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Christmas Lights — Parallax Forums

Christmas Lights

ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
edited 2001-11-15 12:47 in General Discussion
You know those programable Christmas Lights? The ones that blink, do running
sequences, fade in and out. The ones with about four or five colors? There are
only three lines that go out to those lights, and I have seen no proof of IC's
inside the lights themselves. So my question is this: How do they work? I would
like to create a strand myself using my basic stamp (2), but I don't understand
how to turn different lights on and off without having more lines than three.
Any information is appreciated...


[noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Comments

  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-11-14 15:14
    I have a fancier type. I have 4 lines, ha haa, but I have watched them, and
    never see more then 4 differant colors working at any one time. I mean, all
    blues, or all greens, or all yellows etc. They do of course chase, and
    flash and sequence, but I think its all done with just the 4 colors/lines.
    I just turned mine on, they look nice. Its getting cold in my area, besides,
    who needs an excuse for christmas time.
    -kerry

    At 08:59 AM 11/14/01 -0600, you wrote:
    >You know those programable Christmas Lights? The ones that blink, do
    running sequences, fade in and out. The ones with about four or five colors?
    There are only three lines that go out to those lights, and I have seen no
    proof of IC's inside the lights themselves. So my question is this: How do
    they work? I would like to create a strand myself using my basic stamp (2),
    but I don't understand how to turn different lights on and off without
    having more lines than three.
    >Any information is appreciated...
    >
    >
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    >
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    Sincerely
    Kerry
    Admin@M...
    WWW server hosting [url=Http://mntnweb.com]Http://mntnweb.com[/url]
    Kerry Barlow
    p.o. box 21
    kirkwood ny
    13795
    607-775-1132
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-11-14 15:53
    In a message dated 11/14/01 9:15:12 AM Central Standard Time,
    admin@m... writes:

    > I have a fancier type. I have 4 lines, ha haa, but I have watched them, and
    > never see more then 4 differant colors working at any one time. I mean, all
    > blues, or all greens, or all yellows etc. They do of course chase, and
    > flash and sequence, but I think its all done with just the 4 colors/lines.
    > I just turned mine on, they look nice. Its getting cold in my area, besides,
    >

    I've built little Stamp-based lighting controllers with just three outputs
    and a return (your four lines). You really need at least three distinct sets
    to do a proper chase. The StampWorks projects include a little lighting
    controller, sans the high voltage interface.

    -- Jon Williams
    -- Parallax


    [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-11-14 20:48
    The ones I have seen have one line per grouping of lights, which means you
    can turn on 'all' of one type of light (out of four or five.). The logic
    is all in the little plastic plug that the wires terminate in.

    On Wed, 14 Nov 2001, Astro Fizzix wrote:

    > You know those programable Christmas Lights? The ones that blink, do running
    sequences, fade in and out. The ones with about four or five colors? There are
    only three lines that go out to those lights, and I have seen no proof of IC's
    inside the lights themselves. So my question is this: How do they work? I would
    like to create a strand myself using my basic stamp (2), but I don't understand
    how to turn different lights on and off without having more lines than three.
    > Any information is appreciated...
    >
    >
    > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and Body
    of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
    >

    Sean T. Lamont, CTO / Chief NetNerd, Abstract Software, Inc. (ServNet)
    Seattle - Bellingham - Vancouver - Portland - Everett - Tacoma - Bremerton
    email: lamont@a... WWW: http://www.serv.net
    "...There's no moral, it's just a lot of stuff that happens". - H. Simpson
  • ArchiverArchiver Posts: 46,084
    edited 2001-11-15 12:47
    There is actually a chip in those. It is just a black dot about 1/2 in
    on one side of the circuit board. Those lights are in three strings.
    If you watch carefully, they do their thing in threes. The three lines
    are probably multiplexed and put different types of signals on each
    line for fading (pwm) flashing (on-off) and etc.

    Doug


    On 14 Nov 2001, at 8:59, Astro Fizzix wrote:

    > You know those programable Christmas Lights? The ones that blink, do
    > running sequences, fade in and out. The ones with about four or five
    > colors? There are only three lines that go out to those lights, and I
    > have seen no proof of IC's inside the lights themselves. So my
    > question is this: How do they work? I would like to create a strand
    > myself using my basic stamp (2), but I don't understand how to turn
    > different lights on and off without having more lines than three. Any
    > information is appreciated...
    >
    >
    > [noparse][[/noparse]Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
    >
    >
    > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
    > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
    > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject
    > and Body of the message will be ignored.
    >
    >
    > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
    > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
    >
    >
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