Flickering LED candles lit with a Match (Heat Sensor)

[fcarentz]

Hi everyone. New to adafruit and about to attempt my first project but want to make sure I have the right stuff before spending cash on things I do not need.

So here is the endeavor.

I want to make a gothic style candelabra. It will have about 10-15 candles on it. I want to make eat LED (candle flame) flicker independently. I'm sure this is programmable and can probably figure it out on my own. But suggestions would be more than welcome.

The main part of the question... I would like one of these candles to have a thermal sensor so that you can turn all of the lights on with a match. A real match. Light it, move it near the candle and have it turn on. Then have it extinguished with fingers or a candle douser.

Any suggestions on which board, thermal sensor etc I should be purchasing to make this contraption?

Thanks in advance for any assistance or input. Being a complete novice in the world of controllers I can use all the help I can get.

- Frank

[adafruit_support_bill]

The simplest way to make a led flicker like a candle is to buy a led that flickers like a candle: http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/produc ... tsmenu/482

You may be interested also in knowing how they work: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2011/do ... ny-to-you/

It is also possible to flicker an LED using a small microprocessor.
http://blog.atmel.com/2013/12/23/a-flic ... %E2%80%A8/

For sensing heat, we have a few types of heat sensors:
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=melexis&b=1
https://www.adafruit.com/search?q=thermopile&b=1

[fcarentz]

Thanks for the response and links! I had no idea I could just buy flickreing LED's.

Would an IR sensor be what I want here?

So I am assuming here, and correct me if I am wrong, I wire all the LED's into a Raspberry controller, attach the thermal sensor and program to only turn on and off based on a temp reading of X or Y.

Will the trinket work with a thermal sensor? I have to say, since finding these micro-controllers my imagination is swimming!

[adafruit_support_bill]

There are various types of IR sensors and they work in different ways.
PIR sensors are sensitive to any movement of warm bodies. You would get a lot of false triggers just walking into the room.
The TSOP38238 IR sensors only respond to IR modulated at 38KHz as you would get from a remote control.
IR distance sensors tell you how far away something is.
The Thermopile sensors (Melexis and TMP00x) actually measure temperature and could detect a flame in the vicinity.

The one issue I see is that all of those are i2c sensors with a fixed address. So you would need either a processor per sensor, or an i2c multiplexer to switch between them.

The Trinket could handle one of these sensors and flicker a candle too.

[fcarentz]

Well my design, visually is to have about 10 candles on a pillar but they would all be turned on by the match. So one specific candle would be the "switch" so to speak.

I just need a way to make the match turn the led's on. I dont need each candle to light by match individually. Once I have one set of candles working I will probably make a couple more sets but they'd all be at least 8 feet from one another.

This set up is to be a stage prop for the band I'm in.

[adafruit_support_bill]

In that case, it should be pretty simple - especially if you use the flickering leds. You would just need the sensor, a microcontroller and a transistor to switch on the LEDs.

[fcarentz]

Do I need a Raspberry to program the trinket?

Sorry to be a bother. :(

[adafruit_support_bill]

No problem. You can program a Trinket with most any PC. If you are new to microcontrollers, a Pro-Trinket or metro Mini are a little less fussy to work with than the Trinket. https://www.adafruit.com/product/2590