REQ : Stepped lighting.

"I.P.off10"

hmm, force sensing resistor, 5 or so diodes, couple of logic gates, and of course a 555, just to annoy Bill Sloman

martin

I'm more anoyed that you didn't notice that this is actually a job for an off-the-shelf person sensing circuit, that you can buy in any lighting shop.

IIRR the fittings contain an infra-red sensor which picks up human body warmth - spread a couple of them along the corridor and the job is done. No need for logic or a 555.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

ummm really ?? they make on that will turn on several banks at a time ?? for instance, if you have 8 light sources , it will turn on 123, then 234, then

I was envisioning something more along the lines of a strip that could be installed along the base molding of a hall way, powered by a single wall wart... and if the OP is interested in the modular approach, one that could daisy-chain for a hallway of any length.. say in 2-4 ft sections.

An IR sensor would certainly be a viable technique also.. but some logic is going to be needed for the "feed forward" to turn on lights ahead of the person walking no matter which way they are walking -- logic gates or an 8 pin PIC/AVR -- doesnt really matter much.... If I put some more thought into it -- I could probably figure out a way to do it with no more than 8 wires between stations and discreet logic only -- or 4 wires (2 power, 2 differential data) and a MCU...

dozens of ways to solve this one -- need some more info to pick the one that best fits the OPs intentions.

Like the subject line says.....

-- Paul Hovnanian mailto: snipped-for-privacy@Hovnanian.com

------------------------------------------------------------------ Only through suffering comes wisdom. -- Zeus

The logic is a red herring. The OP just wants to walk in a pool of light, and having the lights stay on few feet behind him (which he doesn't need) is a cheap price to pay for having them come on a few feet in front of him, and greatly simplifies the task.

It is always as well to keep in mind that you want to provide what the customer needs, rather than what they think they want.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

hmmmm you are a mind reader ?? you can figure out the complete details of what the customer wants based on an incomplete description ?? The original post didnt specify anything more than "low level lighting" -- thats easy -- LEDs.... what was not specified was how many LEDs, what spacing, total length of the LED array, desired form of the lighting array -- the circuitry in general is simple enough, but choosing a specific implementation to match the target hardware requires a bit more information than we have gotten so far.

Yes. The image that instantly sprung to my mind, was that recent "wouldn't it be nice if ..." TV advert with the American voiceover (no idea what they were selling though). My problem is that once the image is formed, there's no escaping it :)

I'm not a mind reader, and I can't figure out the complete details of what the customer wants on the basis of an incomplete description. What I do know is that what the customer asks for usually hasn't got all that much to do with what they really need, and you have to do quite a lot of "what if" questioning before you start putting in any serious time on detailed implementation. It is a very good idea to strip the concept down to the bare minimum at some point in this process, because it can save you and the customer a great deal of unnecessary development time if the bare minimum is something the customer finds that they can live with.

-- Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

system

more than

optimal.

point

banks, or

individual

address your

I think the OP achieved what he set out to do - he got everybody hooked on thinking he had a genuine requirement for such a device when in fact it was a hoax.