10 LED sequencer using 4017 counter

[justDIY]

I just found this forum and this thread in particular caught my interest. What a great discussion!

Hi Matt, and welcome to the forums!

[seanyiya]

I just found this forum and this thread in particular caught my interest. What a great discussion!

seanyiya: Hopefully I didn't miss a link somewhere showing what you wanted your LED sequence to look like. Is this what you are describing?




Matt

That's exactly what I want....

[seanyiya]

right - i should point out ... that circuit looks overwhelming perhaps, but once you get it on a breadboard, you'll see it is very simple... I think part of what makes it look nasty are all those leds - but you've already got your LEDs built, so no problem there!  Really, there are just three connections to make between the two (or three) chips, and then power and ground for each chip ... then you can work with it just using a single LED for now, and when you're ready, add the transistors (IC3 and IC4) and connect in to your large led arrays.

hardware:
for the "raw" pic (not picaxe / stamp), you can build a programmer for under $5 or buy one for under $20
for the picaxe (and the stamp), you just need a serial cable and a 5v power supply, it is self programming

software:
for the "raw" pic, you need a compiler and an assembler ... I use software called Proton Development Suite, but there are a lot to choose from ... generally, the easier it is to use, the more it costs 

for the picaxe, you need the free software they have on their website.

for the basic stamp, it has an onboard interpreter which translates basic code directly into machine code, so you just write your basic in whatever editor you want, and upload it to the stamp

Would I be able to start program basic code pretty fast??
I took like Computer Scinese III AP in high school...
I don't know how I passed it....
I don't remember anything...

One last thing, before I jump on it... will I be able to adjust the speed using like potentiometer??
With the analog 10 sequence diagram, I can adjust the speed on the fly using the pot....
This vary important part....

[justDIY]

One last thing, before I jump on it... will I be able to adjust the speed using like potentiometer??
With the analog 10 sequence diagram, I can adjust the speed on the fly using the pot....
This vary important part....

so, you want to change the speed of your taillights while you're driving?  or were you using the pot to find a "good speed"?

in the case of changing speeds while driving, it would be easier in the digital world to use buttons, such as "faster / slower", but there are ways to interface an analog component such as a pot with a microcontroller.

in the case of finding a good speed, the nice thing about digital is nothing is set in stone, you can adjust different timing values inside the software as often as you need to, to get the exact effect you desire ... case in point, what if you want the effect to start slow and speed up toward the end, or vice versa, start fast and slow down as it reaches the end ... try doing that with a pot in the analog world

[seanyiya]

One last thing, before I jump on it... will I be able to adjust the speed using like potentiometer??
With the analog 10 sequence diagram, I can adjust the speed on the fly using the pot....
This vary important part....

so, you want to change the speed of your taillights while you're driving?  or were you using the pot to find a "good speed"?

in the case of changing speeds while driving, it would be easier in the digital world to use buttons, such as "faster / slower", but there are ways to interface an analog component such as a pot with a microcontroller.

in the case of finding a good speed, the nice thing about digital is nothing is set in stone, you can adjust different timing values inside the software as often as you need to, to get the exact effect you desire ... case in point, what if you want the effect to start slow and speed up toward the end, or vice versa, start fast and slow down as it reaches the end ... try doing that with a pot in the analog world

I would like to be able to find a good speed on the fly, without reprograming it...
How much of a modification I would need on the circuit you've made...

So far I've got everything put together and when I turn it on, all of them stay lit...
I guess I have to program it....
Get the programmer, pop the IC1 out and plug it on the programmer....
Program it (stamp it) and plug it back to the circuit board....

What would be easier?? picaxe or stamp??

[justDIY]

I would like to be able to find a good speed on the fly, without reprograming it...
How much of a modification I would need on the circuit you've made...

Just add one or two buttons, the rest is all done in the software.

So far I've got everything put together and when I turn it on, all of them stay lit...
I guess I have to program it....

most microcontrollers power up with their ports set to high impedance inputs, or high-z, the 595 on the other hand, probably initialize to random states, and thats what you're seeing with some of the leds lit and some dark.

Get the programmer, pop the IC1 out and plug it on the programmer....
Program it (stamp it) and plug it back to the circuit board....

