Stairs light controller – project on demand

I got a request for a project on demand, and I agreed, because I can also use this device for something else 🙂 A few weeks ago, “someone” asked me to build a stairs-light-controller. He wanted to put 10 bright LEDs into the side of his stairs, and wanted the LEDs to go on/off automatically, when you go up/down the stairs. (and also taken into account if there is enough light in the room or not …)

About the request:

• He wanted the LEDs to turn on, one by one, in the upper direction, when he walks up the stairs.
• When he walks down the stairs, the LEDs need to be turned on, one by one, in  downwards direction.
• Sensor on top and bottom of the stairs, are my already designed, laser-beam cross detectors.
• When there is enough light in the room, the LEDs do not need to be turned on, only if it’s dark enough.
• When you go upstairs (or downstairs), and you change your mind, the LEDs go off about 2 minutes after this, starting in the middle.

Because I think other people are also interested in this controller, I made everything configurable. I created a small board, which I can put onto the main controller, to do some programming. A small 2×16 chars LCD and some pushbuttons makes life easier 🙂

When you put the programming board onto the main controller, a menu appears on the small LCD, the following parameters can be changed by the pushbuttons:

• number of outputs to use (min = 2 – max = 12, but if you have a small stair, I can imagine that you have enough with 6 outputs)
• time between LEDs to go on/off, in milliseconds. (min = 1 msec – max = 2 sec) the LEDs turn on/off smoothly/slowely, taking up the whole time between 2 LEDs.
• time-out value (to automatically turn off the LEDs – min = 1 sec – max = 240 sec)

As you can see, this is a highly configurable module 🙂 Please contact me for more info, or if you want me to build one.

Click here if you want to download the PCB design / firmware for the Stairs-light-controller
Click here if you want to download the PCB design for the laser sensor

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