Monday, July 4, 2011

ChaserDesigner - A professional approach for fancy light design

This project is published in July 2011 th issue of Electronics For You (EFY) magazine (Page no: 94 to 98) titled:"Microcontroller-Based Light Chaser". Thanks to EFY for publishing this. You can read full article from EFYmagonline or purchase one.

ChaserDesigner is a useful project for fancy light designer professionals  as well as enthusiast who want to make their own LED patterns while decorating home during festivals. It's hardware part is simple one which uses 8051(or any variants of 8051) and a handy software part based on Qt. In the GUI, you need to specify how the pattern appear on LEDs(or connected higher loads) and it will automatically generate the source code for 8051(in assembly language). Only you need to do is that, burn the program in to the micro and put it on the circuit. Then the LEDs start to glow in the designed pattern. This is very handy and there are some tools provided to easily make your own patterns. The software works in Linux, Windows, or MAC and hardware components chosen are almost ubiquitous. In case, if any component found unavailable, please comment, I will try to recommend any alternative if any. I have put source code,circuit diagram and all other associated diagrams free for download.

1. contents.zip - Article before published, circuit diagram, images etc.
http://www.4shared.com/file/MolWxWP_/content.html

2. chaserdesigner_src.zip - Software source code.
http://www.4shared.com/file/zY9fz6LF/chaserDesigner_src.html


3.chaserdesigner1.0.zip - Windows XP executable file
http://www.4shared.com/file/3WmVxoaF/ChaserDesiner10.html


4.videos.zip - videos describing, how to operate the software and hardware.
http://www.4shared.com/file/EagoltHS/videos.html


Note: Since it is published by EFY,  it is better to read this article in EFY to get more pretty article with PCB layout also.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

the link for chaserdesigner1.0.zip - Windows XP executable file
http://www.4shared.com/file/l3XNfVhR/ChaserDesiner10.html is not valid

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Anonymous
All links now corrected. Thank you for info.

lakhpat said...

last link till now not working.

lakhpat said...

your link of chaser Desiner1.0.zip is not working.......till now so correct it .

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to lakhpat
Thank you for feedback. But I didn't understand what is your exact problem. All links are valid and I have rechecked all. Can you specify which type of error is showing on your screen? Or do you mean you've successfully downloaded but can't unzip? or can't run? I expect your immediate reply.

vishnu said...

yeah all links are fine...could u please tell any requirements to run the designer software.When I open the exe file in windows xp,and when I click new/open nothing is happening..pls help me

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Vishnu:
I think the program is working without any problem in your computer. Before clicking New/Open button, enter the name of the project you want to open. If it is a new project, a blank project will open. Or if it is an already existing project will be opened. For more info, please download the video from the link. It will tell how exactly you need to operate the software.

vishnu said...

thanks for ur reply.....its working fine...great work

Pran said...

Hai Tom. I need to speak to you. Please send me your cell number at qrzdx@rediffmail.com

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Pran:
If you want to tell something useful to my readers, please put as comment. Or, If you don't want to reveal things to others, please contact me via email. I use email more frequently than my phone.

Anonymous said...

pls send project report on light chaser if anyone has...its urgent..plz reply soon....id is grvarora92@gmail.com

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

reply to grvarora92@gmail.com
Chaser circuits are of different types. For this project, I've no project report at all, but it is easy to make one yourself.

Anonymous said...

I read your article, thank you for such an article. i have some doubts.
in your article the led is either on or off. Is it possible to make the led on in dim state to bright and viceversa. is it possible to connect
32 led's in AT89s51 , if it is possible how your led matrix works with
6x6 matrix (although 4 led's are more).if it works how the circuit comes. thank you for the time and consideration.
by jim

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Anonymous
LED dimming is currently not possible. If I get free time, I may update it with such features.
I've already put other post for LED matrix display up to 16x16. Moreover, a new updated software will be published in a new post before the end of this year.

Unknown said...

i want to design a cheap chaser , without using microprocessor because i have to make my chaser cheaper, i give a thought to mechanical chaser but handling will become poor.. give me some ideas..

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Vandana Singh:
I wonder why you go for a Mechanical chaser. You can make an electronic chaser with or without using microprocessor in cost effective way and with more control. I can help you if you tell where exactly you face the issue.
I've stopped blogging in this site and if you have any queries, please commen in my new blog : www.tomkonikkara.in
Thanks,
Tom

සිලෝන් මොබයිල් said...

how can i use this for PIC16FXX series?

Unknown said...

How can i make 32 led chaser using this software

Unknown said...

I need. 2 led chaser work in dc

First one having 32 led and
Second one having 16 led

Is this possible
Using this software

Tom Varghese Konikkara said...

Reply to Nelson Antony : This version of software support up to 8 LEDs only. But using 8051 chip, you can make a chaser up to 32 channels. But I think, you have to code your own since this application may not be useful for your purpose.

Unknown said...

Is there is any way to add speed control to this curcuit using variable resister and 555 timer ic