Cylon Lights

The Cylon Lights is a little LED project using 8 red LED's that pulse in a pattern like the cylons in BSG.

This project was designed by hittconsulting. I revised the design slightly to work on our new project boards. You can get the kit from Gadget Gangster and download a PDF version of this howto.

Here's a quick video of the original version;

Warm up your soldering iron and get started!

Step 1 Gather the Parts

If you'd like to gather the parts yourself, you'll need the following.

Parts list

• Knob
• 1x .1 Ceramic cap
• 2x 10uF Electrolytic caps
• 1x 28 Pin Dip socket
• 1x Power connector
• 1x 1n4001 diode
• 1x SX 28 microcontroller (if you buy the kit, the SX will come pre-programmed, otherwise you can download the sourcecode from Gadget Gangster)
• 8x 3mm Red LED's
• 1x Gadget Gangster Boss Board
• 1x 3.3v LDO regulator
• 1x 10k ohm potentiometer
• 3x 10k resistors (Brown - Black - Orange)

Comments

[Goodhart]

I was planning on building a similar project soon only with a 40193.

 

[blinkyblinky]

A 4017 works just as well.

[Goodhart]

I am not sure I have one "on hand" ;-) even though it is now 2 years later....

[jamar3030]

Is it necessary to use a SX programming tool to program the SX 28 or is there another, cheaper way to get the source code in? For $34 the programmer isn't a bad idea if someone is programming multiple IC's, but not efficient if they are just doing one. Thanks for the tutorial!

[Gadget Gangster]

As a kit, the SX comes pre-programmed.

But if you're doing development and stuff, I don't think there's a cheaper way to program the IC.  Keep in mind, though, that the SX is going end of life.  Parallax will pick up a large stock this month that might last a few years, though.

[blinkyblinky]

What language is this programmed in?

[thinkdunson]

very cool.
you forgot to put the electrolytic caps on the parts list.

[Gadget Gangster]

Good catch - I missed that because the Cylon Lights 1 is battery powered.  I just use 2x 10uF caps (that's what the datasheet for the regulator calls for).  You could use larger caps if you wanted.  I bet the project will probably work without those electrolytic caps, but using them will result in a more reliable project.  

[valhallas_end]

Nice. If you put a plastic filter in front of the LED's, it would probably look very Cylon-ish. Incidentally, I just finished watching through the BSG classics on Hulu again.