Finally! I have been searching for a video like this that would help me to understand how to create a fading LED for a lighthouse project I want to build. THANK YOU! I wanted the light to appear to "rotate" as it shines in any direction. I will be adding a solar panel to this project though. Hopefully you might make that addition in the future? Thanks again!

I messed up building this and accidentally used 1,200 ohm resistors for both, it actually turned out quite nicely using 2,500uF of capacitance instead (I have a feeling that the LED that I used was very low draw in comparison to the one in the demo). The fade is ultra smooth and cycles around 3 seconds up/down. Thanks for the great how-to video!

I am quite impressed with the smoothness of the fading effect. There are a lot of other circuits out there that try and fail.

thank you so much for posting up this easy-to-follow tutorial! Great job, and keep up the good work.

Thanks for the video and link to schematic. Nice how the output pin 3 back-routed to pins 2 and 6 by a resistor, and how pin 7 is not used, capturing the output of the 'ramp' timing internal of the chip. Congratulations on yet another unique wiring of the amazing 555. The 555 can do so much, even voltage to frequency (via pin 5 modulation). One of the most versatile chips of all time and its been around for ages. I'm looking forward to bread-boarding this circuit soon. Thanks again.

Nice to see someone do this the simplest way. These days Too many people would have said I can do that using an arduino

This is exactly what I've been looking for to customize my turn signals. Thanks!

@SupperSarcasticGuy

6 жыл бұрын

samerickson89 did you so it? Can u upload a video on how you did it?

Thanks, I changed it around a little bit, and got to work for what I needed!

I thoroughly enjoyed this tutorial! I was wondering (hoping actually) if you would do a video for a "wig-wag" type circuit (like a railroad crossing signal) but where each of the LEDs fade in and out instead of just turning on and off.

Just what I was looking for, a simple DIY auto on-off switch for grounding. Thank you.

Thanks for making this video. I've followed it carefully and I'm using it to make a few strings of LED lights "breath" for my Halloween UFO display. Great step by step video. I am making a hard-wired version of this tonight in an enclosure.

Nice one mate, this helped me a lot

This is a great video, keep going !

Nice clock, man. Nothing beats analogue.

@TheMegalucian Are you sure you have the leads of the transistor connected properly?

Awesome! Exactly what I needed for a small music box I’m building, it turned out great. Thanks!

I love the clock sound in the background ! ...tic ... tac... tic ... tac

@1AppleMaker Sure. I tried already but haven't managed to take a solid take yet. I'll try some more tonight.

Hello, great work! Is there a chance to build this or a similar circuit to be fed with 1.5v or 3v max? Thanks.

Mines works! Thank you! Great tutorial!

Can you make the Fade Stop at its 100% brightness with a switch or push button and the opposite with the same ?

The transistor usage is NOT CORRECT. It's an NPN transistor, so the emitter should go AWAY from B+. Connect the collector to B+, and the emitter to the resistor to the LED. It is part of a specifically designed "emitter-follower" mode of the transistor. The voltage on the emitter tracks the voltage on the base which ramps up and down as the capacitor is cyclically charged and discharged through the high value resistor from the output of the 555. Here is a link to the proper circuit: www.555-timer-circuits.com/up-down-fading-led.html It sort of works if you hook the transistor in backwards because transistors are somewhat symmetrical but you're damaging the transistor and not getting the proper functioning of the circuit. You don't need a huge 1000uF capacitor, either. The gain of the transistor takes very little charge off the capacitor, so you can get away with a much smaller 100uF capacitor. Just use a proportionally smaller resistor on pin 3 of the 555 and adjust to get the desired cycle time. Since the gain of the transistor is on the order of 100 so to run 10 or 20 mA through the LED, you'll only draw 100 or 200uA (microamps) through the base of the transistor. Blue LEDs are very bright by nature so you can use a higher value resistor, like 330 ohms or 470 ohms with a 5V source, or even 1K ohms with a 12V source. Putting a PNP in that location completely ruins the circuit design. it's not only NOT an emitter-follower voltage-tracker any more, but it creates a forward-biased diode connected to B+ and the 555 won't discharge the capacitor, and wouldn't cycle, I would predict.

