William Grill wanted to customize the lighting for a model or simulator with a bit of illumination to create a nice touch. He wanted to move beyond a simple on or off and add a touch of refinement to a presentation. He created an inexpensive controller to do just that. His fader is based on a MicroChip 10F200 controller that includes both a fade control and mode settings to select both the fade rate (in seconds) and the internal processing for use with either a momentary button (push on, push off) or STST (single pole, single throw) switch.
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I'm a mechanical engineer (and I design/build furniture with built-in lighting) so I like to see these tips on electrical controls. This reminds me of soft eject mechanisms for cassette players (maybe I'm dating myself... :)
I recall a programmable, time variable, dimmer circuit that was in an old SCR applications book from the late 1960's. It did not require a programmed IC, and even more interesting, probably it could still be built today with equivalent parts readily available. Will that processor be available next year?
Well, I see you are still exhibiting your regular 'shocking' physical appearance! Not so sure I buy into the 'refined' part of your presentation but interesting none the less.
Great article/tip about using PWM with a lowcost micro to do LED fade-ins and fade-outs!!
SoCalPE,
I see that you put lighting into furniture. I am actively looking for artists to collaborate with for putting interactive and RGBW LEDs into artwork (yes furniture counts as artwork!!). Check out this quick little video and let me know if you are interested in trying one of our beta prototype kits. Thanks! -VoltVisionFrenchy
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