Hi everyone... I'm making diorama garages and need a fast blinking white LED to look like an arc welder spark/light. I already got the flickering one for wood heater... but need a faster one (White) Any idea? One of my diorama is visible @: http://youtu.be/JRwFSu-jSjw

 

Googled: diarama welding arc
http://www.cgs.synth.net/other/arcwelder/arcweld.html
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/welding.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bByLPm9Kwwk
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=47831.0
http://www.jimsmodeltrains.com/servlet/-strse-260/Arc-Welder-Digital-Sound/Detail
http://www.ngineering.com/lghting%20effects%20for%20the%20railroad.htm
More in the search.
Ken

 

Thanks Ken that's light speed reply

 

Alas I haven't found anything cheap or small enough...

 

No spec in your post about how cheap or how small.

Ken

 

How about this? It produces pseudo-random bursts of light with a ~15Hz flicker.
The component values are suited to a 5V supply but only R5 would need to be changed for other voltages. Could be built smaller than a matchbox (excluding power supply).

 

I like Alec T's circuit. Just remember to put real good bypassing on the power supply or the oscillator sections will try to sync to each other. I would use both a 4.7 uF and a 0.1 uF cap from +5 volts to ground.

 

At 1:24 scale, I'd use plastic optical fiber as the welder lead to pipe the light in from the LED.

http://i-fiberoptics.com/eska-fiber-cable.php

 

I the a reason that the "control module" can't be remote, hidden outside the diorama, and the power to the display LED be a tiny pair of wires? And you will need to deal with power wires for any modules.

Ken

 

At 1:24 scale, I'd use plastic optical fiber as the welder lead to pipe the light in from the LED.

http://i-fiberoptics.com/eska-fiber-cable.php

This is a good idea but an easy way to do this is to heat the dome of two LEDs, stick them together, the immediately pull them apart to make a string of plastic. Mount the LED with the longest string to your project.