@Custom3dPrinting4U

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you all. Will this work if I use 50 3mm (3v) leds in parallel?? Using a power supply

@jrhaggis

3 жыл бұрын

@@Custom3dPrinting4U only if you include 50 current limiting resistors, one in series with each of them, with the common tie point being at the emitter of the transistor. You can't put raw LEDs in parallel directly. If you expand the output in this way, you will draw 50x rhe current through the transistor, and even if the power supply and transistor can take the current, remember that you're drawing 50x the base current which may require a larger capacitor (and corresponding adjustment of the resistor) because m ore charge will be bled off as current through the transistor base.

@brunodheldt7119

2 жыл бұрын

I had to reverse the transistor indeed. If I connected everything as instructed the led would just continuesly light up.

@JustinS06

Жыл бұрын

@@jrhaggis I put 5 LED's in parallel and it worked fine. I haven't tried it for blinking effects though.

Would it be possible to set this up as a string? Like the LED fades into another one next to it turning on? I wanna make a wave-ish effect.

555 timers will take up to 14 volts, so an input of 12 volts could be used without harm. This will kick up the output voltage, as removing the 150 Ohm resistors shown in the schematic will also do. I've messed around with this circuit for a while, and I have had some trouble powering 12V 200 mA lighting strips. I'm not sure if the output voltage was quite enough, however. If you can't supply 14 Volts to the circuit to account for Voltage drop, there is a way to amplify it with a transistor.

Thank you for the vid. I used a 2.5ohm potentiometer for variable speed and 2 pairs of 2 led's in a series and it works great. Need to print a board for the circuit though.

Awesome tutorial, gonna go out tomorrow( hopefully) and get me one-o-dem 555 timers since I've already got everything else and use it to create a beacon for an underwater camera mount I just built for some night creature watching :D

can this effect be done without a 555 somehow? Thanks! I'm trying to add a soothing dim on-hold-dim off effect into the inside of a battery operated LED flicker candles to supplement the flickering led flame effect. ...I think this would not only look awesome but might also help me fall asleep on those nights I can't sleep...

Thankyou for sharing this, is it easy to do this to an 10W LED chip?

comment if there is another tutorial of this beacause im gonna build it without capacitors and transistors and can be the chip be looking any direction?

Thank you for this video very informative. My question; Are you able to connect 2 or LEDs to this circuit with one 555 Timer? Or Do you need separate 555 Timers for each LED you are connecting?

Dude!!!! I have been looking for a video to do this that was straight forward and it actually worked!! I have a question tho, I need to do this to two 3vdc 300mA led filaments, your circuit works for them, but the voltage is slightly low to fully power the leds.. any ideas would be super appreciated!

wow, that is dope! i would like to try a 2k pot in place of the resistor, that should allow me to adjust the rate of pulse on the fly. do you think i will have to change out the cap? i want a very slow breath-like pulse. also do you do have the circuit diagram. thank you

@Someone7089 It is okay. =) I am just so anxious to see how you do it so good... besides, I am not as technical as you are with electronics, but I'm learning.

Nice! I'll try to get all the parts and do it. Was wondering the lowest possible voltage for efficiency. The leds need at most 3.2v... and the transistor needs like .7v... what's the lowest voltage needed by the 555 chip? Thanks

Hey. I want to make pulsing veins on my arms out of LEDs and silicone skin. I watched this video thinking it would tell me how to make LED strips fade in and out (how to program for that)....do you have any idea how i would make strips of blue LEDs fade in and out one after eachother?? To simulate blood being pumped through a vein

Thanks brother :) Liked and subbed

Question - Im trying to make a pulsing led for a Tardis prop from Dr.Who. The unit im making cant fit a 9 volt but it can fit a lithium watch battery. What would need to be changed, aside from the LED's resistor, for it to use a 3.7v circuit? Im assuming the capacitor. Is there a formula to figure out what mF I would need to switcu it with?

That was a well done video,that I like.

Great Tutorial! Probably a simple question, but how could I add a push button that would make this fade on and off for 10 seconds then stop until button is pushed again?

if I add a full wave rectifier to use ac power to a bunch of leds in series can I use just one circuit to make them all flicker? would they all flicker at the same rate? Thanks!

i have one question, i want to bild this with a really bright LED and i'm wondering, what is the brightest i can use?

