ATTINY85 RGB light upgrade Vers. 1 - Christmas wreath

During the holidays a christmas wreath decoration that has flickering lights failed.  I opened it up and found that the light bulb was blown and the motor that controls the multi colored light wheel was no longer working either.

Light and color wheel with motor

 
So I thought that I replace the faulty hardware with the attiny85 and an rgb led.  Well it worked, it just wasn't bright enough.

 

Even though the leds were mounted on a board just above the fiber optic bundle, the light was still not bright enough.  There were only three leds, 1 red, 1 blue and 1 green.



The wreath uses fiber optic strands bundled together to display the colors from the lighting.

 

I have a working circuit and a breadboarded circuit installed that works but it is too dim.  So I am working on putting more leds in the circuit to see how much more light that will provide.  Started using a DipTrace to create schematics and pcbs.

Here is the schematic used for the project, this is a Diptrace screenshot.

  The learning curve is much easier than EagleCad.  So I think I will focus on using Diptrace and but use EagleCad as needed.

Project Ideas

• usb to sata adapter

• RC mower
• Garage Door accessible via local network, not WiFi

• Dual mode CAT5 cable tester( 4 wire, 2 pair / 8 wire, 1 to 1)

• battery replacement module for cell phones(uses LM317 and components to provide 3.7v)

• water meter monitor( use it to check if there is a leak in the rest of the water system, such as the sprinkler system)

• gutter sprayer/ cleaner : make it out of pvc.  Make sure it is rebuildable and configurable.

Schematic for a CAT5 dual mode tester

Ideas for CAT5 Tester Receivers

Ideas for using 1 RJ-45 jack for 2 different test modes.

Attiny85 code examples

Heres a piece of code that blinks LEDs in a particular order, similar to the lighting of a Proton Pack.

================================================================
/*
  Modified Blink sketch for Attiny85 chip
 
  Proton Pack Sequencer

 */

int led1 = 0;
int led2 = 1;
int led3 = 2;
int led4 = 3;

void setup() {               

  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led4, OUTPUT); 
}

void loop() {

digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led4, LOW);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);
delay(500);
digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
delay(500);
}
================================================================

Attiny85 CAT5 Cable Tester

Project Idea: Use Attiny85 to drive 5 leds to test 4 wires and 1 shield as a CAT5 tester.  Use code from "proton pack" project to drive leds.  Use transistors if needed to drive LEDs.  Put together a circuit and used 1 k resistors for the LEDs.  The ON time of the LEDs is 75ms, the OFF time is 25 ms.  Need to be able to program the unit, so an ICSP connector is needed.  The circuit is 5V but the power supply is 9V, so a 5V regulator will be used.  There will be a power supply LED and a  5V power LED.  Switch type is undetermined at this time.  The circuit will be installed in an Altoid tin.  Might go with a multi pcb setup to make the best use of space.  Several mini perf boards seems to work.  The rj-45 jack is attached to a mini perf board.

Best size of perfboard that fits in Altoids tin

Trimmed to fit

Board dimension/info

Added mounting holes, slot for rj-45 jack and connectors to mount rj-45 mini board

RJ-45 board with jack and connectors installed, mounting holes setup

Another view, still need to clean up board edges

Another view

 

Side view of both boards, ready for test fitting

Front view of both boards

Ready for test fitting in Altoids tin.  RJ-45 board still needs tweaking

Top view

View of RJ-45 board with 5v regulator in place

Side view of 5v regulator in place

Test fitting board and battery

Here is the schematic for the project.  Its a start, some things will be added, removed as needed.

Vers 1.0

Idea for component layout.  Still undecided on a switch and location.

Mounting holes drilled and board installed.

Cutout RJ-45 port for case and lid

Cutout for switch and 2 LEDs on box, lid only has switch cutout done.

Lid work completed for switch, LEDs WIP

Found a website that has perfboard paper in PDF format.  It has worked out well using it to layout components.

Perfboard pdf website

Component layout ideas

Thinking about using card connectors to allow easy component replacement.

Schematic with a few notes

 

 

Heres the code used for the Attiny85 CAT5 tester
================================================================
/*
  Sketch for Attiny85 chip
 
  LED sequencer for testing 4 wire + 1 ground continuity

 */

int led1 = 0;
int led2 = 1;
int led3 = 2;
int led4 = 3;
int led5 = 4;

void setup() {               

  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led4, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(led5, OUTPUT); 
}

void loop() {

digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
delay(10);
digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
delay(10);
digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
delay(10);
digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(led4, LOW);
delay(10);
digitalWrite(led5, HIGH);
delay(250);
digitalWrite(led5, LOW);
delay(10);
}
================================================================


Screenshots of the setup/configuration of the Arduino IDE

This is the board option I used

I used a USBTiny programmer to upload the code

Completed the project on 17 July 2014.

Attiny85 CAT5 Cable Tester

Project Idea:  Use Attiny85 to drive 5 leds to test 4 wires and 1 shield as a CAT5 tester.  Use code from "proton pack" project to drive leds.  Use transistors if needed to drive LEDs.