i have three sets of christmas lights and what i wanna do is to chase each other in a way so i want 1 to turn on then one to shut off as 2 turns on then 2 to turn off as 3 turns on then 3 turn off as 1 turns on and so on. is there a device that i can buy or make that would have three plug ins and would do what i said above??
Good suggestion, much better than a 4017 and 3 relays :-)
You need a PC, Ethernet I/O Rack, and Wonderware. It wouldn't be too hard to set up and you could do it under $6000, easy.
You could ring up Wonderware and they would probably give you a break on the run-time key since it's Christmas and all.
Hope that helps. Ho Ho Ho.
Seems I remember T.J. Byers has shown how to do things like this in past issues of Nuts & Volts magazine. I think you can use 3 555 timers (timer #1 controls timer #2 which in turn controls timer #3) to output to 3 opto-isolators/triacs to turn on/off the Xmas light strings sequentially. Sorry that I can't provide a schematic. Sincerely,
John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@itd.nrl.navy.mil Naval Research Laboratory
4555 Overlook Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20375-5337
low cost light chase controllers are made for DJ disco lighting. try
or maybe
Just buy the lights that are meant for that purpose. All three strings will cost you less than $40.00.
Christmas lights are evil -
I woudl wager there is more time wasted, more swearing done, more injuries, and more families waiting to fidgiting because of those d___ lights than for any other single reason..
they have to be an evil chinese plot to destroy america.
and still I put them up and buy more....
I did that many years ago with 3 SSRs (solid state relays) and a GE Series 1 Jr plc. Not because it was cost efficient, but because it seemed like a fun project. From my experience, use 4 strings. 3 does not give a good chasing effect.
Anyway, check out the following. And quoting Elsie Hickham, "Just don't blow yourself up." :-)
I did that many years ago with 3 SSRs (solid state relays) and a GE Series 1 Jr plc. Not because it was cost efficient, but because it seemed like a fun project. From my experience, use 4 strings. 3 does not give a good chasing effect.
Anyway, check out the following. And quoting Elsie Hickham, "Just don't blow yourself up." :-)
Actually you need a 4017, 3 relays, 3 transistors, a 555 timer, 4 resistors, and a capacitor.
-Bill
I built one of these (4 channel) in a deep 4 square electrical box with 4 receptacles using SSRs for my wife's flower store window in the 80s. I saw it this week and it is still going strong. I used the "capacitor trick" power supply, no transformer.
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