BS1 Controlled Cold Cathode Desktop Christmas Display
robertsjg1000
Posts: 2
I thought of a neat thing to do with some of the "Sale" items I've purchased at Parallax. Sure I could have gotten string of $2 lights and threw them up on the bookshelf. But who else would have sequenced neon lights running around the office.
The BS1 was simple enough to program pins 4-7 high or low to switch the lights. These pins fed optically coupled transistors driving power transistors. That switched the 12 volt supply to the cold cathode lamp inverters. I already had the driver circuit from a previous project where I used a parallel port to run a stepper motor.
The CCFL lamps and inverters are available here on Parallax. I did find out the hard way that its not good to try to lengthen the leads from the inverter to the lamp.
Ok, the high flash rate is starting to make me nuts with the lamps right over my head, but it looks cool. Maybe a 200ms pause isn't enough.
The BS1 was simple enough to program pins 4-7 high or low to switch the lights. These pins fed optically coupled transistors driving power transistors. That switched the 12 volt supply to the cold cathode lamp inverters. I already had the driver circuit from a previous project where I used a parallel port to run a stepper motor.
The CCFL lamps and inverters are available here on Parallax. I did find out the hard way that its not good to try to lengthen the leads from the inverter to the lamp.
Ok, the high flash rate is starting to make me nuts with the lamps right over my head, but it looks cool. Maybe a 200ms pause isn't enough.
1024 x 819 - 78K
1024 x 819 - 59K
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