I'm creating some custom LED tail lights for my car, and I'd like the turn signals to be sequential. I'll probably use 7 or 8 segments of LEDs which I would like to fill at an adjustable rate, and then turn out at a separate adjustable rate.
I was planning on using a couple different 555s feeding into 2 different decade counters to get the job done, but SCRs are a pain to turn off remotely and NPN/PNP transistor arrays than can handle the amperage of each segment will add a lot of cost to my project, so I figure using Picaxe controllers may be my answer, then I can just use the outputs to turn on cheap transistors to run each segment ... unfortunately I've never worked with a mirco controller and I have no idea how I would make the ramp up (array fills sequentially) and ramp down (array turns off sequentially) adjustable with the inputs. Again use a couple outside 555 timers, make the picaxe listen to one of them as it fills the array and then stop, and listen to the other one as the array turns off? or can the picaxe do all of this internally?
I've read, and am reading more about what I can do right now, I've just never worked with code or anything, and I'm not really sure what I can do and what I can't.
Thanks a lot for any help.
I was planning on using a couple different 555s feeding into 2 different decade counters to get the job done, but SCRs are a pain to turn off remotely and NPN/PNP transistor arrays than can handle the amperage of each segment will add a lot of cost to my project, so I figure using Picaxe controllers may be my answer, then I can just use the outputs to turn on cheap transistors to run each segment ... unfortunately I've never worked with a mirco controller and I have no idea how I would make the ramp up (array fills sequentially) and ramp down (array turns off sequentially) adjustable with the inputs. Again use a couple outside 555 timers, make the picaxe listen to one of them as it fills the array and then stop, and listen to the other one as the array turns off? or can the picaxe do all of this internally?
I've read, and am reading more about what I can do right now, I've just never worked with code or anything, and I'm not really sure what I can do and what I can't.
Thanks a lot for any help.