If you look down on the top of the IC with the white wire at the top where the IC orient key is on the board, the immediate left pin will be pin one, with the right side pin = pin 8.

 

If you look down on the top of the IC with the white wire at the top where the IC orient key is on the board, the immediate left pin will be pin one, with the right side pin = pin 8.

Yes, or on the left of the half-moon.

 

Hi, thank you for your reply. Yes it seems so. I tried drawing a schematic myself (I am really a beginner at this), and do you think there's any chance you can somehow figure out what chip could be used for the same purpose in this scenario?

If I had to guess since it's an 8 pin chip runs with the others in that it's an ATTiny 85 or similar 8 pin micro-controller in an 8 pin dual inline package (DIP). Can you roll your own? Yes, certainly but while not difficult for someone not familiar with writing code it can be a challenge. Can you make the LEDs Fade In and Fade Out? Yes, again it's a matter of the code. Here is a basic overview. You will see references to an IDE. This explains and IDE. The Arduino IDE is just another IDE which makes things a little simple. Can what you are asking be done? Absolutely but not easily for someone just starting out. Another popular chip is a PICAXE 08M2 for applications like this. Nice part is many of these chips already have what is called a boot loader on the chip.

Ron

 

I think that there are errors in the schematic.
Two of the transistors are show without base current limiting resistors. There seems to be no pin on the 8 pin chip that is connected to supply negative.
A picture of the etch side of the board would allow us to confirm these errors and remove ambiguity over the pin numbering.
If my guess is correct as to which pin is connected to supply negative it is more likely to be a PIC than an Atmel device.
If an 8 pin device is available with 3 PWM modules it would probably make the software simpler.
To the TS, You need to write a flow chart of the EXACT sequence of the requited events in a similar fashion to below.

Start.
Fade red from 0% to 100% over a period of X seconds
Hold that state for X seconds.
Fade blue up from 0% to 100% at the same time as fading red down from 100% to 0% over a period
of X seconds.
..... and so on until the sequence repeats.
(X is the time of each step of the sequence.)
I assume that all the fading wil be done in a linear mode rather than logarithmic or some other mathematical relationship.
This flow chart will be the basis for writing the code to run in the microcontroller.

Les

 

Amazingly enough, there winds up being many more colors displayed than simply red, blue, and green. This makes the code sequence quite a bit more complex, because multiple duty cycles are changing at the same times.
But certainly generating a detailed sequence of operation is the first step. That is then followed by the detailed sequence of software I/O commands. So that really this will lead to a serious education in code generation, including subroutines and possibly branching. Probably a simpler scheme would be a memory table with duty cycle values for each PWM generator, that loads each set of values at some slow interval.

 

If you just have three variables that control the duty cycle of each color and increment the variables at the same rate but by three relatively prime constants, then the color pattern will cycle through a number of colors equal to the product of all three constants.

 

Hello.

I am a beginner with electronic stuff, but I did buy a Lava lamp not so long ago, which had led lights that change colors. However, I did not like that it changed colors so fast (about 2 seconds per color) and I would like to have it change much slower. I opened up the lamp to look at the circuit board but have gotten stuck and have no idea how it could be done.

Anyone that can help?

You can design your lamp newly. You can use a microcontroller/arduino and an RGB LED. Thus you will be able to produce lots of colors and shades by mixing Red, Green and Blue. You will also be able to control the time delay. If you are not familiar with Arduino, you can use 555 instead. In case you wanna make a PCB of your own, you can take a look here: https://pcbtracks.com/how-to-manufacture-pcb-at-home/

 

Hey everybody, I've been reading all your messages and all, thank you for being engaged and coming with information etc. I really appreciate it. But I must say I am a little puzzled in the sense that I don't know where to start or what to do anymore. I am starting to feel like I almost wanna send this circuit board to someone and have them do it for me for money. Anyone here up for that? This is gonna take ages to learn and stuff.. as someone pointed out, it's hard for a beginner. There's so much information and I don't know even know where to start anymore.

Or maybe if someone could make a simple step-by-step instruction with all the details, I could probably do it if I buy the right equipment etc.

