The LED Artist - blog » LED

New R48 Video Clip

The LED Artist — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 22:15:06 +0000

Finally, a short but sweet video clip of R48 blue. I hope you enjoy…

R48 and Li-Ion Charger

The LED Artist — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 21:35:24 +0000

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)

In-stock and shipping now!

R48 – an Wearable LED Gadget Pre-order Starts

The LED Artist — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 20:34:43 +0000

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

The LED Artist — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 00:00:13 +0000

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…

> read the article at Rustybolt

USB Blinky kit

The LED Artist — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:00:14 +0000

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!

The LED Artist — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:05:49 +0000

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

- purchase USB Blinky

Some Old Works of Mine

The LED Artist — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 05:10:15 +0000

I was doing some clean up and found some old works from years ago…

The one above is a multi-purpose PIC pad using PIC16F627. This was an exercise of multiplexing 7 segment LEDs and button matrix using the same set of I/O pins. I wrote code to make it work as a timer and organ (more like a beeper with notes). 2 AA battery holder was connected to it, but obviously lost.

This was done in April of 2003. Before Arduino and all that good stuff was available. Home etched and hand drilled PCB. What’s amazing to me now is that I designed the PCB in Adobe Illustrator! I did not have a CAD software.

> PCB Layout

Next up is my very first LED project using PIC microcontroller, which was done right around the same time as the pad above.

> Schematic
> PCB Layout

I used four microcontrollers on this one. three controlling LEDs, and another one controlling them. The center one is the “master”, sending command to the other controllers to orchestrate the animation. The three “slaves” are just controlling the LEDs as they are commanded. The setup seems more complicated than my recent projects, but back then I was literally applying “divide and conquer” method to the circuit design.
When I first envisioned this one, I had no knowledge of microcontroller. I had some electronics experience and knew how to use logic ICs, however it quickly became clear that what I wanted to do was too complicated to accomplish with logic ICs. So that prompted me to look around, which led me to BASIC Stamp. BASIC Stamp, for those who never hard of it, it’s kind of like a pre-Arduino. You can write the code in BASIC language and upload it to the chip over serial cable. It was easy to use, but the processor was very slow.
Faced by the limitation I decided to learn to code PIC microcontroller directly. It took me a while to get into, but I managed.

I made a revision of the same circuit, multiplying the number of LEDs by using a complementary drive approach. (July 2003)

> Schematic
> PCB Layout

After this prototype, I decided to move on up to manufactured PCB. Found a free PCB design software (called Osmond PCB – which I still use), and start having my PCB made by a factory. This enabled me to design with fine traces and more precision.

Wave JT – LED chaser with Joule Thief

The LED Artist — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 02:25:33 +0000

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.

> Purchase Wave JT kit or PCB

Wave JT – Kit and PCB

The LED Artist — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 02:00:15 +0000

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!

> See more pictures and video

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

The LED Artist — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:47:05 +0000

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 ***