Color changing LED light sets

[Chris W. Millinship]

The future is uncertain right now, anything could happen in the next 12 months (and I hope it will, in a positive way) but if I do a lights display next year, I would love to include a lot of RGB LED stuff. Maybe it will have just one controller box, but that may be a rather large one, or perhaps something a little simpler. Or I might just use some more of the self-contained ones from that link up there, depends on how they turn out. I really don`t know what will happen yet....

[ceesr]

Does anybody know which 1996 article this is ?

Hmm, that Torch Reviews Site page looks familiar....

So far, asides home made ones (the first I produced in around 1996 from a magazine article) the only experience I have with colour changing LED lights is with the Carpenter "Intellishine" C7 style, as per my TRS review. They are entirely self contained and cycle through their colours all by themselves, and are not synchronised with the others. The seemingly random shimmering rainbow effect is very eye-catching and distinctive. See my Displays Archive Site`s 2004 section for a video showing 15 of them around the front door, apologies for the large file size but if you`re on anything approaching T1 speeds it should be just about manageable . Sorry, I don`t know where regular consumers can purchase Intellishine, I was sent them for evaluation with no dealer/pricing info...

There are a few colour changing LED lights appearing here and there this season. New to me are the colour-changing versions of Forever Bright (see here for details). I have a set of the yellow/blue on back-order but am told they won`t be available until mid November so don`t know what form the colour effect will take or whether they have a controller of some kind or just use self contained bi-colour LEDs.

My lights display this year will entirely consist of LED lights. Mostly blue and white but some patches of colour here and there, so I would also be keen to see what colour changing LED options there are.

Season`s Greetings!

[Chris W. Millinship]

It was from a UK magazine "Everyday Practical Electronics". I probably still have that one around somewhere. It`s a simple low voltage analog design that comprises two op-amp based circuits (I think) that drive the red and green halves of three-terminal bicolour LEDs, fading up and down independently. The article set one half at a fixed rate and allowed the other half to be varied. I modded it slightly to allow both halves to be at a variable rate. I think I increased the number of LEDs too but don`t remember. My design runs 20 LEDs but since they`re all in parallel (no other way to do it with that design) it isn`t expandable too far without hitting the limits of the PSU/power transistors.

There are probably better ways to do it these days. Mostly involving PIC microcontrollers, and maybe even the four-terminal RGB LEDs for a full spectrum colour. Unfortunately PIC and the like are something I know little about.

Still, might be able to dig that one out and PDF the article if you`re interested.

[Mónico González]

LED multi-color lamps are available from some years ago, not only for Christmas ligthing, but for general decorative purpose.
Two or three years ago, I get a "made in China" 55 mm E27 capped globe bulb, fitted with a not specified number of red, green and blue LED's, (or perhaps one or more tricolor ones; I don't know, because I've been unable to open it and watch inside), that cyclically changes in colour, passing through the whole pure and mixed tones: red, green, blue, magenta, yellow, cyan and white, lasting each individual color for near a second.
Such a lamp are fully self-powered from AC mains voltage and self-controlled, not depending on any external device, so, if some of them are? parallelled at the same circuit (multi-lamp deco fixture, festive garland, etc.) each one will change in colour in a random fashion, "as it own", giving as a result an eye-catching effect. The change transition at this lamp are done in an "abrupt" fashion, not by fading one colour in another one.
The main drawback of these nice lamps are their low light level and the slightly high price of each one, so, for long garlands the whole cost are proportionally high.
Regards,
M. Gonz?lez.

[Mónico González]

Sorry, this was a second post of the last message, so I changed the text to avoid a repetition of it.
Regards,
M. Gonz?lez.

[ceesr]

Think I have seen that one already...

Anything simular with a PIC and before 1997 would be more than welcome welcome

Here is the reason why it has to be before 1997...

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/objects/features/2/4/10/LEDsMagApr05Patents.pdf

It was from a UK magazine "Everyday Practical Electronics". I probably still have that one around somewhere. It`s a simple low voltage analog design that comprises two op-amp based circuits (I think) that drive the red and green halves of three-

[jonathan cassiday]

Not quite color changing, but this year i have found a LED christmas set offerd by GE. It consists of 50 bulbs, some solid color sets and multi color set of red yellow blue and green. I found them at a Lowes sotre, but i am unsure if they are discontinuing their sale of Forever Bright LED sets becuase they are still listed as a store to find Forever Bright sets. They seem to be of good quality, the lamps are seprate form the sockets, two bulbs come as replacment, and the blue lamps seem to be very well matched as compared to the foreverbright, but the lamp color of the blue lights is not as deep as the forever bright and at about the same price as Forever Bright sets it lacks the extra 20 lamps and the one piece water tight design. I like them so far, but has anyone else found these yet?

[Steed Holt]

I spent my entire day searching for color changing LED Christmas lights, I wanted the kind that "morf" through the color spectrum.  I Googled and used the links here but with little success.  I ended up at eBay and won an auction for these kind of light strings and the type is unusual because of the acrylic star burst covering.  I must say that they were not quite the bargain that I usually find on eBay but the price was below anything else of equal quality.  In that transaction I discovered a site that has a similar product that you all may find of interest.  If so, Go to:
 

I think the Chinese are leading in the LED lighting arena and by next year there should me more lighting available in more places; unfortunately our weak dollar will make future transactions even more costly!

[adam2]

I made my own colour changing LED lights several years ago, when I first saw clour changing LEDs for sale.
I used 2 wire LEDs that contained three dies and a simple sequencing drive circuit, these were intended for direct drive from 3 alkaline cells.
I wired them all in parralel, and mounted the LEDs in clear plastic stars reclaimed from some defective incandescent Christmas lights.
Power was from a 5 volt DC transformer with a diode wired in series to drop the voltage to about 4.3 volts.

When first turned on, all the LEDs flash together in the same sequence, however after a few minutes they become random and very decorative.

Still working fine.