Flickering LEDs

If you only need a few you are probably better off getting the complete unit and taking what you want. The ones that I have seen have a circuit in the base that causes the flicker effect. It's not just the LED.

Tom

LOL! There is no such LED. The candle-like flickering is produced by current variations by the circuit. (The circuit and the LED may be tightly integrated onto one board, but the LED is still just a non-flickering device.)

Do you know how to use a search engine? I found this in three seconds:

Here, the author takes apart the tealight, removing the LED from the circuit board, and taps the signal to drive the internal LED in an optocoupler.

The output of the optocoupler is used to drive a power MOSFET which in turn causes a whole array of LED's to flicker.

A PDF circuit diagram is given (but not for the flickering circuit, just for the mod.)

The local 'Dollar Tree' store had a bunch, a couple days ago.

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.

This guy says there are types with the circuit in the LED case. I have not seen these. The op probably could get them quite cheap from China, if he needs

10,000 or more:-)

Tom

The only flickering LED is a faulty one, the flickering is done by a chip.

ISTR one of the science shows on TV saying that Philips discovered the most natural looking flicker was produced by driving the LED with a melody chip.

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I and some friends have a patent on making simulated fire light by using random noise and filters to go from a a flickering candle to the house burning down. Big fires look better with multiple channels. I know it works fine in a small Freescale chip so you could a PIC or any processor you like. It would be an excellent programming exercise.

G=B2

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They definitely make color fading RGB LEDs that cycle through a sequence of colors - I've got some. I assume they have some sort of PWM circuitry inside them.

If they can do that then why not flickering LEDs...?

Yes I can get them from Dollar tree but I need around 60 or so and and like I posted I don't need the switch and the case and the 2032 battery

Yes I can goggle and have seen that mod but they no longer make them that way there is no extra circuit board . Just a battery, a case, a switch and teh LED. Oh and a piece of plastic that looks like a flame.

Here is what I want to do.

I have 3 or 4 sets of candles for our Xmas tree. They are standard miniture

120 ac lights on top of a small plastic candles with clips that attach them to the branches. They are a bit finiky and the bulbs get loose and I would love to replace them with LED.

Even though I bought them years ago at Hechingers I found them again.

My first thought was to hack up an existing LED string but thought the flickering led would look better. I would also love to make it DC. Most AC LED Xmas lights don't use a bridge rectifier so if you move you head back and forth they kind of strobe.

Well, if you need 60 of them, then for about $7.50 a pop and over a man- week of design time (which ain't free) you can build them yourself.

How much does Dollar Tree want?

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com

Not sure if I made myself clear, I don't want to make my own set of Tes lights I want to use the same LED that they use to make a set of candle xmas lights into flickering LED's vs the minature 12volt lights they are now.

So either I can get the LED component loose by itself or just gut some pre made tea lights.

I and some friends have a patent on making simulated fire light by using random noise and filters to go from a a flickering candle to the house burning down. Big fires look better with multiple channels. I know it works fine in a small Freescale chip so you could a PIC or any processor you like. It would be an excellent programming exercise.

Are you one of those people who always has to use a microcontroller when most people would use a simple circuit with only a couple of transistors?

Good find! Perseverance pays. I am saving this link.

Tom

When I found this site I was like where has this site been all my life. It only took me year.

I so want an Egg Bot. Also the mini breadboards look something I would want.

They also have a ton of stuff to do with their stuff. Like using the flicker LED to drive a 1W LED to make real fire light. I had a project last year where I needed "stage fire" in a Sousaphone. I could have hooked up some small multi LED flashlights and have been set.

I spent all afternoon reading and checking out their youtube videos. I better be carful before I get fired. :-)

Well if you see my last post you will see I found a source and much more.

One thing I found in my research was someone gutted a LED tea light and it was one with the external chip. They hooked it up to a mini speaker and it played "Happy Birthday". Seems they used surplus musical birthday chips to make their fire.

Problably Disney sued, and they couldn't do anything audio with their "happy birthday" chips.

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?? 100% natural

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One of the direct from Hong Kong (ebay) stores would probably be cheapest if you don't mind waiting a week or two.

Most of goldmine's stuff goes on sale periodically for much better prices

sale flyer