New R48 Video Clip
Finally, a short but sweet video clip of R48 blue. I hope you enjoy…
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R48 and Li-Ion Charger
R48 comes with a non-rechargeable battery (CR2450) and a black cord (lanyard) to hang around the neck. The battery lasts for about 7-8 hours in continuous run.
There are also rechargeable battery (LIR2450) and the charger available. With those, you won’t need to keep buying batteries.
The charger is very compact and plugs right into an USB port.
White LEDs look yellow when they are not lit. Other colors (red, green, and blue) look like the photo above.
Features/Notes:
- Available with 4 different color LEDs: Red, Green, Blue, and White.
- Each R48 is fully assembled, and comes with a non-rechargeable battery (CR2450, easily replaceable).
- Battery will typically last about 7-8 hours continuously.
- Also comes with black cord (lanyard) to hang R48 around your neck.
- 25 beautiful animation patterns preprogrammed.
- “Demo” mode automatically runs though all animation patterns – changes every minute. (Activated by holding the button at the startup.)
- Rechargeable battery (LIR2450) is also available as an option. This recommended option lights the LEDs brighter, as it has higher voltage.
- The charger for the above is also available.
- Dimension: 1.9 inch diameter, 0.4 inch thick (including the battery)
R48 – an Wearable LED Gadget Pre-order Starts
Here’s the sneak peak at the upcoming wearable piece – R48. (I promise that better video will come soon.) Four different LED colors (Red, Green Blue, and White) are planned, but the first color available would be blue.
The item will be in stock in the 3nd week of July, and the price will be $49. Pre-order starts now at $45 a piece.
Also available are optional rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery and the charger. The charger is very compact and plugs into an USB port. The photo below is showing the prototype. The final version will look better in black. (Will post the photo as soon as available.)
Features/Notes:
- Each R48 will be fully assembled, and comes with a non-rechargeable battery (CR2450, easily replaceable).
- Battery will typically last about 5 hours continuously.
- Also comes with a black cord to wear R48 as a neckless.
- 25 beautiful animation patterns preprogrammed.
- “Demo” mode automatically runs though all animation patterns – changes every minute. (Activated by holding the button at the start up.)
- Rechargeable type battery (LIR2450) is also available as an option. This recommended option lights the LED brighter, as it has higher voltage.
- The charger for the above is also available.
- Dimension: 1.9 inch diameter, 0.4 inch thick (including the battery)
R48 is now shipping – pre-order is ended.
Rustybolt.info mention of JT Blinker
Mr. Watson of Rustybolt.info blog wrote about the LED blinker circuit using Joule Thief. I’ve sent him a PCB of my prototype, named JT Blinker – multivibrator and Joule Thief combined to blink LEDs with one 1.5V battery.
He had designed a similar circuit years ago, and has some insights about this type of circuits…
USB Blinky kit
USB Blinky is possibly the simplest LED blinky kit out there. There are only ten parts to solder. The PCB (Printed Circuit Board) itself plugs right into an USB port. Thicker material is used for the PCB, so that it fits into the USB port nicely.
USB Blinky blinks at about twice a second. USB Blinky only draws little current (about 5mA) so any USB ports can power it.
USB Blinky is the perfect “Learn to Solder” project.
Kit Contents
2x 5mm Super Bright LED
2x 470 ohm (R1, R4)
2x 47k ohm (R2, R3)
2x 22uF Electrolytic Capacitor (C1, C2)
2x NPN Transistor (Q1, Q2)
1x Custom PCB
- view detailed technical info and assembly instructions @ instructables
*** Purchase Here ***
USB Blinky!
Every now and then, I feel like designing something really simple and basic. Blinkies are my go to circuit for the simple LED joy. Just ten parts and the two LEDs blink back & forth…
However I always find powering the circuit a bit of pain – if I use battery, I’d have to change the battery all the time. But using an AC adaptor is kind of messy. Then I realize that USB ports are everywhere – on my computer, on the side of my keyboard, phone chargers, etc. Being able to just plug a blinky into any of USB ports around would be fun.
So here it is, USB Blinky. I used thicker PCB material so that the PCB will fit into USB port nicely making the simplest possible USB plug.
- view detailed technical info and assembly instructions @ instructables
Wave JT – LED chaser with Joule Thief
Wave JT is a multi-function LED chaser/scanner/sequencer. Wave JT incorporates Joule Thief to power the LEDs, so it operates on just a single AA battery.
Wave JT has over 16 sequence patterns, and speed can be adjusted by double/triple tapping the button. It’s the most compact yet versatile LED chaser.
Sequence patterns include many variation of the classic “Larson Scanner” from “Knight Rider”, random sparks, fade in/out, flashing, etc.
Even though there is only one button switch on Wave JT, you can control many things with it.
Wave JT – Kit and PCB
Wave JT is a tiny LED sequencer or “Larson Scanner” on steroid. It has over 16 sequence patterns, and speed can be adjusted by double/triple tapping the button. It’s the most versatile LED chaser.
Unlike other LED chasers, Wave JT controls each LED in smooth 7 bit (128 levels) brightness levels. The brightness curve is gamma-corrected like Aurora series, so the fades are visually pleasing.
Not only Wave JT versatile, it’s also energy efficient. Wave JT runs on a single AA battery, and the battery lasts for days!
Please view technical details and assembly instructions at instructables.