I am curious. I am into electronics also. But do others like the guy on this video get this circuit from some other source or did he just simply think up the circuit inside his head and then try it and it worked?

Can you tell me which transistors you have used ....???

Fun project. I tried a 9V battery and found it was a little too much power and the circuit leaked a little -- the LED would fade slightly but not go completely out. I put a resistor on the negative lead from the battery (I think I used a 1000 ohm) to reduce the input voltage and it worked fine. Thanks for the tutorial.

Is it possible to make the LED just fade on, then turn off, then fade on again? Or are we limited to fade on, fade off like in this circuit you built? Just curious =)

Here's a question. How would you set it up so the LED doesn't go all the way off? What I'm thinking of is a way to go from 100% and then fade down to about 25% and then back up to 100%.

Very nice video, I am looking to build this circuit on a veroboard. Is there a schematic anywhere that you know of for it? Thank you.

When I first played with 555s really didn't know what I was doing just playing astable and monostable I ran into fading in and out like this had no idea how but thank U I really need this

Thank you for putting this into basic terms. can you tell me if i could use thos for a car with about 12volts and a strip of LED's.

simple and easy to follow. thanks

Hi, I would like to make something like this for my car. What i want to do is have around 50 led's light up around a raised logo in the carpet of a sub woofer box. I would like to have it turn one once i open the trunk. That is I would like the lights to slowly fade on once the trunk opens. Would this be possible? Thank you!

hi really interesting but a bit over my head I'm more mechanical. is it possible to design a pcb to involve 4 leds to light and fade consecutively? and can you do it for me? I would very gladly reimburse you for whatever you require. thx again paul

Where to conNect? The 9v battery? I can't see it on your schematic. Sir.. Where to connect ? The (-) & (+) wires of 9v battery? And can i use 13001 Transistor? Thank you.

Great vid, I don't suppose you have a schematic do you?

I too, am greatful for the video! I'm using it for a pulsing heart for my Halloween costume as well. :)

do you have a circuit diagram of the "I modified it a little" mods? I notice only 1 transistor in the video, but there are two in the diagram. rather than crawling through the video and transcribing it, that would be pretty helpful...

Hey bro i want this effect on the led of my gamecube but im new to anything electricity related lol, how can i downsize this circuit board? Any help please!

I liked this a lot, bit confusing using mostly the same colour wires but well impressed, Now the big question, do you know how to make a flicker led circuit on startup then stay on constant , until it’s turned of then flicker on start then remain constant ?

@1AppleMaker Well, it might be a while before I get the video out. Still having trouble recording the video without making mistakes...

nice work someone 7089 well done :)

Can you break down the disposable flash camera circuit?I would like to know how to replicate that!

Question: You're using a single LED and probably powering with 4.5~6.0 V. What if I wanted to do this with a Tail-Light LED made for automobiles powered by 12V. What would be different in the circuit? Thanks for this video.

Please help me set this up with a 12v battery. I have been changing my circuit for more than a month (almost every day) now and still can't figure out how to make the led strip pulse with 12v. It seems to work fine with 9v, but it won't pulse with 12v. I added a 10k Ohm resistor for pin 8 + 4 directly from the 12v battery. I can't find any good tutorials out there. Yours is the only one that works as I want! Would like your help in this thing :)

On your diagram what is tha PNP on the left (transistor?) and the LED that is connected directly above, will that LED blink as well or how does that work. i am just learning this stuff so my question may be lacking in a lot of background.

Hi ! Can you please add complete part list for this project? Thanks before!

Is there a way to adjust it so the led doesn’t completely dim to off, maybe by adding a constant small voltage to the led?

can i power this with 3v ? also couldn't you use a variable resister pot to control speed of fading ?

Hey great video, can you do a video on how to utilize a button to switch on the power. All I want is the light to brighten, then fade off completely.

I like it! I need this function for vacuum tubes fake filament led instead! When I switch on 12V it should light up just as slowly when you disconnect the voltage it should turn off just as slowly! Easy?

Hi i am looking for a sort of heart rate pulse small led, battery driven i want to use this in a resing craft idea i am working on can you help or advise

Hi Neo. The 2222A Transister is a NPN, the Collector, Base and Emitter are all placed in different tracks. Hope this helps.

