This LED candle runs from a PIC 12F675 and is powered by 4 AA batteries to make up a 6 volt power supply with a 1N4148 diode that has a 1 volt voltage drop to turn it into the 5 volts that the PIC requires. The LEDs used were 15,000mcd to make the “flame” very bright. Check out the parts list and circuit diagram at the link below.
28 thoughts on “Build an LED candle that flickers”
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I just want to point out the mcd rating is light per unit area at a certain distance. So taking the same LED and focusing it more can drastically increase the mcd rating. This is why “superbright” LEDs have such a narrow viewing angle.
The LEDs on this project look like they have a translucent package so they’d be very diffuse (which is what you’d want for this project). But how can it have such a high mcd rating?
Just in time for Christmas
and lesser holidays!
@Phil – come on, that last comment was very offensive to a lot of people.
Yo to The O:
As a confirmed comments crawler, I am familiar with your “on probation” status.
But I do agree. That is an incredibly insulting comment. Maybe honest and sincere from the writer, but having no merit here.
also… ‘@PT’ is preferable to ‘@Phil’- often diminutive forms of a person’s name irritate them on a basic level, especially when they always seem to use their full name. Jes sayin…
@volkemon – I have never meant any offense to Phillip by saying @Phil. If he ever took it in any condescending way I very sincerely apologize and I hope he will reply and clarify.
As far as the on probation status, it’s easy enough to use a different name, I don’t even have an account, and I log in from so many different place (and have dynamic IP’s), that I doubt it’s really possible to block someone.
I am behaving and continuing to post under “The Oracle” rather than hiding under a new alias out of genuine respect for PT, not fear of the probation.
As for the original topic, I’ve never insulted anybody’s race or culture, and that comment is way over the line.
Oh wow, I completely apologize for duplicating the first line in the title. I don’t comment a lot and didn’t realize how annoying that would be. Please don’t take offense; I’ll try not to do it again.
Is it possible to make a cheap circuit to fade between 3 leds
?
Thanks
Joe
I’ve tried twice today to email the author (without success), is there any chance of anyone posting the (compiled) HEX file? The source is there on his site, but for a beginner like me it’s a bit complicated compiling it.
I’ve had a reply from the author, he says he will email the HEX file to me. I guess it’s worth emailing and asking for the file if you need it. I would post it here, but I’m not sure that would be fair or proper.
Alex.
After some reading and installing of compilers, I got the code to compile using mikroC and it works well. I did not need to take-up the author’s offer to send his HEX file to me.
I figured I would update this for any makers who want to hook this up for Halloween.
I am a noob when it comes to PIC programming so I hope this helps others like me a bit.
First you need a PIC programmer. I went on Ebay and found one for $20. It is USB powered and worked like a charm for this project. I won’t include a link because the specific one may just disappear. Just search for PIC programmer 12f675. Think in to the future a bit if you intend to do more programming of chis and choose one that can program multiple chips.
Next, getting the code to HEX was a bit more of a challenge. GCC would not compile the code complaining of the missing pic.h. And mikroC also failed me. To solve this you will want to get 2 free pieces of software.
MPLAB IDE here:
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en019469&part=SW007002
And in addition you will want to get the HI-TECH C Compiler (Lite) from here:
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1406&dDocName=en535448
*Make sure to follow the included instructions in the Quickstart Guide for setting up the MPLAB IDE to use the compiler.
Make a new source file from the above code. You need one small change.
Instead of:
main()
You want:
void main()
That’s it. Build the project and you will have the HEX file. I would be happy to send this HEX file to anyone that needs it.
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This LED candle runs from a PIC 12F675 and is powered by 4 AA batteries to make up a 6 volt power supply with a 1N4148 diode that has a 1 volt voltage drop to turn it into the 5 volts that the PIC requires. The LEDs used were 15,000mcd to make the “flame” very bright. Check out the parts list and circuit diagram at the link below
The link for this comes up as an Error message; file not found. Is there somewhere else we can find the circuit diagram?
The link for this article is broken, when I click on it I get an error message; file not found. Is there anywhere else I can find the circuit diagram for this?