Sold/Expired LOOK WHAT I MADE!!...AND IT WORKS!!! : )

after about 2 weeks of getting components together from Digikey and other sources (for emitter, battery holder, and slide switch), and designing the schematic and routing the board as well as etching it and a lot of teeny soldering...the prototype is finally done.

my girlfriend needed a flashing indicator cause she is on track and cross country and she runs at night and doesnt feel like getting run over. also, she has a thing for blue.

i'm still trying to figure out how to design the cover but the electronics will be coated in a dome of clear epoxy...or maybe matt epoxy to scatter the light. i think it's bright enough that it will distract drivers and cause accidents, but thats not my problem : )

it flashes at about 1.5Hz at 15% duty cycle. which means it runs forever and a day on 1 x CR123A cell.

i'm still trying to figure out how to attach a clip to it and how to design a good outer casing.

i'd prefer it run off a cr2, and i'll prolly make a smaller version of it that is somewhat more flat than this, i think the cr123A cell makes it too deep and awkward to attach to anything other than a belt, i dunno if a cr2 cell will be able to provide enough energy though. that remains to be seen. in the mean time i'm testing its runtime.

this is actually Rev2...Rev1 had the components much more spread out and i had to reroute the board to make the components much closer to account for the smaller version i'll be making in a while with the CR2, i think thats as tight as they'll get with my skills. but i'm having prototypes quoted atm...solder mask and all. this ended up being a neat little project.





any input welcomed, thought i'd share my excitement.
Leon

WOW! nice work! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

that is pretty freggin sweet, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Shane

Nice, but, uh, you could have gotten her a Photon III or Photon Freedom in blue? Those have flashing modes.

i'm willing to bet this will flash longer than either of those, and it's brighter than both put together, and i wanted a Luxeon emitter. there's just something about it. : )...of course i can put in a 5mm without changing a thing...in fact, several and watch it flash for a month straight...hehe

plus the photon3 i got had a very lacking strobe mode, maybe mine was defective but all it did was flicker without a full on or off.

When the safety of the woman you love is at steak, ya tend to go all out. good work!!

Shane

get her a glo-toob blue.

I'd notice a strobing luxeon before id notice a glow tube i think.

Shane

yeah, anything glowy would need to be much brighter and moving to be noticed. probably why lighthouses, police cars, traffic thingies, and everything else doesnt glow. glowing is good for illumination or indicating a steady state of something. any sort of alert indicator flashes. it's more noticable.

Well, your girlfriend would be moving, lol. but a strobe is definately more noticable.

Shane

haha, you'd think so. well she gets lost a lot and stands in the same place, dumbfounded, for hours - trying to figure out where the hell she is. she was just telling me yesterday how she has to get up early today...at 5am for her 7am class that she has to bike to 3 miles away. I asked her why so early and she said in case she got lost. i'm like: it's 3 fricken miles. on a bike...thats like 5 or 10 minutes!

you should get hee a GPS unit /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Shane

she got herself one about 3 months ago to see how far she actually goes. and there is this virtual runner that she can race against. it's sort of neat, but i dont think she uses it much...too lazy to change the batteries or something.

NICE work...

ah very nice, I have always wanted to make a variable rate strober, ill have to look into the parts needed.
good idea, and its nice that you actually made it, instead of just buying some cheapo flasher.

i actually have made a variable strobe the only difference between this one and that one is a pot instead of a resistor. : )

For attachment you might try an elastic belt like the heart monitors use. She could wear it on her arm or waist no matter the type of clothes.

-LT

Leeoniya,

Would you mind posting the parts you used and how to connect them to make a variable rate strober?
I would love to make one.

Leeoniya,

Way to go!! DIY and innovation is the game.. don't go the easy route. Once upon a time, I designed and built my girlfriend a nice little electronic metronome circuit using LEDs, when it runs, the lights will shift or chase back and forth.. like the old TV series "Nite Rider" ( Remember KIT?) anyway, I will post some pictures of the circuit soon.

Way to go!!

u'd need to be more specific on the specs that u'll need so that i can post exact part numbers. first off, do u want all surface mount? second, what range do you want on the strobe frequency control? is duty cycle critical? is constant current or constant voltage critical? what battery will you be running the circuit off of? and is it for a 5mm/3mm? lux1? lux3? lux5? (basically what current and voltage requirement spec on power source and the actual LEDs, also the strobe frequency range. all pretty important questions cause u dont want to get electronics that are:

A: too much overkill, that'll be extra components and unless u have a variable current regulator to account for anything you wanna throw in there...20ma, 350ma, etc.. for different types of luxeons...which is possible, but not practical.

B: underkill....that's a word now...if u have underkill you'll either fry the circuit or it just wont work

C: u can't solder...the smt i have on the board actually are pretty easy to solder, but u have to have a good light needle tip soldering iron

also note that duty cycle is hard to control with variable frequencies.

are you looking for a pwm dimming circuit or for a strobe circuit, cause the two are sort of different.

i'll just post a very basic schematic. all it does is provide a pulse to the base of a mosfet that the LED gets it's juice through, it's like an electronic switch that opens every time you have a high enough voltage applied to the gate. the pot varies the pulse rate. i dont think you can vary the pulse width with this config, only the frequency. but that might be enough and it uses minimal components. like i said, the values and part numbers will depend on your requirements.



this is the idea, it's quite different than my current circuit cause it uses fewer components. and doest have a good way to control duty cycle. i have used this design before in other projects and it works well.

do note that the regulation circuitry would be necessary for anything over a 3.6V lithium. the rating of the mosfet depends on the current u'll need at any one time. the timer is a special low voltage 555 timer that works down to 0.9V but i think no more than 6V max. regular 555 timers take a minimum of 4.5V. the pot ant capacitor values depend on the frequency range u'll need.