# engagement ring box led light pulse setup???



## tommyid1 (Aug 2, 2013)

hello all,
I am new here and I have a couple questions for you all about a special project I'm working on for my girlfriend and soon to be fiance. I am making a box for her engagement ring. Currently out of some very nice hardwoods so its going to be very pretty but I want to wow her with not only the ring but the box as well. I purchased some small stuff to make a high power led light circuit that I will be putting in the botom of the box so that when the lid is opened the led turns on and lights up the box under the ring. then I got the idea to try and figure out how to make it pulse like lightsaber pulse. for instance slowly dim from 100% to 50% and back to 100% and on and on type of thing. I was going to plan on using one of luxeon stars led drivers and running it off of a 9v battery probably hidden in the bottom. I like making little trinket boxes and she will think its just another one untill she opens it and it lights up and sees a ring.  Could yall help me make this dream becoma a reality? Here is a rundown of the stuff I'm using. 

I have about a 3.5" x .75-1" space in the base. any recomendations on equipment or components will be awesome.
osram golden dragon led 350ma forward current. 3.2v forward voltage 
specs are as folows. current min100 max 1000 nominal 350. all in ma 
voltage min 2.7. typ 3.2. max 3.7 

I have two switches I'm considering. one is rated at .5a and the other at 3a. I'd rather use the .5 amp because its smaller but not sure if it will be safe. as far as battery goes I was probably going to run either a 9v or a pair of cr123 batteries and as for the driver I'm not sure which one I should use to get the desired pulse effect thanks!!!!! 

Thomas


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## DIWdiver (Aug 4, 2013)

Assuming you don't want to blind your (hopefully) soon to be fiancé, I'd guess 350 mA would be plenty, quite likely even too much, depending on how the light is diffused. 

The H6CC driver from Taskled is kind of overkill, but it will do what you want, with the addition of an external circuit to provide the pulsing feature. If you are handy with a soldering iron I could help you design a circuit that you could build to do that. The thing that is unusual about the H6CC is that it has a PWM input which is designed be used to dim the output. 

Almost any of the AMC7135 based drivers available very cheap can also be used, though you'd have to go with the lower battery voltage of the two CR123 (primary) cells and the external circuit would be a bit more complex. The H6CC would prefer the 9V. 

At the current levels you are talking about, and for the short time it needs to run, a simple resistor would work fine as a driver, and it's cheaper and easier to get!


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## tommyid1 (Aug 4, 2013)

I'm going to place an order for the hc66. I am pretty good with a soldering iron as well as a heat gun. I just flowed the led's onto the heatsinks and they both look great. if you helped me with the circuit and the pulse stuff I would be soooooooooooo greatful!!!

let me know if there is anything else I need to order along with the hc66

Thanks,
Thomas


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## DIWdiver (Aug 4, 2013)

There isn't anything else you need from Taskled. You'll need to order some electronic parts from somebody. I'll make a list of what you need. If you want to go somewhere particular, let me know and I'll use parts available there. If you are in the US and don't have a favorite, I'll use Digikey. 

Can you give me a better idea of what the pulsing is supposed to look like? How fast does it pulse, does it ramp up and down, switch quick, etc.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 4, 2013)

Do you have room for the 9V battery, H6CC, and a circuit board for the pulse circuit? You can build the circuit on perf-board with through-hole parts, but it won't be tiny. If you want to eliminate the H6CC you can add two components to the pulse circuit and save yourself about $30 plus shipping.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 4, 2013)

Digikey or mouser is fine. 
I don't think I'll have room for all of the stuff. Probably eliminate the h6cc and go from there. Something about the size of the h6cc would be good though. It needs to be as small as it can be. I'm trying to minimize the size of the box as much as possible because its already going to be pretty big . 
For the pulse effect I want it to ramp up and down from about 5 to 90 or 100% 20 times a minute or so. 

Thanks soooooo much!!!!


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## Revolvr (Aug 4, 2013)

I have a similar project, a box that when opened, lights up in various ways with different colors.

I had some leftover RGB 12V LED strip lights. So I cut several short segments wired in series to a small RGB controller. The controller is a small 3 button unit I got off flea-bay for about $4. Since these run at 12V, I used two 4xAA battery holders in the bottom of the box, then put a false bottom above that. 

