Hi all
Intro
I've got a bit of a project that I'm looking at, but my electronics knowledge is far from brilliant. I can follow a circuit diagram and such but when it comes to things like figuring out what sized battery, what kind of resistors I need, most efficient setup etc I haven't got a clue (I can practically see your eyes rolling at this point ).
So I figured I'd ask some help from people with a bit more idea what they're doing than me.
The Project
What I've got is a hollow, semi-pliable ball about 20cm across made of.. well, honestly I don't know. It's some kind of frosted plastic or rubber that is ludicrously tough.
This has been adapted to sit on the end of a staff, and the idea is I want it to provide light, a bit like a cross between a lamp post and a wizard's staff (previously I've just put a bike light into it and that works, but I want it to be *awesome*, not just 'work').
The Essential bits
1) It needs to give off a decent amount of light
2) It needs a standard on-off switch that I can feed through a hole to the outside of the globe
3) As the staff is detachable, it needs to somehow hold itself in place inside the ball
4) The light should be unidirectional
The Extra bits
1) Ideally I'd like two sets of lights, a 'dim' and 'bright' option
2) Even better would be another set of lights in green/purple to make an "Eye of Sauron" like effect on one part of the globe, just for laughs.
Ideas so far
I figure that one way of doing it will be to simply have three switches and three circuits running through it, one "Eye of Sauron" of coloured LEDs, one circuit of "Bright" ones and one circuit of "Warm" ones.
Relatively simple, but not especially efficient, especially since it'd probably involve three sets of batteries I'd assume.
Information/Advice Required
1) Is there a more efficient way of doing this than three separate circuits?
2) Any advice on battery to use, resistors, circuit, LEDs, etc?
Sorry this is all so vague, that's the issue with not entirely knowing what you're asking for I guess
Intro
I've got a bit of a project that I'm looking at, but my electronics knowledge is far from brilliant. I can follow a circuit diagram and such but when it comes to things like figuring out what sized battery, what kind of resistors I need, most efficient setup etc I haven't got a clue (I can practically see your eyes rolling at this point ).
So I figured I'd ask some help from people with a bit more idea what they're doing than me.
The Project
What I've got is a hollow, semi-pliable ball about 20cm across made of.. well, honestly I don't know. It's some kind of frosted plastic or rubber that is ludicrously tough.
This has been adapted to sit on the end of a staff, and the idea is I want it to provide light, a bit like a cross between a lamp post and a wizard's staff (previously I've just put a bike light into it and that works, but I want it to be *awesome*, not just 'work').
The Essential bits
1) It needs to give off a decent amount of light
2) It needs a standard on-off switch that I can feed through a hole to the outside of the globe
3) As the staff is detachable, it needs to somehow hold itself in place inside the ball
4) The light should be unidirectional
The Extra bits
1) Ideally I'd like two sets of lights, a 'dim' and 'bright' option
2) Even better would be another set of lights in green/purple to make an "Eye of Sauron" like effect on one part of the globe, just for laughs.
Ideas so far
I figure that one way of doing it will be to simply have three switches and three circuits running through it, one "Eye of Sauron" of coloured LEDs, one circuit of "Bright" ones and one circuit of "Warm" ones.
Relatively simple, but not especially efficient, especially since it'd probably involve three sets of batteries I'd assume.
Information/Advice Required
1) Is there a more efficient way of doing this than three separate circuits?
2) Any advice on battery to use, resistors, circuit, LEDs, etc?
Sorry this is all so vague, that's the issue with not entirely knowing what you're asking for I guess