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[SpecialKizzle]

couldn't i just solder all the connections together? j/w? cause this breadboard bizz is a bit too much for me. like solder the points together? with 26gauge? and good stuff like that k thanks!

also...550mcd LED what resistor would i need?

http://lsdiodes.home...t.net/3mmuv.htm

[SpecialKizzle]

http://www.bit-tech.net/article/68/

based on this. it says i require a 100 ohm resistor? can someone double check that for me? k thanks!

[twistedsymphony]

yeah 100ohm sounds correct (it's the most commonly used resisstor for LEDs)

as for just soldering everything together... the reason people use breadboards is because THAT is WAY easier than just soldering everything together...

trust me using a bread board will be WAY less of a headach than trying to solder everything together. this is a pretty simple circuit too just a chip a transister and a few resisters... you could probably even install a pin headder to connect power and LED outputs if you want (the resisters for the LEDs you should keep outside of the board and on the LEDs)

as for the fading CC you PMed me about... I've never seen one but you could probably use this same circuit to control that too. just take the 5V fading output of this circuit and connect it to the 5V input of the cathode you're using.

hmm thinking about it some cathodes use 12V (all the circular cathodes at least)... you could probably use the same circuit just replacing all the 5V signals with 12V but you might have to get a heftier chip and or transister to handle it,  I dont have time to look up the specs right now..... and the LEDs running off of it would need a larger resister to drop down the voltage from 12 instead of 5.

[twistedsymphony]

actually thinking about it some more if you put the cathode on a fading ground instead of 5V.. while using the 5V input into the circuit that might actually work... because the cathode inverter stops working all together when it gets to a certain voltage. (so if it were a full sweep it would fade down about half way and pop off then pop on to half and fade to full etc...)

vona feel free to correct me if I'm off base...
special... just build that circuit on a bread board and play around with it...

[vona_a]

Using the 5V as a fading ground is a perfect Idea..... I dont see anything wrong with doing it.  And as you said it will prevent you from being too much into the dead-zone where the CC is off because not enough voltage on it.

other than that, I really dont play with CC's too much so I cant comment on their range, or how they like to be faded.  you cant PWM them cause they dont react as fast as LED's though.


and YEAH, do everything on a breadboard or that prefab board with small holes in it.  It'll make it soo much easier, especially since everyone makes mistakes, and that way they are easier to find/fix.

[twistedsymphony]

yeah if you go to the rat shack you can pick up a small prefab board like vona suggested... make sure you grab a socket for the chip too... it's always nice to be able to just pull the IC out if you blow it messing up instead of having to re-solder the whole thing...

this is probably the best board for the job http://www.radioshac.....ct_id=276-150

they're cheap pick up a few of them... good to have around ")

[|Max|]

I might do the pulsing mod on my power led using the above schematic, one question though. On the site the diagram came from it says "R4 & C1 are the timing components: using the values shown in the parts list, the total period is about 4 seconds. Adopting for R4 a value below 220K, the pulsing effect will be indistinguishable from a normal blinking effect." So would raising the value of that resistor make the pulsing go longer than 4 seconds for one period? What would changing the value of the capacitor then do?

[SpecialKizzle]

Hi, What i am trying to create is simliar to Macintosh Laptop's Breathing Light, in other words, the LEDs would fade in and out according to Hard Drive Activity. It adapts the controller port tutorialand instead of turning on when a controller is on, it will simply turn on when the xbox is turned on. I have placed a switch on the side of the Xbox. Sorry for the Rather "noob" drawing.

So my questions are:
1. inorder to make it "Breathe" would i have to place something where the "neon green" wire is?
2. where do i place the end of the fourth LED? to the grounder? if so where is that?
3. Also what color is the HardDrive ACtivity Wire?

[twistedsymphony]

hmm ok...

so if I get this right you want these LEDs on the xbox it self...

I guess I dont understand what it has to do with the controler port tutorial... at all?

the hard drive pulses high and low... wire the LEDs in parallel NOT in series you'll have better brightness that way

also you'll need a resister on the positve side of every LED (if you look at an led top down you'll see one side is flat... that is the negative side)

tie all the negative sides together and attach it to the HDD signal line then tie all of the other ends of the resisters from the positve sides together and attach that to 5 volts (pretty much any red wire inside the xbox) use the pinned resistance calculator to figure out the resistance.

doing the above will make the LEDs blink with hdd activity... I'm not sure exactly how to make them "breath" with hard drive activity... I know how to make an LED "breath" on it's own but not in time with something like HDD activity it pulses WAY too fast and the LED woul eather look like it's staying on or staying off during activity

check out the thread concerning palmore's lighting system (he has 2 threads one is on 2HDDs and the other is on a lighting thread) there are several circuits that can be built to fade in and out an LED... but I'm telling you now you wont be able to fade in the LEDs with the pulse... it'll just look like crap....

This post has been edited by twistedsymphony: Nov 6 2003, 01:50 AM

[A2H]

"the hard drive pulses high and low... wire the LEDs in series NOT in parallel you'll have better brightness that way"


dont u mean wire them in parallel?
series would mean u have to split the voltages between the led's, and parallel gives the same voltage to each LED

welcome to grade 9 science  

[Grendal]

QUOTE (A2H @ Nov 6 2003, 01:25 AM)

welcome to grade 9 science

    Man that's harsh!

[ADAWG69]

ya he must've meant parallel not series cuz when wired in series the first led would be brighter than the second, the second brighter than the third.....etc. where as parallel delivers the same voltage per led.

[SpecialKizzle]

Ok so scratch the hard drive activity then...how do i make it fade in and fade out ("breathe"). when it powers on? obviously i would have to find the Power wire...(dunno which one that is. and of course in Parallel with resistors. and i would run the Positive ends into any red wire anywhere in the xbox. so where would i put the thing necessary for "breathing" (and i couldn't find Palmore's link to fading in and out section. so how do i do that?) Thanks in advance for all that help.

Also, for the eject button, can u make that breathe as well? simply by just adding it to the parallel?

[twistedsymphony]

A2H.... bite me

specialkizzle... it's kind of hard telling you how to do this having so little grasp on electronics... I'm not trying to put you down or anything it's just the Breathing circuit can be kind of difficult to someone who doesn't know how to attach an LED to power...

I'd suggest starting off simple... do some google searching and try wireing up just some LEDs... then try building a 555 timer to make it blink... once you've grasped that you can probably move on to building a circuit with a dual op-amp to make your "breathing" lights

here is the thread palmore started when he asked me for help building an animated LED circuit, it has schmatics for building several different types of faders so look around and get some ideas:
http://forums.xbox-s...24&t=112662&hl=

good luck  

[Glycerine]

Capacitors anyone?