Hi everyone,

I am new to the forums and I was told that this is the best place for all information on electronics.

BACKGROUND:
I am actually pretty new to electronics, the only knowledge i have is basic circuitry from school as well as about 3 months worth of research on the internet. Currently I have been playing with a breadboard at home (I will explain more in a bit) and I understand how all of that works. However, I have hit a road block and I am hoping that someone would be be able to help me out. Just for the record, I have done a search on the forums, but could not find anything that would help me out specifically.

PROJECT:
The premise of the project that I am working on is a portable rechargeable fan with 3 speeds. For instance, you click button 1 and the fan is on high speed and 3 LED lights go on. You push button 2 and the fan is on a medium speed and 2 lights go on. You push button 3 and the fan is on a low speed and only one light goes on. and if you push any of the buttons again then the fan goes off. Then a third LED will show the level of charge. I am trying to run this portable fan on a 9-12v rechargeable battery (if possible). I am running into problems with how to wire this project on my breadboard for these 3 switches to do the actions listed above. I will list the components that I am using in the next section. I am already looking into microcontrollers that i have read in other parts of this forum, however, I am still open for suggestions.
The second part of my project is to create an induction charger (plug into the wall) which will also act as the fan's stand. Kind of like how an electric toothbrush works. I have no idea where to begin for this part of the project.

COMPONENTS:
Since I don't have the components in front of me right now, I will do my best with the details.

LEDs 3v.
9v Battery
Battery Case
1 Motor
3 DPDT pushbutton switches (on-on)


I will try posting pictures a little bit later of my set-up if that would help you guys to understand.

Thanks for the help!

BR14

 

You might consider a single switch that toggles from fast to slow and then off/on. That's exactly how my ceiling fan works, for instance, and could simplify things. I think you would then use a counter IC to convert the switch events into different actions.

I don't know either how those electric toothbrushes work but it's not a big leap from that to a fan. You might want to sacrifice one and make a prototype from it.

 

If you're talking about a 9v "transistor" battery, then don't expect much run time out of the fan; the LEDs alone are enough to drain the battery plenty fast.

 

I am using a regular 9v battery. This setup is just for testing purposes to try to get everything working. I eventually would like to and have been highly suggested to use a microcontroller to program everything. In addition to using a single sided pcb for my final product.

 

Wayneh: I thought about doing that, however, my fan is portable and that setup would be too big.

Thank you both for responding to my thread. Just as an update, I went and ordered an arduino board, thinking that it will make everything easier. Would someone help me out with a schematic please? Thanks in advance!