I Want to make Fireworks!

[David Conley]

Ok Guys, Put your thinking caps on.

Here's a good one. Last night while I was walking I was thinking about other holidays. 4th of July to be exact, but this concept could be recycled for others as well. I want to take a string of lights and create a chase. Not a continuous one, just a single one. I want the first light to turn on fullowed by the next and the next and the next until they are all on. I want the illusion of light streaking across the sky like fireworks. I think that this will involve splicing in a small circuit (like an SCR+capicitor+resitor) or something like that. something that is self biasing, self resetting, and very cheap to assemble (I'll need hundreds of them). This has a lot of potential. Depending on the design it might even be able to support a decaying turnoff. That would be icing on the cake.

Any suggestions or ideas?

[David Conley]

My work partner and I have been doing a little engineering. We have a simple design, but have not determined the values for the components yet. If this works it could be a great and inexpensive way of creating a chase effect using only 1 channel.

Attached files

[PaulXmas]

Will this work

http://galaxialighting.com/

[David Conley]

That is one awsome toy! I would be divorced if I got it. At least right now. I have tucked it away into my ideas folder for future use. For now I need to stick to a lot lower tech. I know that cosmic color ribbon would do what I want, but it is also quite expensive for large scale. The cuicuits I designed (if they work) could be mase for about 10 cents each and then spliced into the lines at every or every other light. I'm hoping to have some values for the components soon so that I can build a prototype on a breadboard.

[RaceMedic]

How about a CCR for the light going up and then you can have up to 15 channels for the explosion effect ... all done by 1 controller !?

Dve

[David Conley]

Using CCR for the trail is a great idea. I had to look up the length and at 16 feet it would be plenty long enough. I have 4 controllers so it would be conceivable to use one controller for each burst, but if I can get this idea to work, I will be able to do it all with 1 controller. I dug up some misc components from other projects and I think that I have enough to create a 3 or 4 step prototype.

[RaceMedic]

Can't wait to see a prototype !

Dave

[KenL_MCSE]

after seeing electronic fireworks and seeing the price. I decided to build it on my own

I have looked into building my own led pcb's. I have played with PIC chips, I have looked at the comic ribbon and other led ribbons just like it.

To buy electronic fireworks be prepared. The $900 unit is only 10 feet tall. The 20 foot tall one is $1500.

To build your own RGB ribbon using Pirahna RGB's is as much as buying one.

To program a PIC Chip - cheap and FUN

You can get ideas from

http://www.1866palmtree.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=3

http://www.pcboard.ca for pic programming idea

Mine is going to use 16 channels and have about 4000 lights. Combination of Tube and C6's.

After I build it, I will decide if it needs more channels and/or lights

if you want, I'll keep ya in the loop of my progress

[ErnieHorning]

David Conley wrote:

My work partner and I have been doing a little engineering.

The obvious concern with everything in series, is the voltage drop of each SCR. Just scanning the specs of a few SCR's shows a drop of at least 1.5 volts. You'll be down to 90% voltage at the 6th or 7th bulb. The SCR and bulb needs to be in parallel with the line but still be triggered be the previous circuit.

[David Conley]

Good Catch Ernie. This will only work with short strings. No more than 20 lights. it could work with longer ones if it only applied to every other light. Strings with more than 50 lights usually use a split load so it's still workable. 10K total for the resistors and 5u for the cap should give a 1/20th second charge time. I just need to experiment with the gate limiter to set the right level and I'll be ready to breadboard this. I'm game for any parallel suggestions, but I don't see a compact, cheap, simple solution. I've heard others talking about PIC's and 555 timers, but I don't know enough about them. I'll have to do some reading this weekend. I have a friend with a PIC programmer in case that's an option. I Love R & D ! ! !

[David Conley]

I'd love to stay in the loop on your project. I think that the PIC has a lot of potential if I can figure out how to use them. I'm going to do a little research this weekend and see if I can begin to figure them out.

[KenL_MCSE]

in less than 1/2 hour after plugging this into my computer, I programmed my first PIC chip having LED's looking like a falling snowflake. It comes with 100 or so programs already writting to play with the pre-installed LEDs. All I did is pic the correct program and add more delay so the lights moved slower...

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/51570a.pdf

$49 for EVERYTHING you need to program pics!

http://www.microchip.com/

Then I also found this site that has some cool stuff!

www.pcboard.ca

[cenote]

KenL_MCSE wrote:

after seeing electronic fireworks and seeing the price. I decided to build it on my own

Have you figured out any solutions yet on housing and supporting the leds in anything yet? Had a thought on making something out of either 1/4 rod or making it out of peg board strips, than somehow protect that.

[rgardner518]

cenote wrote:

KenL_MCSE wrote:

after seeing electronic fireworks and seeing the price. I decided to build it on my own

Have you figured out any solutions yet on housing and supporting the leds in anything yet? Had a thought on making something out of either 1/4 rod or making it out of peg board strips, than somehow protect that.

Here is an idea for protecting them. They sell a clear plastic tube that goes over the long florescent light bulbs, to protect them against, dropping glass all over when they get shattered by mistake. They come in 8ft lengths. and they are cheap too. Just a thought!

[KenL_MCSE]

cenote wrote:

Have you figured out any solutions yet on housing and supporting the leds in anything yet? Had a thought on making something out of either 1/4 rod or making it out of peg board strips, than somehow protect that.

if you read about the rgb led ribbons being sold they come in waterproof and non-waterproof. They are dipping them in liquid rubber to water proof them. Here in the NE if we get one of our famaous nor-easter the plastic tubes you put of floresent lights will will probably come apart. At all the crafting stores, like Michaels and AC Moore they sell liquid crafting rubber. Works great

Chuck, I have a bottle of it - wanna try it out?

[David Conley]

if they are waterproof then a great substitute for 1/4 inch rod can be found in the fencing section. You can get a 250' roll of chain link re-enforcment wire. This stuff is super stiff and is galvemized so it won't rust. It's a lot more economical than rod.

[cenote]

David Conley wrote:

if they are waterproof then a great substitute for 1/4 inch rod can be found in the fencing section. You can get a 250' roll of chain link re-enforcment wire. This stuff is super stiff and is galvemized so it won't rust. It's a lot more economical than rod.

Great Idea

[cenote]

KenL_MCSE wrote:

Chuck, I have a bottle of it - wanna try it out?

Not yet, still working on design

[ErnieHorning]

David Conley wrote:

Strings with more than 50 lights usually use a split load so it's still workable.

When I first saw your schematic I thought you were talking about C7’s, C9’s or similar. I had a circuit that I thought would work, just needed to verify the values.

When I re-read your response, I now see that you were talking about mini lights. I now think it might work but the results will be very dependent on the SCR that’s used, because of the diode drop. I want to try an experiment first, but I think I have an easier way to wire this. I’m going to use TRIAC’s, because I have a ton of them, but it should work the same.

[Scott Given]

http://www.lightsofmodesto.com/