The power switch is a miniature snap-action switch mounted on one side of the box, by drilling out an area just inside the edge. So when the box is closed, the lights are off.

In my case the LED strips are in the lid of the box so the lights shine down into whatever is in the box. I used a short length of 4-conductor telephone wire to connect the lights in the lid to the battery and controller at the bottom.

The controller has a dozen or so patterns and it has a memory so that it retains the desired pattern even after being switched off. This way the controller could be mounted in the bottom of the box, under the false bottom. Or it could be mounted outside on the back, out of sight, if you want to change the pattern easily.

Its a little different than what you are doing, but maybe it will give you some ideas.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 5, 2013)

tommyid1 said:


> Something about the size of the h6cc would be good though.


 
That's pretty small for building the circuit I have in mind on a perf-board. What's your time frame? I'll see if I can minimize the parts count. Have you worked with any microcontrollers? That makes for very few parts and gives you the most flexibility. 




> For the pulse effect I want it to ramp up and down from about 5 to 90 or 100% 20 times a minute or so.


 
Perfect. That's easy.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 5, 2013)

I haven't before but woild be willing to learn. I don't really know what's required to do thay stuff though is it a oretty steep learning curve? I'd like to give her the ring mid-laye september on a camping trip our families are taking. 
Thanks again sooo much. Ill take some measurements when I get home so we have exact sizes. 

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## tommyid1 (Aug 6, 2013)

So the box is shaped as an octagon. From flat to flat is about 2-1/8" and about 2-1/4" vertex to vertex. I need to keep it within that time constraint and as slim as possible because it has to fit as a false bottom on top of the 9volt. 

Thanks a million!!!!!


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## DIWdiver (Aug 6, 2013)

Okay, given your dimensions, I'm guessing that a board about 1" x 2" could lay in the bottom of the box next to the 9V, rather than on top of it. I think I have the circuit so it will fit on that size board, with parts that you can easily solder. There are two adjustments for amplitude and offset of the pulsing, so you can play with it until you are happy. Changing the brightness or the frequency of the pulsing would mean changing components, and I'll tell you how to do that as well. 

The circuit is in 6 sections, each of which has no more than 5 parts (about 20 parts total), and each can be built and tested independently. The only test equipment you'd need is a Digital Multi-Meter with frequency measurement. You can get one at Harbor Freight for $20, or you can pay up to 10 times that for a good one. 

Except for the meter, I think you could order everything from digikey for around $50. 

If that all sounds good, I'll wire up a test on my solderless breadboard, then post a circuit that's been proven to work. I should have the parts on hand to make a test.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 6, 2013)

That sounds great I can notch the bottom on both sides to fit everutjing so tjeu lay next to eachother. Thanks again sooo much. My timeframe is around sept 15th 
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## jason 77 (Aug 7, 2013)

tommyid1 said:


> That sounds great I can notch the bottom on both sides to fit everutjing so tjeu lay next to eachother. Thanks again sooo much. My timeframe is around sept 15th
> Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2



better get cracking that isn't all that far away.... :thumbsup:


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## RoGuE_StreaK (Aug 8, 2013)

How about quick (maybe) and dirty? Thought; get one of those new remote-controled MR16 RGB LED bulbs, which can be had for about $7.
_First a note: I don't know what the circuitry's like, ie. whether the 12V is downconverted to something more usable, but still, 12V should be doable. I've just gotten a 240V Gu10 one, AFAIK it's downconverted somewhere along the line._
OK. Idea is that these things usually have a "fade" function on the remote, which fades the three colours. Gut the bulb, cut the leads of the undesired colours, and redirect them to the single colour you want. Then (theoretically) as one "colour" fades out and another fades in, it essentially just fades the one colour up and down. Sorted.

