Music LED/Color Organ LED Strips without micro-controllers

This is a project of mine for my Electronics subject. Well this schematic was a copy from the MAKE Magazine but I found out that there is an error on there schematic so I reconfigure it and this time I use LED Strips which pretty cool.

Step 1: Schematic Diagram

Here is the schematic and all the list of components are there in the schematic.

Extra parts are:

1pc – 4-pin terminal block

1pc- SPDT switch

1pc- DC connector.

Step 2: Assemble the parts

Once you gathered all the parts you can assemble it using PCB or like mine I use perf board.

Step 3: The terminal Block

I used terminal block to isolate the LED strips out from the main circuit. This a 4 pin terminal block, one pin for all the LED ground and the rest three pins are for the + connections from the collector of the PNP transistors.

Step 4: Potentiometer

This potentiometer is use to control the intensity of the light coming from the audio input.

Step 5: Finishing Touch

You can add DC connector and switch to the circuit.

Step 6: Troubleshooting

As I was working on this, I encountered some errors

Problem: The low pass is always light up.

Solution: ALWAYS recheck your connection if there were any short circuit and ALWAYS include the DIODE never forget to connect the diode. If you disregard that, the signal will flow back thus making your low pass LED light up.

Problem: Low powered light

Solution: Try changing your resistance and capacitance on each band pass filter. As of the circuit I’ve given, it works well for me.

What type of transistors?

I used NPN – TIP31C and PNP – TIP32C. These transistors are called power transistors, they can sustain higher current. If you don’t have these transistors, try to search for another as long as they are power transistors and PNP-NPN

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