Need to make LED's flash

For Adafruit customers who seek help with microcontrollers

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
johnc12
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:30 pm

Need to make LED's flash

Post by johnc12 »

Hi all. I'm extremely green with this, please forgive my ignorance. I've been tasked with making LED's flash around the sole of a shoe for a performer. the soles have been hollowed out and 24 holes drilled to fit the 10mm diffused white LED. Can you please suggest a device/battery combo and wiring method (serial or parallel) to make this work. the insole will be removable from the shoe to access the battery pack and device in the heel area to turn it on and off but once i last the upper to the sole, there will be no access for maintenance to the LEDs. I have 1.25"w X 3"l X 1"d to work with.

thanks
john

1chicagodave
 
Posts: 564
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:35 am

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by 1chicagodave »

Attachments
image.jpg
image.jpg (39.94 KiB) Viewed 993 times

johnc12
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:30 pm

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by johnc12 »

Yes, i have. I've modified a version of this for the shoes i had to make using the color strips (HC-F5V-60L-60LED). For the current pair of shoes, i have the Litex white (1398) worked into the upper of the shoe running independently using the included controller. in this instance, I need to stick with white in the sole and give them the option of running solid or flashing. Is there a way to use the Flora to just flash using only the 2 wires for the white LEDs? i've tried a device from Radio Shack, a battery powered inverter (2760338) but it seems to throw out some extremely high voltages that appear to be killing some of the LEDs.

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88087
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

For simple flashing you could use a Flora (or Gemma) and one pin to drive the LEDs via a MOSFET. You would need to wire the LEDs in parallel. With a 3.7v LiPo cell for power and white LEDs, you would want to use a current limiting resistor of about 12-15 ohms in series with each LED.

johnc12
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:30 pm

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by johnc12 »

Thank you very much for this, this sounds like a perfect solution. Is it possible for me to contact the order desk and have someone help me put together an order with will have everything i'll need?

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88087
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Here is a list. We don't stock the resistors, but they are available from most any online electronic parts supplier (Mouser, DigiKey, etc).

Qty for two shoes:

2x Flora http://www.adafruit.com/products/659
2x 500mA LiPo cell: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1578
2x Micro LiPo USB Charger
2x Pkg 25 10mm white LED - http://www.adafruit.com/products/846
2x N-channel MOSFET http://www.adafruit.com/products/355


You will also need 48x 15 ohm resistors and some hookup wire. I assume you have soldering supplies. For hookup wire, I would recommend small gauge (22-24) stranded wire for flexibility.

johnc12
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:30 pm

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by johnc12 »

Thank you very much. I'll log on and take care of this. I do have the soldering hardware, i'll start looking for the other parts.

Will i need to create a program for the Flora (i warned you, i'm green) or will the flashing happen by default by powering it up and using the listed parts?

Naturally, i'm in a time crunch and right now i don't think i'll be able to figure out the language quickly. if a program is needed, is there someone thru your company or that you can refer me to for contracting out the programming on short notice?

thanks
john

User avatar
adafruit_support_bill
 
Posts: 88087
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:11 am

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

There is a test program loaded by default. But it is not very interesting (1 second on, one second off). So you will probably want to customize it. If this is not your area of expertise and you would rather farm it out, you can post it in the "Contracts" area of our Jobs board: http://adafruit.com/jobs/

johnc12
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:30 pm

Re: Need to make LED's flash

Post by johnc12 »

Thank you, i'll head over there.

john

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Microcontrollers”