[unusualelectronics] posted this animated LED snowflake. It has 61 LEDs, is controlled by a PIC microcontroller, and can perform about 30 different effects. The instructions are quite thorough, including diagrams for soldering and source code for the microcontroller.
You called the cops because someone stole one of your Christmas decorations?
Posted at 2:08 pm on Dec 3rd, 2008 by Bob
Man, I wish I had a security system like that. My sister’s friends always steal stuff off of our yard. But she denies it.
Posted at 2:22 pm on Dec 3rd, 2008 by X
we called the cops because the sucker kept stealing all of them the very first night we put them out after rebuilding them. You would have thought they would have learned that they are virtually useless without the control circuits, all they were getting was the perf boards with leds on them.
Posted at 2:34 pm on Dec 3rd, 2008 by mike
@mike
maybe he wanted them for parts. maybe he wanted to get back at you for catching him doing something illegal (logic fail). maybe he was just stupid and thought they would have control circuits. maybe he was just stupid. the world may never know.
Posted at 4:00 pm on Dec 3rd, 2008 by Cyrozap
“You called the cops because someone stole one of your Christmas decorations?”
What kind of stupid question is that?
Hell ya call the cops the b@stard is stealing from him.
on a side note, Bob can I get your home address?
Posted at 5:20 pm on Dec 3rd, 2008 by Mustt
Requesting a schematic for your grandfather’s starburst decorations, mike, plz.
For curiousity’s sake :)
Posted at 4:11 am on Dec 4th, 2008 by Fyre007
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This reminds me of some little LED star bursts my grandpa made to put on his bushes for christmas. they are really cool and simple, they basically just start from the center and explode out outwards. He uses a simple little 555 oscilator circuit to feed a pulse to a sequencer deal (a 4017 or 4011 or what ever that integrated circuit is), he can’t program for beans so he doesn’t use microcontrollers. the start bursts are awesome enough that someone was stealing them off his bushes, but the control circuit was inside the house so they weren’t getting the whole set up. we ran a super teeny tiny fine wire through each one of the perf boards they are on then put a voltage through the wire and when someone tries to get away with the LEDs the voltage is cut off and it trips a flood light under the eaves of the house and the perpetrator looks up and smiles for the camera. we got the sucker on camera, but the cops never could figure out who he was, and he never came back to try and take any more start bursts so our jerry rigged security system on them worked.
Posted at 7:45 am on Dec 3rd, 2008 by mike