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What is the 555 firefly? It is a 555 circuit that blinks an LED. But, not any LED. The LED is a UV led dipped in Glow In The Dark (GITD) paint. The end result is that the UV light excites the paint resulting in it glowing and then fading out like a real fire fly does. This project started as an offshoot of a couple of my recent experiments with UV lasers taken from an HD DVD player and general playing around with stuff that lights up or glows. There are a couple of cool projects out there that use UV LED's in a matrix to “paint” on GITD material, making Persistence of Vision more organic looking. I started researching GITD stuff and came up with the following information: Zinc Sulfide is the original GITD material and then there is Strontium Aluminate, which is brighter and has a much longer persistence. You might think that Strontium Aluminate is immediately better but that depends on what you are trying to achieve. Having the glow fade faster might actually be useful depending on what you are trying to do. I had some GITD paint based on Strontium Aluminate from a previous project (one that didn’t actually work as well as I wanted due to the long persistence.) So I had an idea... Dip a UV led into the GITD paint and see what happens... The result was pretty cool and all I needed for a stand alone cool little project was something to turn it on briefly and then off for a while. Enter the 555 timer. These guys have been around a long time, I used to build stuff with them in my teens. To make it simple I didn't even use a PC board and chose the ultimate point to point wiring method. Here is a little video of the 555 firefly in action.
I will mail a UV LED dipped into GITD paint to the first five people who correctly identify the music in the video! Send me a private message if you know.
General Info on GITD:
General Phosphorescence
Zinc Sulfide
Strontium Aluminate
I will mail a UV LED dipped into GITD paint to the first five people who correctly identify the music in the video! Send me a private message if you know.
General Info on GITD:
General Phosphorescence
Zinc Sulfide
Strontium Aluminate
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The Parts List:
Tools:
The first thing to do is to make the GITD LED's. I bent the (+) lead (the longer one) into a little loop so I could hang it to drip dry after dipping. Next time I think I would use masking tape and rig up something that I could stick the LED to so it can drip and dry. The way I did it, they tend to swing around and can stick to each other if they get to close. Give them about 24 hours to fully dry. While they are drying lets build the circuit.
- 555 timer http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=LM555CNFS-ND
- 1M Ohm resistor ¼ Watt
- 22K Ohm resistor ¼ Watt (10K-47K works)
- 49 Ohm resistor ¼ Watt (47-100 works)
- 10-100uF Capacitor (See Text)
- UV LED http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5mm-uv-led-emitters-20-pack-2398
- Batteries http://www.dealextreme.com/p/2032-x-20-pcs-cell-batteries-751
- Electrical Tape
- some 22 gauge red and black wire
- Solder
- GITD Paint http://glowinc.com/detail.aspx?ID=41
Tools:
- Needle Nose Pliers
- Diagonal Cutters
- Round Nose Pliers
- Soldering Iron
- “Third Hand” helping holder
The first thing to do is to make the GITD LED's. I bent the (+) lead (the longer one) into a little loop so I could hang it to drip dry after dipping. Next time I think I would use masking tape and rig up something that I could stick the LED to so it can drip and dry. The way I did it, they tend to swing around and can stick to each other if they get to close. Give them about 24 hours to fully dry. While they are drying lets build the circuit.
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where can I get GITD paint?
Thank you.
Jules
How would you rate it difficulty wise? could a beginner achieve this with little knowledge of circuitry. I really want to give it a go.