This week I updated my concept drawing for my Neon LED Sign. I realized that the plexiglass shape behind the LEDs may look wonky if there is no sort of general shape. So I added a border to clean it up a little bit. I want to play around with some other border shapes to see if there’s something that catches the eye better. I am also thinking of swapping the red out for pink or purple in order to give it more of a neon effect.

Circuit

In order to achieve the animation effect, I started looking into different circuits that would flash different lights in a specified order. I originally imagined that a 555 timer would be useful for this effect. However after some research, I found this method to be a little too complicated. Instead I found a simpler circuit on Youtube that resembles a traffic light. It flashes through three different LEDs, allowing the customization of timing. As shown below, this circuit uses resistors and transistors to flick through the different LEDs, and capacitors for the timing. This specific circuit uses 100uF capacitors for each of the lights, except one which uses a 150uF capacitor and allows the green light to remain lit for a longer period of time.

Shopping List

• Neon LED Strips (Red, Yellow, Blue, White), lengths to be determined
• LED Strip Caps, to make the ends of my LED strips look clean
• Power Supply (12V, 2A), may need to change depending on how many LEDs are connected in the final design
• Circuit Supplies
  • Wires, to connect each circuit to each other
  • Transistors, BC547
  • Resistors, values to be determined
  • Capacitors, values to be determined
  • PCB Board, for me to solder the circuit and ensure that things don’t fall apart
• Plexiglass, for the base of the sign
• Glue, or something to secure the LEDs to the sign