We're making a spinning LED display which consists of 8 LEDs connected to a spinning arm on a DC motor, the LEDs are connected to a PIC16F88 microcontoller with an optical sensor triggering every revolution. The idea is the LEDs will flash on and off while the arm spins to provide an image, we need some help with the programming to set the sequences for the LEDs to light, can anyone help?
There are many such projects on the internet.
The key to success is detecting a single fixed position of the rotor and then you can calculate the position of the rotor and thus know when to switch the LEDs on and off.
A hall effect switch and a small magnet is one approach, you could also do it optically, or inductively, or possibly capacitively. I've even seen it done with contacts (although the lifetime of those would have to be limited). Depending on the motor you're using, you may even get some position feedback via the power supply
The key to success is detecting a single fixed position of the rotor and then you can calculate the position of the rotor and thus know when to switch the LEDs on and off.
A hall effect switch and a small magnet is one approach, you could also do it optically, or inductively, or possibly capacitively. I've even seen it done with contacts (although the lifetime of those would have to be limited). Depending on the motor you're using, you may even get some position feedback via the power supply
