this is an example of what i meant by adding resistors across channels (in this case R1-R11) in #57.
result is similar to using capacitors but it affects both lead and trail edges and it is dirt simple to size and add.

View attachment 369338

All I can say is wow!

 

Ok, so I want to replicate a Cylon "EYE" scanner from Battlestar Galactica. I know I can do it with a 4017/555 circuit, or a microcontroller, but I would like a circuit that is RELATIVELY faithful to the original design, and made with components available in the 70s when the series debuted. There is very little info on this as most of the original helmets were trashed, but here is what Google tells me :

The original Cylon eye circuit from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica was an analog scanner built using discrete components. Instead of LEDs, it utilized 32 tightly spaced miniature incandescent bulbs that sequentially lit up and faded to create an animated, sweeping trail. [1, 2, 3, 4]

How the Original Circuit Worked
The scanner used a split-voltage power supply to manage the bright bulbs—driving 16.8V to the lamps while supplying 8.4V to the circuit, which was regulated on-board. The bulbs were wired so that as a new bulb powered up, the previous bulb faded out, giving it a persistence-of-vision sweep. The entire apparatus was mounted in a black resin holder behind the helmet's visor. [1]
Because the original design used traditional incandescent bulbs, these scanners generated significant heat and required a cumbersome camera battery belt, which made the Centurion suits notoriously uncomfortable for the actors. [1]

The reason why I want a original circuit because I can get my hands on an original helmet, and I would like an original circuit to go with it (the original circuit and bulbs are long gone.

Thanks in advance for any help

As an old self taught electrical engineer, who worked himself into being the Chief Engineer at a radio station in a Top 15 radio market, I have an opinion.

In the 70's, electronics guys were nerds, and nobody wanted to deal with them. Unless you were IBM, NASA, Control Data, or Cray Computing. However those nerds had their own ideas of where to go and what to do. Some of the places that they went was the TV/Film industry.

Let me just say that low budgets, short time lines, and a wealth of knowledge from reading 40's and 50's electronics magazines, made some of those most iconic actions come to life.

Reading your original post, I just had to think of an old project that I read about.

Then, when reading about (and remembering in my mind's eye) how the Cylon's eyes did build and fade as they scanned, I was nearly sure about how the physical effect was done.

As far as the lights go. You/They said multiple incandesents. Maybe. Maybe not.

What if you look at this with the old "grain-o-wheat" type neon bulb?

That would also work, being controled by the voltages that you (or someone) quoted.

Heavy battery packs? Hell yeah.

The reason that the Cylon Warriors had ammo belts? Hell Yeah.

AND it would easily account for the phase in/phase out of the display elements.

 

Welcome to AAC.

What if you look at this with the old "grain-o-wheat" type neon bulb?

Hmm. In my experience :grain of wheat" lamps were exclusively tungsten incandescents. I can't find any reference to a neon lamp being called that. In fact, in one place it suggested using "either a neon or a grain of wheat lamp".

I'm 90% confident that GoW lamps were only tungsten but would readily concede if an example could be brought.

AND it would easily account for the phase in/phase out of the display elements.

This seems backwards The long attack and decay is typical of an incandescent lamp as it takes time to heat and cool the filament. A gas discharge lamp has a simple threshold where it ionizes and produces light... or doesn't. It does require more to start than to maintain, but when you remove the current there is nothing left to produce light like the glowing filament of the incandescent.

 

My only beef with GOW bulbs is the lifespan, my basic niche as a hobbyist is lighted displays going back 5 or more decades and my experience with GOW bulbs was not what I would call a good one. (oh yea, those little buggers can get really hot as well)

I thanked my lucky stars when high power LEDs came on the market (but in the early stages their reliability wasn't anything to write home about either) but they became reliable in pretty short order.

 

You can proceed with 32 grain-of-wheat incandescent lamps. Use TO-92 transistor drivers throughout. Add 2N2907 transistors where needed. Choose carbon-film resistors and polyester capacitors. Use an LM723 or 7808 regulator. Build on a single-sided phenolic PCB. Route traces by hand. This closely matches the period style.

 

You can proceed with 32 grain-of-wheat incandescent lamps. Use TO-92 transistor drivers throughout. Add 2N2907 transistors where needed. Choose carbon-film resistors and polyester capacitors. Use an LM723 or 7808 regulator. Build on a single-sided phenolic PCB. Route traces by hand. This closely matches the period style.

Thank you, Im so old that thats just the way I work