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Around this time of year, most people are thinking about Christmas decorations. And most people just rock on down to the store and buy whatever is the “go” this year. By Ross Tester B ut wouldn’t you like your place to be just a bit different to your neighbours? How about a lot different! As technical people, you could set your heights a bit higher . . . like building your own unique display. For example, you could build one (or dozens!) of the mini Christmas tree we featured in last month’s (November) issue (www.siliconchip.com. au/Article/12086). Or perhaps build the infinitely-extendable Christmas tree from November 2018 (www. siliconchip.com.au/Article/11297). But with the big day now only about three weeks away (or less!) maybe you’ve left your construction run a tad late. So what to do? Of course, we have an answer for you. You’ll need only a few minutes of your time (truly!) and you’ll end up with a multi-colour display that you can not only place, well, wherever you like but you can change it whenever you like and, best of all, it certainly won’t break the bank. cellent one of those! Australian mailorder house Oatley Electronics (www. oatleyelectronics.com) sells this “kit” for the princely sum of just $18 (plus P&P of course!). For this, you get a 5m roll of RGB LEDs – there are three combination red, green and blue LEDs every 50mm, Oatley’s Bargain Lightshow The IT130PACK2 kit consists of a 5m roll of RGB LEDs, a 12V/5A switch-mode power supply, the infrared controller (at left) with its pushbutton remote control (at right), a connecting cable (one end plugs into the controller, the other you solder to the LED strip and even a CR2025 button cell for the remote control. It’s not specifically sold as a Christmas Light display – but it makes an ex104 Silicon Chip Australia’s electronics magazine so you are getting 300 LEDs (and their resistors) all mounted on a self-adhesive, continuous strip. Incidentally, if 5m is too long, you can cut off the required length of LEDs where marked on the strip. You could, in fact, just run one 50mm length if that floats your boat! siliconchip.com.au There’s an on-line Demo . . . +12V This shows just one 50mm section of the 5m RGB LED strip. You can cut the strip to any multiple of 50mm if you wish. 330 150 150 330 150 150 330 Want to see what this controller can do? Check out the video at https://youtu.be/ rgMIOyeNNK4 150 150 THREE RGB LEDS PER 50mm RED GREEN BLUE Each 50mm section contains the three multi-colour LEDs and associated resistors. The copper section is where you solder the wires from the controller –the +12V (which may be black or white[!]) and the red, blue & green control wires. The anodes of all three LEDs are connected to the +12V supply via suitable current limiting resistors. The LEDs are switched by connecting their cathodes to the negative supply (via pads on the strip). The full 5m string will demand about 1A per colour. Light up all LEDs at once (ie, R, G and B) and you’ll need a supply rated at 3A or so. But included in the price is just such a 230V mains supply: in fact, it’s rated at 12V, 5A, so there’s more than enough headroom. combinations to give a wide range of colours and flashing modes. Some of the modes are music or sound-triggered from the small electret microphone inside the controller. The LED controller simply plugs in to an adaptor cable which is soldered to the LED strip (we’ll look at that onerous task in a moment!). And just in case you think Oatley might have left something out, there’s even a CR2025 button cell included for the remote control so you don’t have to go searching for one . . . But wait, there’s more! Connecting it all together Now you could simply connect the LEDs like that permanently but it would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it? Or you could stand there and flick/ change colours manually (not!). Also included is a small infrared LED controller – complete with a 20-button infrared remote control. This allows you to set a variety of patterns and colour combinations and, obviously, can be changed at will by pressing a different controller button. As well as selecting static red, green and blue colours, you can also select Here comes the hard part – connecting it and getting it going. OK, we’re kidding: all you need do is solder the four wires (+12V and R, G and B control) to the LED strip. Just a quick word of warning here: as is common practice in Chinese goods, the positive wire is probably white – but in our case it was black! The other three wires are green, red and blue so it’s pretty obvious where they solder to. Be very careful that you don’t bridge between the contacts because you will either have no control over those two channels or in worst case, you might do some damage to the infrared LED controller. All you need do now is work out where you’re going to run your 5m strip. As we mentioned, the backing is self-adhesive (double-sided tape) so it can stick just about anywhere. Will it be around the tree . . . or up and over your front door . . . or along the patio or verandah . . . or Where from; how much We already mentioned it comes from Oatley Electronics (www. oatleyelectronics.com) with a cat no of IT130PACK2. The whole “kit” used to sell for $22.00 – a bargain in its own right. But get in before Christmas, tell them you’re a SILICON CHIP reader, and it’s yours for almost 20% off – just $18.00 plus P&P of $8.90 That’s a bargain of a bargain! SC Soldering to the LED strip: the +12V pad is clearly marked – get it right and you can’t get the rest wrong! Plug the adaptor lead into the controller lead (notice the X symbols line up to each other), plug in the power supply – and that’s it! MULTIFUNCTION WATERPROOF 250W MPPT SOLAR CHARGER SOLAR POWER SYSTEM 5V SOLAR PANELS Combines a 12V/10A/180W Solar PICK UP ONLY: One Used Large 250W Solar TWENTY 45 x 90mm PANELS (8W) + 4x 1A Schottky diodes: SP4590 $10 TEN 80 x 120mm PANELS (10W) + 4x 1A Schottky diodes: SP80120 $20 0.5M / 7W / 12V LED BARS FOR AS LOW AS $3.33 EA.! Panel Plus a Genuine 30A 12/24V MPPT Solar Regulator SAKO SC-M-30A. Will deliver 16/8A into a 12/24V Battery IT144..... $120 Available in Pure White, Warm White, and Blue Search for IT117 on our Website Regulator and a 220V/50Hz 500W Modified Square Wave Inverter, with a Universal Power Socket: Meanwell Power Supplies CLG-150-20A: 15-20V: 7.5A …. IT134 : $29 HLG=240H-24: 24V-10A: …....... IT135 : $29 HLG-185H-48: 48V-3.9A: …....... IT136 : $33 SP-100-12: 12V-8.5A …..............IT140 : $19 IT131.... $39 OATLEYELECTRONICS.COM TEL:0428600036 NEAR WOY WOY ON THE CENTRAL COAST OF NSW siliconchip.com.au EMAIL: branko<at>oatleyectronics.com Australia’s electronics magazine December 2019  105