Ok, i'm putting 3 strobe lights in my grill, 2 red and 1 blue. They will all be wired to 1 relay so i can turn them on all at once, i want the 2 reds to flash at the same time, then have the blue lights flash, then the reds again. So i need to somehow delay the power to get to the blue strobe 1/2 a second later and continue as normal. What do i use to do this, or is there some kind of circut i have to make or somthing?

 

How long do you want each Light flash before the next color flashes?

 

The lights are preset to flash 2 flashes per second, so if the next one is 1/2 a second behind, it should be starting just as the other is stopping.

 

http://www.discovercircuits.com/S/strobe-lite.htm

 

Umm, i really didnt see anything on that page that was what i was looking for, unless i missed it.

 

Did you scroll down and look at the hyperlinks on the left side of page to what you need to know?

 

Yeah i looked, didnt see anything which i'm looking for. Let me refrase the question. I'm going to have 3 strobes hooked up to the same power source, when i turn on the power all 3 lights will start flashing at a nonadjustable rate of 2 flashes per second. They will all flash at the same time, i want to delay 1 of the strobe lights flashes by half a second, how can i do this? It needs to be somthing that will keep the power from getting to the strobe light for 1/2 a second. I wish i knew more about electronics....

I dont need a strobe controller, thats allready built into each strobe, all you have to do is connect them to a power source and they'll start flashing. All 3 of them are on the same switch, i just want somthing i can put in the wire of one of the strobes that will delay the power for 1/2 a second. So the red ones start flashing, then the blue ones start up half second behind the red ones

 

The only place I can think of that you will be able to get a timer, without building your own, is from an industrial place like www.grainger.com. But what I would do first is hook up the red ones together, and turn them on and off, and then leave them running awhile to see if they stay in sync. I am thinking the start-up of the timing circuits in the lights themselves, may not be consistent enough to where you can turn the blue one on later, and the timing will be as you want it.

 

that would be best and the easiest answer, all i can do is cross my fingers, i think they're coming friday

 

Ok just for laughs i bout a 100uF Electrolytic Capacitator with radial leads and 35WVDC. I'm going to hook up a 100K ohm linear taper potentiometer to controll the resistance up to 100k ohms, i'm goign to connect that in front of the capacitator, so it will build up to 12 volts then send the electricity to the light, theroretically do i have this nailed, or do i have any flaws?

 

How many amps do these lights draw? If you had a 1 watt potientiometer,

watts= amps x voltage

1 watt= ?amps x 12 volts

amps = 1/12 or .083 amps. So your lights would have to draw less than an amp for a small potientiometer. Doesn't sound right to me.

 

Red and blue strobes, eh? Isnt that very much ILLEGAL? Ha... I have the same things on my ranger... All I can say is be careful with them. Well anyway, I wanted to do the same thing you are thinking of; alternating the flash sequence. I have two reds and two blues. So first I put the blue ones in and I figured if each strobe had its own switch, I could manually alternate the flashes by turning on one strobe then the other. Didnt happen. The stobes have different flash delays by maybe a couple tenths of a sec. So they altenate by themeselves. One is slightly faster and so for one or two flashes they are together, then they alternate for about 4 to 5 seconds then flash together again. So I just put both of them on one switch and the red ones on another switch and they all flash pretty much randomly. But they dont flash in sync, they do alternate on their own. Its gonna be hard to control them how you want unless you are quite knowledgable in electronics and are prepared to spend some time being frusterated. I dunno if that helps or not.... I think Im going to get the professional law enforcement strobes but theyre something like $250 for a set of four. Im not sure if its worth it....

 

"One is slightly faster and so for one or two flashes they are together, then they alternate for about 4 to 5 seconds then flash together again. So I just put both of them on one switch and the red ones on another switch and they all flash pretty much randomly."


That's what is was afraid of. The timing is not accurate enough. What I think they are doing is charging up a flyback circuit with a coil in the strobe light. They charge this thing up, and then it zaps the strobe with a pretty high voltage to make it flash.

 

Ok, thanks for all the info guys, Now that i know that i wont monkey with a delay at all, i just dont want all of them flashing in the same sequence all the time, it doesnt bother me if its together for a couple of flashes, and they will never be used while driving, only for show and stuff, i really dont want a ticket. The cops around here are pretty **** about that stuff, they were confinscating those "tire flys" from cars at the High school parking lot not too long ago