"I See Dead Pumpkins"
By Design News Staff -- Design News, October 10, 2004
There's no better Halloween prop than a carved pumpkin. But Mark didn't like the idea of leaving burning candles unattended in his squash, so he built a battery-powered light source instead. For a realistic effect, he used a timer circuit that produces a pseudo-random timer pattern that makes two ultra-bright orange LEDs flicker, simulating a flame. The power source is four batteries at 1.5V or two 9V batteries wired in parallel for more current and longer glowing time.
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| "Scary Pumpkin" Parts List | ||
|---|---|---|
| Amt | Part Description | Allied Part # |
| 1 | Quad 2 input NAND Schmitt MC 14093BCP | 568-3021 |
| 1 | LM7805 voltage regulator +5V dc | 288-0001 |
| 4 | 1N4148 diode | 263-1538 |
| 2 | Orange ultra bright 5 mm LED | 505-9712 |
| 4 | 2N2222 transistors NPN | 248-1004 |
| 1 | Switch on-off | 855-1099 |
| 1 | Enclosure plastic 3 × 2.5 × 1.5 | 736-7404 |
| 4 | Capacitor ceramic 104, 0.1 F | 881-3486 |
| 1 | Capacitor electrolytic 100F | 852-7029 |
| 4 | Trimmer Potentiometers | 754-2719 |
| Additional parts required: 18-2 stranded power wire (5 ft), 9V battery and straps, plastic drywall anchor screw, assorted resistors | ||
For Mark McCuller's instructions on how to create your own "scary pumpkin," click here.
To view a schematic drawing of McCuller's "scary pumpkin," click here.
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1 Farad 100 Vdc, come on now I didn't fall off the pomkin truck as a kid!
Roger Railey - 2009-9-11 15:21:41 EST -
Like the others have said, this circuit is not very efficient. Not to say that it does not work as claimed, but that it wastes a lot of power. The suggestions in the previous posts wold work, but why not simply use the switching transistor and a parallel resistor to make i9t flicker between on and half on.
Actually, this is the first one I have seen where the design could be seen and understood. IT actually had details and it would work as described.
William Ketel - 2009-2-11 16:37:09 EST -
The Allied part numbers require updating. After a quick search thru alliedelec.com site, I received the following results:
No results found for "568-3021"
No results found for "263-1538"
No results found for "855-1099"
No results found for "881-3486"
7 results found for "754-2719"
but was obviously not for the correct part number because it returned results that ranged in price from $1,162.43 to $3,700.17.
Mike Ibarra - 2009-28-10 11:17:22 EDT -