I looked for 222a transistor, but search results came up with "2222a" (with four 2s) in them. Is this the right one to use? Great tutorial btw. I was looking for something to work with a flower pot.

another way to control the rate of fading is getting a higher value capacitor and then connecting a variable resistor just before you connect everything else to the positive side of the capacitor.

How would you do this with a 5mm RGB Tri-Color (Red Green Blue Multicolor) 4Pin?

I purchased all of the components you used, and followed your video. However, it does not work. Could using 1/2 watt resistors instead of 1/4 watt resistors be the problem. Also, I am using a 9 volt power source, is that what you are using? Any thoughts?

I've been fiddling myself as well, with the schematics on the link here, and managed a soft fade in but, it cuts off without a fade out....

Are you just using one of the transistors shown in your schematic? You're just using the NPN in this case?

Hi.. could you do a video making one that is with out the push pins board and sardar the wires together? I want to build a working light for my full size TARDIS. Thanks.

holly cow.. i been video for this kinda video.. niceee

nice project, but I want to make led strips of 75 cm do the same thing. any idea on how to do that?

Hey, can you please make one on your music beats from your few tutorials ago? Thanks! I'm liking this a lot.

Your dialogue box at 0.07 secs says you modified this circuit a little. Wondering what is the modification. I've watched 3 times and hooked up your circuit but I'm not getting it to work. Can you tell me the modifications? Thanks

What if i want to use 12-16v? Do I need to change the cap or resistors?

Great tutorial. did not work at first and then i realized i had the timer the wrong way around. I also connected 3 led's in parallel and it still worked. I used a 1k and 220 ohm resistor with a bc547 transistor.

@okovermekeamglight4563

9 жыл бұрын

If you don't want to calculate the resistor value use 1k ohm.

Hi, What voltage were you using..Thanks

I have tricky question and I'm hoping you could answer it for me. I am working on this project and I'm using 150+LEDs. I am remaking my tron themed deadmau5 head. The tron design will be lit up by blue LEDs. Here's the thing. I want the LEDs to fade in at POWER ON, starting from the back of the head and work it's self around the head to the eyes and mouth part. I want the LEDs to do the opposite when POWER OFF; have the LEDs fade out starting from the eyes and mouth and work it's self around to.

Would you happen to know how to make and LED fade on with a duration of four seconds. I'm attempting to make the LED's fade on while in the background sound emits for four seconds. If you can help me out that would be awesome!

How many Volts have capacitor?

help needed .do you have any cicuits that make the led blink without ic using at votlage of 5 to 6 volts? thkls ,

Is it possible to use a 30w regular bulb? a customer of mine needs a bright pulsating light.

Is this possible in smaller size with parts of SMD ? even without a board ?

Great, how can I do this with an rgb led and randomly go through different colours?

What is the voltage value of the capacitor you use?

how to fade 12v led strip using external power supply 12v? I had try it using TIP31 mosfet but not sync fade time, must be decrease brightness led strip to sync it.

Is it possible to use N-Channel MOSFET instead of NPN transistor in this circuit ?

@Lazarus65 double check your transistor pinout, and use a potentiometer between pins 3 and the positive side of the capacitor, anything below 50k will do. You could also change your capacitor.

Will it work if the input voltage is the same as the forward voltage of the LED?

Do you need 1 555 timer for every led if i were hooking the up to a picaxe 28x1?

thnx for reply to my request!:) what i wanted exactly is speeding pulse with voltage raise.I want to conect it to CPU fanso ,as CPU goes hotter,voltage on CPU fan goes higher,making the fan spin faster to keep CPU cool(under load,like gaming),and that automaticly would make LED pulsate faster.so i want it to pulsate fatser with higher voltage.Voltage range should be between 6 - 12 volts

I am totally new to the world of electronics, I have tried to follow your tutorial a few times but it cant get it to work...i think I may be wiring something wrong. I’ve got a feeling its the transistor im plugging in wrong. Can you please tell me, do the collector, emitter and base all go on the same track or does the emitter and collector go on the same one and the base on its own track...this is the only thing I must be getting confused with...cheers for the great step by step video :-)