Oh, and the remote turns it on and off, so you could either hack that into the box opening system or have it in your hand.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 12, 2013)

Hmm sounds Interesting as well. Im anxious to get this done. Center stone is being set as we speak 

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## RoGuE_StreaK (Aug 12, 2013)

After a bit of a think I'm not 100% sure my idea would work; it depends on what level of drive is present at various parts of the fade. That is, if the cross-fade involves one colour starting at 100% and another at 0%, and doing a linear fade on both at the same time, this would result in a mid-point drive of 50/50; if you connected this up to one input only, then the sum of the two drives would always result in 100%, so no fade effect (ie. 100+0, 90+10, 80+20... 50+50, 40+60 etc)
If it's non-linear then yeah you might still see a fade effect.

I guess if that was the case (linear) you could still at least use only one output, where it fades up and down 0-100-0 with a bit of an "off" period. Or if you connect two outputs, theoretically it would fade from 0 to 100, stay at 100 while it cross-fades to the next line present, then fade to 0 as it cross-fades to the disconnected line. A sort of fadeUp-stay-fadeDown-fadeUp-stay...
Probably not ideal, but at least it might be able to provide a quick backup if your other ideas don't pan out in time.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 12, 2013)

Are you set on building the circuit yourself? I'm halfway through building the circuit up, and would be happy to send it to you when it's finished (assuming it works, which is a pretty safe bet, IMHO). Or I can post schematics and pics so you can build yourself.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 12, 2013)

I was going to build it myself because then I can say I did it all my self with the help of my candle power buddies  I would like to do this myself as much as I can

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## DIWdiver (Aug 16, 2013)

I completely understand. I'd want to do that too. 
The circuit is complete and tested! It's a good thing I built it because it needed a few tweaks to work properly.


I'll post the schematic tomorrow, with parts list and pictures.


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## tommyid1 (Aug 16, 2013)

DIWdiver said:


> I completely understand. I'd want to do that too.
> The circuit is complete and tested! It's a good thing I built it because it needed a few tweaks to work properly.
> 
> 
> I'll post the schematic tomorrow, with parts list and pictures.



THANKS!!!! 

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## DIWdiver (Aug 17, 2013)

Edit: see post #25 for the schematic and photos! 

Schematic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/88jnwinmn7lso2c/STROBE_SCH.bmp

I know there's a way to get the link to show as a picture, but I've forgotten how to do it. I know you click the 'insert an image' button, when I do that the image is broken. It's something to do with https:, but if I put http: in the link it's still broken, despite the fact that works in the browser.


Anyway, the circuit is there and all the part values are there. It's getting late and I have to get up early to go diving, so I'll post pics and a detailed parts list tomorrow. 

You should be able to build and test the circuit four parts at a time using a DMM with frequency reading, such as this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/ac-dc-digital-multimeter-37772.html, though a cheaper one ($5.99) might suffice, and an oscilloscope would be better. If you need help with that, it will be available.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 18, 2013)

Parts List: (all available at Digikey) 

Item Qty Reference Part Manufacturer Mfr Part Num
____________________________________________________________________
1 1 BT1 9V CLIP KEYSTONE 232 (232K-ND) 
2 4 C1,C2,C3,C4 0.01uF Kemet C317C103K5R5TA
3 1 C5 2,2uF TDK FK28X5R0J225K
4 1 D1 LED (YOU SUPPLY)
5 1 Q1 PN2222ATA FAIRCHILD PN2222ATA
6 4 R1,R2,R3,R4 33K YAGEO MFR-25FBF5233K2 
7 2 R5,R6 680K STACKPOLE CF14JT680K
8 2 R7,R8 10K TT ELECTRONICS 67WR10KLF
9 1 R9 1K STACKPOLE CF14JT1K00
10 1 R10 50 YAGEO FMP100JR-52-47R
11 2 U2,U1 TS555IN ST TS555IN
12 1 U3 TLV272IP TI TLV272IP
13 1 BATTERY 9V BAT GENERIC
14 1 PERF-BOARD 8029 VECTOR 8029
15 3 U1, U2, U3 SOCKET ASSMAN A08-LC-TT-R


Total cost under $20. With first class mail delivery, probably just over $20. You could save a few bucks on the perf-board by getting a Radio Shack 276-148. I think the one I actually used is 276-147, similar but larger. 