 

Hey everybody, I've been reading all your messages and all, thank you for being engaged and coming with information etc. I really appreciate it. But I must say I am a little puzzled in the sense that I don't know where to start or what to do anymore. I am starting to feel like I almost wanna send this circuit board to someone and have them do it for me for money. Anyone here up for that? This is gonna take ages to learn and stuff.. as someone pointed out, it's hard for a beginner. There's so much information and I don't know even know where to start anymore.

Or maybe if someone could make a simple step-by-step instruction with all the details, I could probably do it if I buy the right equipment etc.

The cost to have that sort of design work done would be many times what you paid for the lamp, I am sure.
To create an adaption that would connect to the existing circuit board via the 8-pin mounting point of the present controller and interface with some small processor board is within the abilities of some who might be willing to do it for free. But the actual effort is not likely to be provided for free. But probably some participant will be willing to provide that information.

But we do not even have a clue as to the TS soldering skills, and creating even that simple interface will require a level of soldering skill that many folks lack.
OR, it may be that the TS is quite wealthy and can easily afford the cost. WE have no clue.

 

The cost to have that sort of design work done would be many times what you paid for the lamp, I am sure.
To create an adaption that would connect to the existing circuit board via the 8-pin mounting point of the present controller and interface with some small processor board is within the abilities of some who might be willing to do it for free. But the actual effort is not likely to be provided for free. But probably some participant will be willing to provide that information.

But we do not even have a clue as to the TS soldering skills, and creating even that simple interface will require a level of soldering skill that many folks lack.
OR, it may be that the TS is quite wealthy and can easily afford the cost. WE have no clue.

I have basic soldering skills. I am stable economically but I wouldn't say I'm wealthy, I'm not a millionaire. So paying someone a decent amount to simply create the adaption would be reasonable.

 

For someone to design what you require would first require you to write an EXACT specification of you requirements. I think paying for someone to redesign your existing lamp would cost more than buying a new lamp that met your requirements.

Les.

 

For someone to design what you require would first require you to write an EXACT specification of you requirements. I think paying for someone to redesign your existing lamp would cost more than buying a new lamp that met your requirements.

Les.

All I want is the colors to swap over a 7 - 10ish second period.

 

If you can find someone, somebody or a group in your area of the world that dabbles in small micro development, it should be easy to drop in a small 8 pin processor. to do the trick.
It could be a part of someone's learning experience!

 

If you can find someone, somebody or a group in your area of the world that dabbles in small micro development, it should be easy to drop in a small 8 pin processor. to do the trick.
It could be a part of someone's learning experience!

Trust me I'm trying but I can't find anyone lol. I am willing to send this across the world to make it done.

 

It means that much does it?
It might be something I could tackle, no guarantee of a time line.
Incidentally did you measure the voltage supply to the board, in particular the apparent supply to the IC?

 

It means that much does it?
It might be something I could tackle, no guarantee of a time line.
Incidentally did you measure the voltage supply to the board, in particular the apparent supply to the IC?

Yes one of my greatest weaknessess and strenghts is my stubbornness x)

As long as you get it done, I don't care if it takes months lol.
Yes 12 volts.

 

With another examination of the pictures showing only the component side of the circuit board, and looking at the drawing of the circuit that can not be fully correct, I see that there is a hope for salvation of the existing board and adding a small processor package of some kind and a suitable power supply to power both the processor and the LED/driver circuit. The processor will need to have at least three outputs capable of individual PWM control of an NPN transistor. The power supply will need to provide adequate isolation of the processor power feed from the mains.

Then there will need to be software written and loaded, and with the recommended supply it will be safe.

A caution that none of the circuit shown is at all isolated from the mains and so it is all a shock hazard as shown. But the suggested reworking will provide a safe system with no shock hazard.

 

@NoneOfTheAbove Send me a PM to continue offline if you want to pursue it with me to take a crack at it.

 

three outputs capable of individual PWM control of an NPN transistor..

What I read is just a longer sequence time is needed?

 

Adjusing any part of the functioning of a non-isolated mains-powered undocumented processor that has an undocumented program operating is bound to be a serious challenge.