Thread: LED eye's for 3 axis skull

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For my skull I would like to have color changing eyes. Perhaps a few colors. I know that the BoC has this ability. At this time I'm not using the BoC.

I would like to change the intensity,
use the 5v dc power supply for the servos (not required, just don't want to have to get another power supply)
Controlled by VSA of course

any suggestions?

You need to find a chip that supports PWM for the dimming effect of the LEDs.

PWM = Pulse Width Modulation

It basically flashes the light so fast you can't see it but it makes it appear dimmer or brighter by the speed in which it flashes....In a nutshell...

I'm currently working on my own LED lighting system that will use this feature and will be making spot lights that have multiple colors or that fade in and out.

Thanks
I'm a software guy, I can put a kits together (Ramsey FM Transmitter) etc. But that is about as far as I go on the electronics side. If there is a kit out there that can be controlled by VSA, that would be ideal

A short while ago Jerry did offer some of the old, pre BoC eye circuits that used to be used in the SkullTroniX skull, they were actually powered off the USB supply to the Parallax servo controller.

I wrote a firmware for our Prop-SX controller that allows you to control eight servos and eight PWM channels using VSA as the driver (your PC plugs into the DB-9 on the Prop-SX). You can find details about all that in the Library section of our tech support forums (forums.efx-tek.com).

Originally Posted by Dark Hawke

Thanks
I'm a software guy, I can put a kits together (Ramsey FM Transmitter) etc. But that is about as far as I go on the electronics side. If there is a kit out there that can be controlled by VSA, that would be ideal

Thank you, i'll look into that

I talked to Jim today.. he's the designer of the Lynx SSC32, I asked him if the SSC32 can run LEDs.. he said yes, each channel can run hi-lo TTL so you could run the unused channels into LEDs for the 3-axis skull eyes. I havent tried it yet, but if it can, it's yet another reason to bypass the BoC...

way cool, thank you so much for checking, i just got my SSC32 today and still have to unpack it.
I may have more questions about this, but this is real good news !!

I Posted this in another thread a little while ago, but i think it will be of usefulness here:

http://cindybob.com/halloween/circuits/relaydriver.html

This should allow you to turn them on and off using the TTL output from the board. This will not however allow you to dim them.

So, from what I'm hearing...I'm not able to directly connect an LED to the SSC32. There is additional circuitry required.
CryptKeeper, thanks for the information, i'm not a hardware guy, but i can assemble a kit (i've done 2 LOR boards). Are you aware of something built or a kit for what you are describing?

thank you !