Ghost Eyes, my 2013 Halloween Project

Searider

I was inspired by another 2013 Halloween project so I thought I would post my Halloween project for this year. Unlike most years I did not wait until the last moment. The design goal was to light up LEDs in pairs and have then fade in and out. A single pair would not be very interesting so my goal was to have lots so that you could put it in a tree or bushes and have lots of eyes looking back and fading in and out. It also had to run on battery power for at least 4 days. This would allow for putting them out for a Wednesday Halloween and still have them working for a party on the weekend. My solution was to use the Propeller to drive 8 LEDs with two on the main board and 6 (3 pair) on remote boards. I added a light sensor so that the device could know when it was bright outside and could then go into a low power mode to conserve battery power. I felt the consistent spacing of the LEDs was important for the effect so I made a small board that two LEDs would mount to. The spacing was taken from measuring my eyes. The Prop controls each LED using PWM to fade them in and out. You enable the device by installing the batteries (4 AA). It will run for a programmable (jumper setting) time after dark and then go into low power mode until the next evening. Both the light level for "Dark" and the Length of time it will run after "Dark" are set by jumpers. Each unit runs 4 pairs of LEDs and I had 10 units made for a total of 40 "eyes". It is getting late so I will attach a picture and some of the design documents. I will add another post with the battery life test I ran at the end of the week.

I can't seem to figure out how to attach my Diptrace files so I will have to leave that for later as well. I did attach a schematic in PDF format. I just attached the spin code for the project and the battery endurance test.

erco

Neat project, Searider. Long time no post! Hope to see some video of your project soon. Way to get the jump on this, Halloween will be here before you know it!

Searider

Yea it has been awhile. I have been very busy with a rainwater harvesting project that has been all consuming. When I get the control panel wired up I'll post some pictures. It uses 3 boards with Props and has 6 uOleds. As for the Ghost eyes. I have been thinking about if I can get any video that will do it justice. It will be difficult to get the exposure correct so that it is not just a bunch of red lights in total black. All 10 boards are fully assembled and tested so I just have to put the batteries in an lay them out in the yard.