Guest 762SkS Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 hi there! i am new here and just to inform all of you i know very little about electronics. although i am good at building things and have the time and patients to do so. lol i also am pretty good at soldering too. okdont hold this against me, lol i work part time for a small police department. they are desperatly *sp, in need of some new lights for their patrol cars. the problem here is the city cousel doesnt want to spend money on them. so what i am gonna do is build them some lights for their cars.this is what i have in mind. just a simple light configeration. about 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. and about 12 inches long. divide it in half and have one side red and the other blue. one side would flash quickly 2 or 3 times then the other side would flash the same. id like to make about four of these and be able to connect of four to a toggle switch and straight to a 12v supply. if anyone wishes to contact me im available on any im under these contacts icq = 225362698aol = snafu 762sksmsn = crunch_762sksyahoo = cpdunt11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Hi Snafu-Crunch,Welcome to our forum. ;DIn Canada, cops are going around giving tickets to people with blue lights on their cars. Blue is reserved for snow-plows, even in summer. Your cops might be ticketing themselves! ;D ;DPolice cars usually use strobe-lights on their cars. A strobe-light circuit is fairly complicated for a nubee, it uses high current and voltage, and you need to add a switching arrangement to toggle them from one side (colour) to the other. I don't know if many ultra-bright LEDs would be bright enough.I hear that cops eat a lot of doughnuts. Maybe you could take some of the wasted holes from the doughnuts and make them blink red and blue. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 sorry i wasnt clear in my previous post. i live in the US! lol i dont like donuts, and im not some over weight fat cop. heheheh ok i am wanting to use led lights and yes they are bright enough. alot of the newer departments that can afford them are using led light bars on their vehicles. but they can afford the $2500 to $3000 american dollars, price tag.my small department cannot afford some of the cheapest light bars. to give you an idea of our money issues, i have to share my gun with another person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 sorry for this post, i was wondering if you guys can inform me what ill need to make this light and any other info that would pertain to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Hi slim US cop,Ultra-bright LEDs are about 3.5V, and two could be wired in series and in series with a current-limiting resistor. Figure a current of 20mA so the resistor would be about 330 ohms.A CD4017 sequencer IC can blink a circuit if you connect diodes to its outputs. All the even outputs would turn on the LEDs, and the odd outputs aren't used and would be active when the LEDs are off. If you want 3 blinks, then the LEDs turn on during outputs 2, 4 and 6. The 7th output is connected to the Reset pin to start it again or activate the 2nd CD4017 for the other colour.You need a Cmos 555 to clock the sequencers and two power Mosfets to drive the LEDs on each side. I think some gates are needed to switch the blinking from side to side.Eat some doughnuts to give you the fat in your brain to try to understand my geek-talk. I think it is too complicated for a nubee. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 now i was wanting to use say approximately 80 lights per side on each 12 to 14 inch long unit. 8) and yes audio it sounded a little over my head.i know ill need a perferated bread board, which i can get at radio shack. and the led bulbs. and i think they can get mosst of the other things ill need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 Hi Policeman,It shouldn't be too difficult if you build it in stages:1) Make a Cmos 555 oscillator with a TLC555 or LMC555 IC.2) Make 2 sequencers with two CD4017 ICs.3) Connect the oscillator to the sequencers and add up to ten 1N4148 or 1N4002 diodes for pulsing outputs.4) Add two IRL540 N-channel Mosfets to drive many LEDs.5) Make the circuit that toggles flashing from side-to-side.I'll help you and show which pin connects to what. It should be fairly inexpensive and will work well. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 22, 2005 Report Share Posted September 22, 2005 thanks any help will be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 if any one is interested i will be ordering a bunch of leds for my project. was wondering if anyone wanted to get some also, i found a place that is super cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Hi Policeman,Check the spec's for those super cheap LEDs. They might increase their brightness by just focussing the light in a very narrow angle that can't be seen from a little to the side.40 degrees would be a good angle, poor ones might be only 10 degrees or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 well they have all kinds of leds there. like you i was think 30 to 40 degrees. i also found these High Flux 200mW LEDs. i have an idea for those too. but thats down the road. anyways this site i found you can get leds bulbs for like .11 each. so if anyone is interested in ordering an let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Hi again,I have always used Name-Brand American-made LEDs with a guaranteed minimum brightness rating, not just a "typical" rating like other makes. They all match perfectly.I recently bought locally some no-name cheap LEDs and half didn't work. The Indian store replaced them with their best no-name ones and they were fine. I don't know if they were made in India or in China.In my Chinese local store the clear LEDs have their colors mixed-up!I hope you are lucky with your purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 sorry i guess i should post the link so you guys can see what im talking about.http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=z.pricelist.led.diodealso, audio if you or anyone else knows of a good site to buy them, then please post it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 You are going to buy $180.00 worth of LEDs to get that low price?? ???That's 1,636 LEDs. Enough to lightup the whole city. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 762SkS Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 hehehehe, you dont have to buy $180 dollars worth. it says up to 180 dollars! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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