LEAP#227 KnightRider with a 555 Timer
This is a well-known LED effects circuit using the 555 timer and 4017 decade counter.
The 555 timer is configured as an astable multivibrator, with a frequancy of 10.5 Hz at ~50% duty cycle.
The clock signal from the 555 drives the 4017 decade counter, providing 10 signal lines.
The 10 outputs of the 4017 (Q0 to Q9) are wired to the appropriate LEDs with steering diodes to generate the “Knight-Rider” pattern
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
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LEAP#226 Music Box Kit
This is a pretty common kit available from multiple sources, although it appears to have been originally produced by icstation.
The heart of the kit is a a potted chip, one of many similar boards primarily produced as the sound effects generators used in toys.
the kit adds supporting circuitry on a PCB to drive a piezo speaker and decode 4 switch inputs to select one of 16 effects.
As demonstrated here, it is possible to drive the board with a microcontroller.
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
Does this generate good sound effects? No! Twee at best, horribly poor immitation at worst. But if you want to sound like a cheap toy, this may be exactly what you need;-)
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LEAP#225 FQ777-954 Teardown
The FQ777-954 and it’s derivatives has been a pretty hot item in the nano quadcopter category.
But good technical information is hard to come by beyond the usual product feature specs.
I’m intrigued by the possibilities for building around it, so my first step is to tear one down and
collect as much information about the product as I can.
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
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LEAP#224 LED Strobe Kit
Stocking stuffers like this 555/4017 LED strobe kit almost always present interesting challenges/learning opportunities.
Julian Ilett had fun re-wiring the same kit.
For myself, I found out the PCB appeared to have the supplied transistors connected upside down,
and some adjustments to the resistor values yielded a better effect.
As always, all notes, schematics and code are in the Little Electronics & Arduino Projects repo on GitHub
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