.&nbsp; (Like get up and go to work an hour earlier so you can get off an hour earlier.)<br /> <br /> Unless, that is, you <em><strong>enjoy</strong></em> being a sourpuss.&nbsp; If that's the case, then carry on.&nbsp; <br />
TERRORIST!!
I was wondering if there was any particular reason you chose to use a lot of little LEDs instead of one or two large RGB&nbsp;LEDs.<br />
Indeed I'm working on a RGB-Controller in the meantime. But the low-cost Picaxe-Chips are quite limited (only one PWM) and not too fast (to do pwm in software).<br /> Hopefully soon a new instructable will be ready...&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Stay tuned!&nbsp;
This is awesome! It's&nbsp;PERFECT for&nbsp;the interior cabins of cruise ships!&nbsp;
Looks neat, though what I do to get up when I don't really want to is using an old-style mechanical alarm clock, and place it on the other side of the room, as soon as it goes off, I'm out of bed and across the room (well, around 5' or so from my bed, in a direction that I&nbsp;have to get out of the bed to shut it off) and fumbling with it in the dark to turn it off. Though if I'm already awake when it goes off, I nearly jump out of my skin, since the time it goes off is slightly earlier every time from the hour hand passing the trigger, and as the clock winds down and needs to be rewound, it runs a little faster. Though I do like the idea of the LED sunrise/sunset lamp, keep up the cool ideas and creations!<br />
Fantastic instructable! You put a lot of thought into this and I appreciate you sharing it with us. What a terrific idea! I'm going to build this straight away.<br />
&nbsp;what a gorgeous design. Fine, fine work!
Great idea!!! <br />
Nice!<br />

About This Instructable

65,842 views

190 favorites

License:

Bio: I like to explore new things and try out stuff. At the moment I'm in to electronics and LEDs (mainly).
More by andyk75: BLE-Controlled WS2801 LEDs Make a secret IR-camera security raspberry pi unit Write a new service for linux (opensuse)
Add instructable to: