RGB Kittys

Back in 2007 I stumbled across a house decoration that had fading RGB lanterns high lighting a path to the front porch.   John Chapman of Engineering Solutions Inc Developed a suite id LED Based RGB Pixel projects/products.  the one that particularly inspired me was Point Sources.

Not knowing anything at all about PIC, it was then I decided to make an AVR equivalent unit wit ha couple of variations.  These shots are the finished products. There are a couple of options for the LEDs, a single 4 pin Common Anode RGB LED or 3 separate LEDs.  the whole unit runs of 5Volts.  the LED current are limited to about 20mA each, as per the AVR AtTiny2313 specification.

The RGB Kitty Schematic is available for reuse.

By shorting X3, the controller goes into Address mode and sets the DMX Start Address to the DMX Values of (Ch1 + Ch2).

Panel of 10 Kittys - Front

Panel of 10 Kittys - Rear

Why Kitty?  When designing these I always wanted them to be more than pixel sources, as Pixel conjures up images of small point sources of light.  I wanted Ping-Pong ball sources of diffused light.  As I was nearing competition of the circuit design, my cat’s eyes caught my attention.  ( I know I am hopeless cat person) Thus Kitty Eyes became the project name.  that eventually was shortened to RGB Kittys

For Sale.

I have about 100 (10x panels) Version 1 boards left from the first run.  These are available for sale.

 

 

Version 2

Version 2 in planning phase.

I intend to make the following changes:

  • Add a 78l05 voltage regulator ( probably a SOT-223 case as they appear to be the best priced units currently
  • Replace X3 wit ha SMD switch, AND add a track to pin5 of X1 &X2.
  • Change X1&X2 spacing to 0.1′ spacing
  • Reduce the size significantly and rationalise the SMD component positioning

 

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