Wave JT is made with 100% through hole parts. No surface mount parts!
Kit Contents
8x 3mm or 5mm Super Bright LED of your choice
1x 4.7k ohm (R1)
1x 100k ohm (R2)
8x 39 ohm (R3-10)
1x 10pF Ceramic Capacitor (C1)
1x 0.1uF Ceramic Capacitor (C3)
1x 33uF 10V Electrolytic Capacitor (C2)
1x 47-100uH Axial Inductor (L1)
1x Schottky Diode (D1)
1x 5.1V 500mW Zener Diode (D2)
2x MPS2222A or equivalent NPN BJT (Q1-2)
1x PIC16F1823 or PIC16F1824
1x Tactile Switch (SW1)
2x Battery Clips
Note: As of Oct. 1, 2012, all Wave JT kits are shipping with preprogrammed PIC. You do not need a PIC programmer to assemble Wave JT kits!
*** Purchase Here ***
Colour Night Joule Thief kit
Colour(Color) Night Joule Thief kit and PCB are available. Please use the buttons below to purchase.
Detailed information and building instructions are here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Colour-Changing-Night-Joule-Thief/
*** Purchase Here ***
“Colour Night Joule Thief” LED Mood Light
Detailed information including building instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Colour-Changing-Night-Joule-Thief/
RGB LED – 5mm, common-cathode
10 pack of 5mm RGB LED – common-cathode. Diffused plastic – same as the ones used for Aurora. (Also same as this one.)
| 5mm RGB LED – common-cathode 10 pack: $5.00 |
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Night Joule Thief – LED Night Light Kit
Joule Thief circuit is combined with an ambient light sensor – Night Joule Thief is a little night light that keeps going with just one battery for weeks! Two white LEDs light up surprisingly bright.
* This is the original version of Night Joule Thief that uses white LEDs – not to be confused with the new color changing version.
Please view the instructables for technical info and assembly steps.
*** NOTE: The color of the PCB will be green instead of purple shown in some of the pictures. ***
*** Purchase Here ***
“Joule Thief” LED Night Light
“Joule Thief” circuit is an inductor based voltage booster circuit to light LEDs with low supply voltage. The circuit was published in 1999 and has been quite popular. You can see the principle of the circuit here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule_thief
My version is a variation that uses single coil inductor, to make the inductor easily obtainable. I design the circuit using readily available parts only, to make it an ideal DIY project.
Please see the full article on Instructables (http://www.instructables.com/id/Joule-Thief-LED-Night-Light/)
Aurora 9 bar
Since the introduction of Aurora 9×18, I received many requests for the kits and PCBs. I’m still quite undecided about making those available for a few reasons. However I really want other LED lovers (ok that sounds too much :) to be able to build one themselves.
So I came up with Aurora 9 bar. It’s a bare essential version of Aurora 9×18. In fact the circuit is almost exactly the same (with a lot less number of LEDs of course). Even the firmware is essentially the same. So it has the same super smooth color fades as Aurora 9×18.
You can now build Aurora 9 bar yourself! Details are at Instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Aurora-9-bar-The-Essence-of-Aurora/
Aurora 9×18 on Instructables
Aurora 9×18 is now on Instructables! Which means you can learn how to build one of those yourself!
Aurora 9×18 Teaser Video
I thought it’s time for me to start putting some effort in creating better presentation of the work I do. Here are two versions of video that showcase Aurora 9×18.
Aurora 9×18 assembled
Just finished assembling Aurora 9×18. Based on the prototype aurora 9, this unit has 18 tri-color LEDs in each of 9 circles.
Because of the number of components (162 LEDs), assembly was quite a chore. Tri-color LED has pins that are close together, very narrow for a through-hole component. Solder bridging can happen very easily. (I’ve been soldering for over 30 years now, and thought I had good enough skill to get through the soldering, but I had a bit of a struggle…)
Now it’s done, and the hard work is worth it. It’s beautiful… LEDs are controlled in 9 groups of 18 each. Each group of LEDs are forming a circle. Each RGB component is controlled by PWM, with effective resolution of about 13 bits.
The colors produced by those LEDs are beautiful, the transitions between colors are smooth. To me this is fascinating…
Here’s the schematic if you are interested.
Aurora-mini is here
The same circuit posted before has made into a real unit.
Very smooth color changes (gamma-corrected 256 level PWM on each color/LED).
Aurora 18 prototype
New project using RGB/tricolor LEDs. Tricolor means triple the number of LEDs to control – more load on the processor. I decided to move up to 16 bit PIC, 24F series for the increased processing speed (MIPS) and memory. 16 MIPS and 4 KB of RAM and still had to resort to multiplexing RGB channels. 18 LEDs color/brightness individually controlled in gamma-corrected 8 bit levels (equivalent to about 14 bit linear PWM).
Countless software tweaks later I’m getting 200 Hz refresh rate. Hard to tell from the video, but the fades are truly smooth.
Sneak Peek
Here’s a sneak peek at the new creation. Those small (4 inch dia.) ones are created as teaser/samples of my other, larger objects.
Each has 144 white LEDs. 8 channel PWM to create smooth motion of lights. This microcontroller (PIC16F616) only has one 10 bit PWM module, however I’m combining the hardware PWM with software PWM to create very smooth (equivalent to 16 bit or more resolution) gradation.
