LED rangefinder

[Andromalius]

anyone have schematics of some sort for a LED unit for a hollow rangefinder.
no offence to hyperdyne, but 62 plus shipping is a little rich for me.
if anyones tried making one and succeeded, i'd really appreciate a set of prints
thanks :cheers

 

[Just another swede]

I can't give you any scematics... but I can give you advice! The easiest way to get blinking LEDs is buy a cheap piece of electronic that already has such a thing. I picked up one of these fake-car-alarm things at $7, but there should be model-railroad-crossing-lights at less.

Getting any of these would give you a rangefinder with two red lights that light one at the time, back and forth. Making it turn off in the "up" position would require you to create some sort of contact plates between the stalk and the ear piece, or to get an mercury switch or similar.

By the way... I really liked the looks of my car-alarm dealy; if my rangefinder would break, I could use it as replacement

 

[Buckeye 01]

I drew up a simple circuit for this not to long ago. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[Andromalius]

Thanks for the replies guys, and Buckeye, i'd be in your debt if you found something.
Thanks again :cheers

 

[Dha Syntir]

I was told to use an "N" battery holder or similar as your power source, a capacitor of some type to make it blink, and the leds which you solder directly to your wiring. Which sounded like French to me then as it does now, so any schematics would be extremely helpful as I want leds on my gauntlets and elsewhere also...

 

[mrgr8ness]

You seek my old thread-

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=10197

 

[Charbacca]

I don't have schematic and what I did is not completely accurate, but since we have a con in a week and parts for the board and leds would not make it on time, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a pair of the blinking socks. They use tilt switches just like you would use to have the leds turn on at a certain angle. The only problem is that they blink a little on the fast side, but for $.50, I'm not going to complain since they will work until the board comes in.

 

[wolters]

There are LEDs available that blink without the use of a cirquit .
You just have to hook them up to the right power supply :
Here's how I did mine :
I used a hollow stalk and a BM RF.

 

[Charbacca]

That's interesting and looks fairly easy to do, but I have one question, do they just stay on? I didn't see a tilt switch anywhere. If they do turn on/off at certain angles, please tell.

 

[wolters]

There's a reed switch (magnetic switch ) in the ear of my helmet.
In my gloves there is a magnet built in.

If I move my hand near the ear of my helmet , the lights come on.

 

[Boomer Fett]

By the time you fight with it and get it to fit you will wish you had just spent the money from Mrgr8ness. I know for a fact since I own two and they didn't cost what the others do. Not to mention that Nic is a VERY honorable man and will take care of you. IMO

 

[Shinobi Fett]

Wow, Wolters! That's awesome! I didn't even know those existed! :O Super cool! I just might add real blinking LEDs to my RF after all! (I have "dummy" LEDs in place, because I really didn't want to mess with complicated electronics, but that looks like even I could do! Anyone have any input about some kind of tilt switch? I'm not exactly familiar with a reed switch or mercury switch.

 

[wolters]

a tilt switch is also an option , i've seen them called mercury switches .
I expect them to be available at any good electronics store.

The reed switch too , by the way.

The reed switch just works like any other switch , just that it operates not mechanically , but by moving it into reach of a magnet.

They are limited to a certain voltage , but with batteries and leds this should be no problem.

 

[Shinobi Fett]

Thanks Wolters! Now if I can be a tiny bit more of a pest, what battery did you use there?

 

[terminal fettler]

These look great, i think you should do a little tutorial as to how you made it work...

 

[wolters]

I hope this helps

 

[gunnerk19]

OK, I picked up some LED's from RS yesterday, blinking reds and solid greens...

My question is, if using a (9V) single power source for both reds, they both flash at the same time... how to make them flash alternately?

 

[wolters]

With this diagram , and using 4.8 V , they start blinking together , but after a few times , their speed starts to differ .

Maybe if u use a slightly different resistor ?

I'm no electronics expert either.

 

[Shinobi Fett]

Thanks Wolters, that helps a bit. Let's consider, for arguments sake, that I'm completely electronically stupid. he "reed switch" is the magnetic one, so why is there a manual switch also in your diagram? Is that just showing two possibilities for one location? The tilt switch could also go here instead, correct? And as someone asked before, how would you get them to flash alternately? (you mention a different resitor.. how would that figure into that scheme?)

 

[wolters]

The manual switch is inside the helmet .
That's just if I want to show someone how it works/looks.
It's on display at home , and I don't want to put on my gloves every time somebody wants to see it.
The tilt switch (or any other switch) could take the place of the reed switch.
They flash alternately as I made it , But the speed can't be changed. For that you would need the cirquitboard .

You could play around a little with voltage and resistors , but I wouldn't know what happens then.