A look inside a typical microcontroller based lighting timer (6 hours on 18 hours off), plus some random doodles to see how it could be implemented with standard logic components.
Let me know if you can think of other ways to achieve the timing.
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Let me know if you can think of other ways to achieve the timing.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
I'm sure that you're familiar with the names of various logic families. Don Lancaster, in one of his many books (sorry I can't recall which one offhand) described the bit with throwing diodes and resistors into a pile of otherwise digital stuff as "mickey-mouse logic". 🙂 You could have implemented that stuff with one simple gate, though.
Can you download the software that makes the controller work?
i amin the intrigued boat, thanks
Classic 1980’s design. Refreshing to see it done without an Arduino IDE. Thank you.
When are you going to play with art net please
I own simillar set of lights. I dare to say identical. Battery life is abysmall. It takes few days of 6 hours cycles to drain them :/ I think I have to open them up and talk to that resistor.
Is the Transistor PNP, or NPN? Looking to replace it on my board.
I love binary, its like a secret language for the intelligent.
That was pretty much the only thing i learned in the indoctrination camp masquerading as a public school.
August 2018 and I just came across this video. It quite literally set a light bulb off in my head of how those timer blobs worked.
555 is cheaper and reliable.
thought they use that value clock as it fits in signed 16bit so it can be read as 2 bytes and ultimatly 1 bit for the 1second rollover
ed: also i remember a interview on eevblog from a guy who said the chinese get a special pic that you cant buy, for their industry and is whats used in the epoxied cob circuits and possibly packaged-unlabeled like the above too? apart from just ground nos
"The chip has nothing written on it, …there is a surprise". hahahahahhahaa everytime he says it
You know what would be cool? If you could implement the doodle on a prototype board. 🙂 To actually see the outcome. Love to watch your videos and I learned lots from them, but I don't really understand how you do a binary counter. (o.O) Lots of transistors just pulling each other up in cascades and resetting the previous ones?
I have set of multicolor leds with little white globe caps on them, i think that they have same logic board but they are mains voltage.
that blank 8 pin chip is a slightly modified NE555
If you'd like a similar model but with flash modes Wilkinsons has them (or the did last year) called 'Wilko 50 White timer lights' they run nice and dim and warm white/cool white. They use 3xAA batteries like the set shown in the video.
I got similar device, mine the IC has markings: 160617 863B. It stopped timing after a week, switching off randomly and doesn't seem to turn on again.
Would it be possible to add some kind of "breathing" chip to that kind of lights? I purchased similar lights and would like to have them "breath" inside our candle lantern instead of candles.