Blinking parol star: 30 warm LEDs, a 555 timer and a MOSFET on 12 V
🧰 Starter build: made to be remixed. Open your own copy, change it (another battery, a brighter LED, your own idea), and publish your version: it links back here, and it’s yours.
Remix it and make it yours ▸Open in the lab ▸
The parol, the Filipino Christmas star, lit with LEDs that blink by themselves. A 555 timer runs as an astable at about one flash a second (R1 10 k, R2 68 k, C1 10 µF: f = 1.44 / ((R1 + 2·R2)·C1)), and its output switches a logic-level MOSFET that carries the LED current. Thirty warm-white 2835 LEDs, each with its own 220 Ω resistor, run straight from a 12 V adapter: about 40 mA each, 1.2 A in all, about 14 W when lit. Remix it: change R2 for a slower or faster blink, add a second 555 and MOSFET for an outer ring that blinks out of step, or swap the adapter for a 12 V battery and a solar panel for a parol that lights up on its own at dusk.
What is on the bench
20 parts, 29 wires.
| Resistor | 4 |
|---|---|
| DC adapter | 1 |
| 555 timer | 1 |
| Electrolytic capacitor | 1 |
| Ceramic capacitor | 1 |
| N-channel MOSFET | 1 |
| LED board | 1 |
Built for real
Nobody has posted a real build of this one yet. Be the first!
Comments
⚠️ Mains wiring, big batteries and solar arrays can hurt you. Comments are other makers’ experience, not checked by the lab: check advice against the datasheets and your local electrical code, and report advice that looks dangerous. Be kind: community rules.
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Put it on your page
The project runs live inside the frame: readers can press buttons, turn knobs and read the meters.
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Link
https://zencircuitlab.com/p/zclparol
Published by its author under the lab's community terms: it may be opened, copied and changed by anyone. Simulation results are for learning; check a real build against the parts' datasheets.