Programming a PIC

[Jonathan]

Hello,

 I am working on a model car and I am wanting to add some LEDs to it.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a business or an individual who can custom program a few flash patterns to a PIC for? I don't have the software or the knowlege to program them myself. Also, how difficult would it be to make this if I did it myself and what software would I need to buy? I would greatly appreciate any information or advice. Thanks in advance,

Jonathan

[justDIY]

check out the PICAXE ... they require no special programmer, other than a simple serial cable.   Also, the software is free and easy to use (its designed for young school kids).  They're also very inexpensive.

http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/picaxe/

[Jonathan]

Thanks for the informatiom JustDIY.  Which set would you recommend buying for programming multiple LEDs to flash?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[justDIY]

get one with enough pins for however many leds you want.   there are a lot of ways to control many leds from few pins, but having one pin for each led is the easiest.

the 08 has 5 in/outputs

the 18 has 8 outputs

so the important question is, how many LEDs do you want to flash?

[Jonathan]

I am wanting to program 6 LEDs in the front and 6 in the back.

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Hi JustDIY, I was looking around and there is a professional LED flasher that I found that has the patterns that I am wanting to make. Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/SHO-ME-LED-ABLE-2-EMERGENCY-STROBE-FLASHER-LIGHT-BAR-SD_W0QQitemZ150086560903QQihZ005QQcategoryZ67225QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This may be a dumb question, but is it possible to use this for my project? Im not making the LED's for an automotive application, they are going on a 1/24 diecast car?

Thanks again for your help,

Jonathan

[justDIY]

I wouldn't pay someone else $25+ for something I could do myself for a lot less.  Not to mention doing it yourself gives you total control on the effect.

As long as you can meet the voltage and current requirements of that module, there's no technical reason it wouldn't work in a toy car.

[Jonathan]

Thanks JustDIY, I really appreciate your help. I think I will try the PicAxe.

Jonathan