What would be easier?? picaxe or stamp??

what chip did you go with?  I can't really make out any detail on your board there, or is that still the 4017 counter setup?

I'd go with the picaxe, it's cheaper than the stamp and much smaller in size.

[justDIY]

Here's the updated schematic, with the faster / slower switches:

Microcontroller Detail Area:


Large Version - Entire Diagram:
http://projects.dimension-x.net/pictures/ledseq/seq2_large.png

In this configuration, the normally open switches read as logic 1 ... when the switch is closed, it will read as a logic 0

What is done with this data is entirely up to the program ... most good high level languages have commands for dealing with switches ... in Proton Basic, the command is "button".

[seanyiya]

what chip did you go with?  I can't really make out any detail on your board there, or is that still the 4017 counter setup?

I'd go with the picaxe, it's cheaper than the stamp and much smaller in size.

I've got the 12F683, cause it has more memory....

Which picaxe do you recommand that would be good for beginner, but has good for more complex stuff for later.....??

[justDIY]

I've never used the picaxe, so I can't say which would be better ... most of the time, better equals more speed and more memory.

The 12f683 is a great chip with a large memory for the small size... you will need an flash programmer to talk to the chip.   Sparkfun.com is an easy to work with source for all things microcontroller, but they're far from the least expensive...  that being said here are a few options:

the ICD2 clone is a nock-off of Microchip's Flagship development tool the In Circuit Debugger 2.   The ICD2 is able to program just about every PIC there is.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=5

Here is an RS232 only version of the ICD2, even cheaper:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=6

A froogle shopper will check popular online auction sites for ICD2 clones, commonly from hong-kong.   RS232 and/or USB versions are normally in the $50 range.

Microchip offers a free development tool called MPLab, which works with the ICD2 to program your chips.   You write your code using assembly language, and MPLab helps you along.  When you're ready to test out your program, the ICD2 allows you to emulate the PIC of your choice, or you can download the code directly into a chip attached to the programmer.

Many people claim microchip assembler is "easy" ... there's only 35 or so instructions.   The downside to so few instructions means, you have to generate a lot of code, to perform seemingly simple tasks.  A common function is de-bouncing a switch input.   In BASIC, you need 1 command, in assembler you need at least 10.    Folks claim assembler is the only way to go for programming chips.   Perhaps back in the stone age, which chips were slow and memory was expensive, they were right... but today your average PIC easily runs at 20mHz and contains ten times the memory of yester-year... so the less efficient code generated by BASIC or C doesn't hurt as much as it did "back then."

[seanyiya]

What about these??

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Microchip-Compatible-ICD2-Debugger-and-Programmer_W0QQitemZ7620365071QQcategoryZ4661QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ICD2-Debugger-Programmer-Microchip-PIC-dsPIC-USB-Power_W0QQitemZ7612004592QQcategoryZ50915QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[justDIY]

The second one is good, but it is kind of misleading ... it's RS232 and just uses usb for power, although, a usb to serial converter could be used, then you just need 2 usb connections ... great price, shipping is even fair.

This one is true USB:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-ICD2-ICD-2-debugger-programmer-for-Microchip_W0QQitemZ7620159033QQcategoryZ50915QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[seanyiya]

I've order the RS232....
Hope I can program it.... 

[justDIY]

once you get the programming down, the LED blinker world will be your oyster ... and then you can get into fun stuff like throbbing / pulsing / seething LEDs, RGB color mixing, responding to external events, the possibilities are endless.

[seanyiya]

once you get the programming down, the LED blinker world will be your oyster ... and then you can get into fun stuff like throbbing / pulsing / seething LEDs, RGB color mixing, responding to external events, the possibilities are endless.

What da heck is throbbing, seething...??  lol

One thing I've concern with current setup....
I've try powering them on off on off on off.. repeatdly... some time it turns on and sometime it doesn't turn on...
Why does it do that??
I hope it doesn't that when I actually implement that... since turn signal will turn them on and off....

[justDIY]

So far I've got everything put together and when I turn it on, all of them stay lit...
I guess I have to program it....

most microcontrollers power up with their ports set to high impedance inputs, or high-z, the 595 on the other hand, probably initialize to random states, and thats what you're seeing with some of the leds lit and some dark.