Im looking to put and led on the end of a tube or wire and have it flash and strobe, like a flash cracker, for my sparking electric pole prop!! I dont know how to get the led to strobe though. Please helpp!!!! Thanks!!
Dark Light Productions sells an attachment that will make an LED flash in random patterns. I do not know if it will work with any LED. I have two and they work really well. They are forum members.
Single 'pop', or an actual repeating strobe? Strobe could be accomplished with a 555 timer circuit, or a simple microcontroller. The micro would also have the added benefit of being able to be slightly randomized, if you wanted it to be like that. I think you can also use a 555 for a single pop, but it's been years since I used one.
Here's a kit that might help you out. It lets you control the ON time and the OFF time separately.
Another idea might be to hack one of those electric candles. You could add the relay from the above kit inline with the battery of the candle. That way, the ON time and OFF time would still be controlled by the kit, but when it was on, you'd get a flickering in the light, as well.