Hi

This is my first Instructable, and when i started to make the project i never intened to place it on this site but the LED contest was too good to miss.

This is what the final product looks like.

Step 1: Prologue

As i said before i never planed to place this online so that means i did not take pictures when making the circuit, but i will walkthrough it as best as i can.

This project is aimed at people who dont have access to a microcontroller, but have expert experience with intergrated circuits and strip boards.

Finaly i want to say is, the way i have made this project is a prototype -Proof of concept- i dont recomend that you try to make this in the same way i have, i STRONGLY recomend using a printed circuit board because in some places you need very good fault finding skills to fix it, or when you do make it get a bigger strip board and space things out.

Step 2: Parts List

When i made this i bought the componnets as i went along because luckily, i live near RS Components.

Also the part list is for my circuit feel free to increase or decrease the size of the circuit to suit your needs.

100* 5mm RGB LEDs (36* used) ebay item number: 120426126311

2* Vero stripboards 100*160 holes

123* 470 OHM Resistors 0.5W

12* 1K OHM Resistors

6* 10K OHM Resistors

18* 2.2uF Capacitors

36* 1N4001 Diodes

24* BC635 NPN Transistors (In the instructable i acidentally typed in wrong transistors, now it has been changed. USE BC635)

6* 1K OHM Potentiometers ( I suggest you use a greater value 100K OHM)

3* 555 Timers

3* MC14017BCP Decade counter

2* Slide switch (on-on)

Tinned copper wire

Step 3: Useful Links

How to wire 555 timer in stripboard:
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/stripbd.htm

How to create a voltage controlled oscillator with 555 timer:
http://ecelab.com/circuit-vco-555.htm

How to wire decade counter:
http://www.doctronics.co.uk/4017.htm#Images_swf/4093_pins

MC14017 date sheet:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheets/270/397492_DS.pdf

Step 4: Step 1: LEDs

Before i started i had planned that i will do each step one by one, and i will only continue once the step im doing is working perfectly.

So in this step i got out

5mm RGB LEDs

Vero stripboard 100*160 holes

470 OHM Resistors 0.5W

In picture 1 you can see,
the LED that I bought has ground in the middle so when placing them into the stripboard be carefull.

In picture 2 you can see,
this is the most space efficient way of mounting the LEDs and the resistors

In picture 3 you can see,
one completed line the reason why i used 9 LEDs is because i ran out of room on the stripboard.
https://www.instructables.com/files/orig/F61/RW7N/GDM6U49Q/F61RW7NGDM6U49Q.jpg
(click here for bigger, better, more clearer picture)

In picture 4 you can see,
the completed LED part of the circuit, i only used 4 lines because of space but you can make up to 10 for one Decade counter.
https://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FSR/880U/GDM6Y6B3/FSR880UGDM6Y6B3.jpg
(click here for bigger, better, more clearer picture)

Step 5: Step 2: Fade

Step 2: Fade

In this step i wanted to create a way of fadeing off each LED.

So searching online i found this circuit.

The parts i used were:

470 OHM Resistors 0.5W

1K OHM Resistors

2.2uF Capacitors

BC635 NPN Transistors

When i created my circuit i forgot to add the resistor on the trigger (image 1, R121) but i added it in later in a different part of the circuit
the purpose of that resistor is to reduce the sensitivity of the trigger because without it a small voltage will turn on the LEDs

In the picture 2 it shows,
how each fade circuit is created on a stripboard
also it is important to remember that there is a cut track underneath R1

In picture 3 it shows,
one completed line of LEDs with a fade circuit attached to the resistors
https://www.instructables.com/files/orig/F3Z/LAE9/GDM6U4BC/F3ZLAE9GDM6U4BC.jpg
(click here for bigger, better, more clearer picture)

in picture 4 it shows,
the completed circuit so far

Step 6: Step 3: Flood Control

In this step i wanted to choose the colour the LEDs where showing so i decieded to create a way of controlling each colour one by one.

In this step the parts i used where

1N4001 Diode

1K OHM Potentiometers ( I suggest you use a greater value 100K OHM)

What i did was get a potentiometer and attached one side to positive the other to ground and attach the middle to 4 diodes which attach to a single colour

the reason for the diode is to stop multiple LED lines lighting up when not suposed to.

this step is alittle hard to describe but i belive the last picture explains it pretty well

Step 7: Step 4: Decade Counter

This step was easy but it was the hardest to put inside the circuit because i as running short of space to put all the compoenents.

The parts i used where:

470 OHM Resistors 0.5W

10K OHM Resistors

2.2uF Capacitors

1N4001 Diodes

1K OHM Potentiometers ( I suggest you use a greater value 100K OHM)

555 Timers

MC14017BCP Decade counter

Important note *** you have to do this three times, one for red,one for blue and one for green ***

Creating the circuit below is easy
in the next step i will show you how to wire it to the triggers of the fader.

Step 8: Step 5: Putting It All Together

All you have to do now is put all the steps together and hopfully it makes sense.

But when reading over this i have a feeling that some people might be confused, so im going to make a picture of a circuit which only shows one colour. All you have to do is do it three more times.

The top bit, LEDs and fade is pretty simple to understand.

The bottom bit is harder.

The pink dotted line shows that you have to make this circuit three times (one for each colour) this is the decade counter.

The output and input to trigger means,
because the decade counter does up to ten and i only have 4 lines of LEDs,
i have to double up the outputs

So here is a truth table.

output    I trigger

0                   red 1
1                   red 2
2                   red 3
3                   red 4
4                   blank
5                   red 1
6                   red 2
7                   red 3
8                   red 4
9                   blank

This shows the lights really good with two output delay.

the light blue square shows a switch either select the flood control or the decade counter

the red square shows the flood control

https://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FBN/02HR/GDM73BPJ/FBN02HRGDM73BPJ.jpg
(click here for bigger, better, more clearer picture)