Looking for a 3 LED Flashing Circuit

[Tchail]

Hey Braintrust,

I’m looking for an LED blinking circuit that will flash three LEDs at the same time. The circuit should be able to drive 3.0-3.3v white LEDs.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

-Tc

[EVApodman]

Wire the three LEDs in series with a limiting resistor connected to a 555 timer that flashes at the rate you want.

[Tchail]

Thanks for the reply!

In the past, I’ve used this kit from All Electronics:

https://www.allelectronics.com/item/led ... kit/1.html

That would work, if I could figure out how to add an extra LED. Maybe wire a resistor an an LED in parallel with one of the LEDs already on the board?

[EVApodman]

Unless you know electronics I would stick with only adding one more in series with the ones you have.

[brt]

If you are comfortable with wiring in parallel, that's the way to go. Your wiring a resistor and LED in parallel should be fine. You'll need about 5 volts for the parallel version if using a 555 timer as the voltage drop is 1.7 volts with the timer, leaving 3.3 volts for the LEDs.

[TShark]

You might consider this:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/2378

This is a small Arduino board that will flash three LED's off of one output pin. The software to program the board is available free online and comes with a basic blink code. There are also a vast amount of free tutorials available online. Not only can you blink three LED's, but you can also control blink rate, phase duration (how long LED is lit and unlit), even combine different blink rates (3 fast blinks then 1 slow etc.). All this can be done even after installation in the model via laptop or desktop computer.

IMO the Arduino boards are a Sci-Fi modellers dream. They can control lights, sounds, motors and much more. All the programs are free and you can usually find a sketch (aka Arduino code) that will get the basic function you need working. From there you just tweak setting to you preference.

Below is a link to my Youtube video. In this video I am running a total of 38 LEDs in the engines plus three blinking running light LEDs. All that with just a 5 volt power supply and one Arduino board that is 2 inches long by one inch wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aFZbrLPVJ8

Hope this helps

[Tchail]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I would love to learn Arduino programming, but of course it boils down to time.

I've decided to go with a self-flashing LED, and then run fiber optic to my three spots. This seems to be the simplest way to go.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6kcgxv6jctjv9 ... h.MOV?dl=0

Cheers,

-Tc