Any of the perf-boards can be sawed, filed, and sanded to size and tidiness. Phenolic ones (generally anything cream, tan or brown color, including the Radio shack ones) can also be scored and broken. I score heavily on both sides with a utility knife, then just snap with my fingers. Fiberglass ones (yellow or green, including the Vector ones) are much harder to break cleanly. I generally saw them.


You could also go with a perf board with no plating. The plating isn't really necessary, but is kind of nice. The Vector board has much more rugged plating (plating on both sides and through the hole as well). The Radio Shack ones are plated only on one side, and the pads tend to come off the board if you try to unsolder parts and aren't good at it. But as they aren't really necessary in the first place, that's not a big deal. The through-plating can make it harder to get parts out of the board if you have to. I use mostly the Radio Shack ones.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 18, 2013)

Some notes about the schematic: 

The two potentiometers (R7, R8) are there so you can play with the amount of change in strobing, as well as the average intensity. The cycle time of the strobing is controlled by R5, and is proportional to the value. So increasing R5 makes longer time (slower strobe) and decreasing it makes shorter times (faster). 

R10 is marked 50 ohms on the schematic, but I recommended a 47 ohm resistor. That's because 50 ohm resistors are 4x more expensive. This resistor controls the brightness of the LED. At 47 ohms, you'll get about 125 mA, which I think is more than enough. If you want to push it to around 330 mA, use an 18 ohm, 2W resistor instead. 

I would start with U1, C2, C5, R5. If you build this right, you should see pin 3 of U1 changing from 0V to 9V and back, switching about once per second. Then build U1, C1, C3, R4. This does the same thing, but so fast you can't see it on the meter. Set the meter to frequency and it should read around 200 Hz. Set it on DC volts, and it should read around 4.5. Set it on AC volts, and it should read around 3. You can test the rest of the circuit in similar fashion. Let me know when and if you want the details. 

I would plan to leave as long as possible (at least a couple weeks) to debug the circuit, get help, new parts, etc. If you get in a real jam, I can still send you the working circuit I have here.


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## pepperdust (Aug 18, 2013)

I can't help you.. 

but cool man, sweet idea


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## DIWdiver (Aug 28, 2013)

Okay, finally figured out pictures... Again! 

Here's the schematic: 





Here's the front: 




And here's the back:


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## tommyid1 (Aug 30, 2013)

Probably gonna get to working on this tomorrow 


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## Esko (Aug 30, 2013)

Thanks for an inspiring thread. I have also had quite a lot of thoughts about making a ring box for our engagement rings and wedding ring. It was not supposed to have any lights but perhaps I should consider that, too. It would be different than tommy's box, though. Either I could add a bunch of mostly white tritium bars under the cover edge to cast some light to the rings, or I could use a battery and electronics to create constant dim light with a subtle double pulse of slow heart beat. Probably the first one.


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## DIWdiver (Aug 30, 2013)

Double pulse would probably lend itself better to microprocessor control. Build gets lots simpler, but you have to write the program. Of course, it's not a whole lot more complex than the simplest 'blink an LED' program that is one of the first programs most people write when starting out with new stuff. Even seasoned programmers start here when moving to new hardware or tools (including me!).


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## Esko (Aug 31, 2013)

I have been daydreaming of making a DIY headlamp with digital zoom, using an Arduino compatible miniature RGB controller. I have never used Arduino and the programming skills are also pretty limited, but it would be interesting to learn. This could be a good project to start with. We'll see, some day, I hope...


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## DIWdiver (Aug 31, 2013)

Here's a link to a video of it in operation. You will probably want to turn your sound off. All you can hear is the fan from my power supply. 

[video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/krp9hjf91aaqzhj/MVI_0326.AVI[/video]


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## rayman (Sep 8, 2013)

Great job with the curcuit .

I know I'm too late to the party but my idea would have been a LED hooked up to an Arduino microcontroller. I played around with it lately and I have to say it has quite the potential. When I read about your project the Arduino was the first thing that came into my mind.

@ Esko
All I have to say to you is that you have to try out an Arduino. It really is beginner friendly and cheap because of the open-source. I found out of it some month ago and really got into it. Pretty easy to learn and you can do amazing stuff with it .

rayman


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