I am currently working on a graphic equaliser based on one of those t-shirt equalisers, where lights react to music. I am hoping to put it in the micra as part of an ICE install. I bought an equaliser panel which is around 10cm and am hoping to make a larger equaliser out of leds using the inverter, I have drawn up all the plans i just wanna know what leds and/or resistors i can use and the best way to wire them. The power source is a 6V inverter powered by 4 AAA batts at the moment.........
electronics whizz........
- Thread starter richie
- Start date
i basically want to know what leds would be ok and would i need resistors. There is 5 different colours (groups) of which each group is about 20 leds, so i am thinking low voltage/wattage but my electrical skills are limited. Or i might do all the same colour.........
some are:
Technical Spec
Source Material: AlGaInP
Emitting Colour: Red
Emitting Wavelength (nm): 625-630
Size: 3mm
Intensity (mcd): 8000-10000
Viewing Angle (deg): 20
Forward Voltage (mA): 1.8-1.9
Forward Current (V): 20-30
OR
L-314GD, 3mm Green Diffused LED, Wave Length 565nm, Typical Luminous Intensity(If=20mA) 20mcd, Viewing Angle 60
OR
Product Number LE-DS152
Product Name 100 pcs 5mm Blue LED 6000mcd & Free Resistor (5V or 12V)
Emitted Color Blue
Size (mm) 5mm
Lens Color Water Clear
Peak Wave Length (nm) 460 -470
Static Sense Yes
Forward Voltage (V) 3.2 - 3.4
View Angle 5 - 25°
Luminous Intensity (mcd) 5000 - 6000
Maximum Current 20mA Continuous, 50mA peak for 10% Pulse Width
Item Net Weight 75g / 2.7oz
Means something to me but.............
Technical Spec
Source Material: AlGaInP
Emitting Colour: Red
Emitting Wavelength (nm): 625-630
Size: 3mm
Intensity (mcd): 8000-10000
Viewing Angle (deg): 20
Forward Voltage (mA): 1.8-1.9
Forward Current (V): 20-30
OR
L-314GD, 3mm Green Diffused LED, Wave Length 565nm, Typical Luminous Intensity(If=20mA) 20mcd, Viewing Angle 60
OR
Product Number LE-DS152
Product Name 100 pcs 5mm Blue LED 6000mcd & Free Resistor (5V or 12V)
Emitted Color Blue
Size (mm) 5mm
Lens Color Water Clear
Peak Wave Length (nm) 460 -470
Static Sense Yes
Forward Voltage (V) 3.2 - 3.4
View Angle 5 - 25°
Luminous Intensity (mcd) 5000 - 6000
Maximum Current 20mA Continuous, 50mA peak for 10% Pulse Width
Item Net Weight 75g / 2.7oz
Means something to me but.............
Hia Mate!
nice project idea.
the 'water-clear' LEDs are very nice IMO
I agree with previous comments....decide on your LEDs first....then decide on the power source,,the rest (resistors etc) can be figured out last.
If youre deffinately gonna use a battery pack, (as opposed to tapping off of the car electrix) condider the possibillity of rechargable batteries....these are only 1.2 volts (compared with 1.5 volts for disposable AAA) so if you used rechargables there would only be 1.8 volts instead of 6 v but would be cheeper long term....also maybe a 9v PP3 batteriey.
If you do end up wiring into the car battery instead...remember that the voltage is higher when the engine is running compared with a stopped engine
nice project idea.
the 'water-clear' LEDs are very nice IMO
I agree with previous comments....decide on your LEDs first....then decide on the power source,,the rest (resistors etc) can be figured out last.
If youre deffinately gonna use a battery pack, (as opposed to tapping off of the car electrix) condider the possibillity of rechargable batteries....these are only 1.2 volts (compared with 1.5 volts for disposable AAA) so if you used rechargables there would only be 1.8 volts instead of 6 v but would be cheeper long term....also maybe a 9v PP3 batteriey.
If you do end up wiring into the car battery instead...remember that the voltage is higher when the engine is running compared with a stopped engine
agreed, they use an Electroluminescent phosphorus coated paper, which allows it to have a flexible light, they were used in watch back lights and old laptop backlights etc. they are very limited in colour, so what you have will probably be a filter over the top to make the other colours. they work by and inverter stepping up the voltage to something huge, like 15,000 volts at something like 0.2amps which makes it glow. so you put that through an LED and you won't have an LED left.
secondly, i have seen these shirts and they actually don't work as a graphic equaliser, they just flash in responce to the music and don't actually give you a read out of the different frequencies. so it will be nothing more than a set of flashing lights that flash in time to the music.
you would be better off getting a project kit from Maplin or something that actually works and already uses LEDs. something like this: http://www.hobbytron.com/CK324.html much easier to work with.
and lastly.........why is this in the wanted section and not the electronics section?
The wiki on Electroluminescent has got a gorgeous coloured blue disc...if this technology was used for incar ICE I reckon it would look really nice....I wonder what colours are available these days.
maybe 2 NEX meant something like 0.2E-5 Amps....(2 microamps) or something that would fit power wise
good idea with the maplin module...that would cut a massive ammount of work out....probably ionly for a few quid too?
I suppose if the maplin module had the right ammount of outputs..(or more) you would be closer to being 'sorted'
I remember a cheap casio wrist watch of mine had a rediculously bright backlight...during the day it was a white background and you could hardly see it glow.....but at night it was lush and bright. The battery in a watch is puney but it lasted an age (lots of sad and surplus to requirements backlight usage too...lol
maybe 2 NEX meant something like 0.2E-5 Amps....(2 microamps) or something that would fit power wise
good idea with the maplin module...that would cut a massive ammount of work out....probably ionly for a few quid too?
I suppose if the maplin module had the right ammount of outputs..(or more) you would be closer to being 'sorted'
I remember a cheap casio wrist watch of mine had a rediculously bright backlight...during the day it was a white background and you could hardly see it glow.....but at night it was lush and bright. The battery in a watch is puney but it lasted an age (lots of sad and surplus to requirements backlight usage too...lol
15000 volts @ 0.2 A = 3000watts, lol come on Nex wake up!!
Electroluminescent displays dont need anything like that amount of power, but do need around 160v iirc to operate.
lol yea i meant 0.2Ma but still... maybe i am thinking of neons, or cathodes, one of those has an inverter that steps up to stupid volts.
pjg1979
THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK!
I know you can get under arch kits from Ring Automotive (PRISM) these kits have a Music function, if you bought 3 kits (each kit containing 4 x 15" strips) and change the music setting for each one you could have some sort of equalizer.
For example:
Kit 1,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kit 2,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kit 3,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Though the under arch kit only comes in blue it's not that helpful and that every time you turn on the control box you have to preset the music function every time.
Bad Idea from me and probably very expensive, lol.
For example:
Kit 1,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kit 2,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kit 3,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Though the under arch kit only comes in blue it's not that helpful and that every time you turn on the control box you have to preset the music function every time.
Bad Idea from me and probably very expensive, lol.
as far as i can recall, there is an orange colour, blue, green and possibly a yellow, but they all look fairly similar. basically the same colours you get UV reactive stuff in.
same stuff is used in "EL Wire" (glowing wire stuff) and various other things.
i want to see someone sandblast their car back to bare metal and then spray it with this stuff, that way the car would glow nicely
and yea i mean MA lol
its not actually that dangerous because of the low amps. its like static electricity its high enough voltage to make a spark but the amps are so low that its un usable really. just great for tesla coils
right, after much surfing the net i wondered if i could do either of these?? cant find much spec about the 5 led one. 10 led one is;
MONO LED VU METER KIT
VU meter kit with a 10 LED scale and
an adjustable input and light bar display.
Complete with front panel.
Power supply:- 6 - 18 V dc @ 45mA
Size:- 30 x 70 x 75 mm31 x 16 x 31 mm.
I was wondering how easy it would be to add leds to the 10 single leds?? may need to add 10. it is not neccesarily a graphic equaliser but hey ho, they cost a bomb.
MONO LED VU METER KIT
VU meter kit with a 10 LED scale and
an adjustable input and light bar display.
Complete with front panel.
Power supply:- 6 - 18 V dc @ 45mA
Size:- 30 x 70 x 75 mm31 x 16 x 31 mm.
I was wondering how easy it would be to add leds to the 10 single leds?? may need to add 10. it is not neccesarily a graphic equaliser but hey ho, they cost a bomb.
Attachments
if teh modules were used as youve shown (the outputs wired to teh rows) then all of teh columns would illuminate at teh same time..ie all of teh botom row would light together...all of teh top row wouls light together etc....
The module is probably only rated to drive the equivelant number of LEDs as there are on teh module board...and so if all of teh rows were connected then teh module would either pop...or just not be capable of driving the desired quantity of leds..
If you were happy with full rows comming on at teh same time (I notice you've shifted the colours up and down nicely in your display anyways..) then you would probably need a set of transistorised switched to switch a separate power rail onto each row as teh module signals go an and off....that would do it.
in a regular EQ there would be the equivelent of...
the same number of these modules as there are columns in your LED display.....and then there would be another module with...(usally a stack of audio band pass filters)...<the same number of filters as there are columns on your LED display...each passing a unique frwquency range out and into one of teh modules that you have shown ... those modules would then drive onlu their own private colums on the disply...
If you were to mock up something like this using multiple modules that you have shown....and a filer bank from somewhere you would get this to work fine, but it would be less cost to buy a fully fleged ready-made driver module...
its a pain, but the only other alternative would be to custome build some row & clumn drivers, decent microcontroller, write a program and jig it up on a PCB of sorts.....
(stop talking richard....)
:-S
The module is probably only rated to drive the equivelant number of LEDs as there are on teh module board...and so if all of teh rows were connected then teh module would either pop...or just not be capable of driving the desired quantity of leds..
If you were happy with full rows comming on at teh same time (I notice you've shifted the colours up and down nicely in your display anyways..) then you would probably need a set of transistorised switched to switch a separate power rail onto each row as teh module signals go an and off....that would do it.
in a regular EQ there would be the equivelent of...
the same number of these modules as there are columns in your LED display.....and then there would be another module with...(usally a stack of audio band pass filters)...<the same number of filters as there are columns on your LED display...each passing a unique frwquency range out and into one of teh modules that you have shown ... those modules would then drive onlu their own private colums on the disply...
If you were to mock up something like this using multiple modules that you have shown....and a filer bank from somewhere you would get this to work fine, but it would be less cost to buy a fully fleged ready-made driver module...
its a pain, but the only other alternative would be to custome build some row & clumn drivers, decent microcontroller, write a program and jig it up on a PCB of sorts.....
(stop talking richard....)
:-S
