light bulb connected to serial port

[Siraj Kutlusan]

Hello. Just for an experiment, I want to connect a light bulb to a serial
port and make it turn on and off with intervals and I want to use the
pyserial library for this. Could anyone give me some suggestions please?

 

[Tom Biasi]

Hello. Just for an experiment, I want to connect a light bulb to a serial
port and make it turn on and off with intervals and I want to use the
pyserial library for this. Could anyone give me some suggestions please?

I haven't looked at this site in a while but it used to be very helpful:
http://www.beyondlogic.org/serial/serial.htm

Tom

 

[Jasen Betts]

Hello. Just for an experiment, I want to connect a light bulb to a serial
port and make it turn on and off with intervals and I want to use the
pyserial library for this. Could anyone give me some suggestions please?

a serial port has enough power to operate a LED (light emitting diode)
with no external power source needed, if you need more light than that
how much do you need?

if pyserial supports toggling the DTR or RTS lines of the serial port
they could be connected to the LED via a 1K resistor, (connect the other LED
terminal to SG)

larger lamps can be controlled by using the serial port to operate some sort
of electrically operated switch... if you need details ask.

Bye.
Jasen

 

[Siraj Kutlusan]

I do not know electronics very well, so I will ask my friend about this.
What do you mean by a 1K resistor? Is this the universal name for what you
are talking about?

 

[Dr. Anton T. Squeegee]

Hello. Just for an experiment, I want to connect a light bulb to a serial
port and make it turn on and off with intervals and I want to use the
pyserial library for this. Could anyone give me some suggestions please?

Transitions on the serial port are fast enough, even at 110 Baud
(assuming your port will even go down that low), that the persistence of
a light bulb's filament will make it appear that the bulb either stays
on continuously or barely flickers at all.

If you're serious about doing this, it's much easier to just plug
an RS232 breakout box (with LEDs, of course) onto the serial port,
connect pin 2 to pin 3, cut the port down to its lowest available speed,
and fire away with a Fox or similar test pattern.

I will add that I don't really see the point of doing this
experiment, outside of illustrating that there is some sort of activity
going on. What, exactly, are you trying to demonstrate or accomplish?

Happy tweaking in any case...


--
Dr. Anton T. Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute.
(Known to some as Bruce Lane, ARS KC7GR,
kyrrin (a/t) bluefeathertech[d=o=t]calm -- www.bluefeathertech.com
"If Salvador Dali had owned a computer, would it have been equipped
with surreal ports?"

 

[Siraj Kutlusan]

I find electronics very interesting, and thought this experiment quite
suitable and cheap for a first experiment.

 

[Jasen Betts]

I do not know electronics very well, so I will ask my friend about this.
What do you mean by a 1K resistor? Is this the universal name for what you
are talking about?

fairly universal, the full name would be
"one kilo ohm resistor, one quatrter watt, 5 percent tolerance "

typically looks something like this

---{#####}---

with coloured bands. red,black,red,,gold ( , is a gap ,, is a wider gap )

Its purpose is to stop too much electricity from flowing through the LED and
burning it out, typical serial ports won't destroy a typiical LED rapidly.
you could leave the resistor out if you only intend to use the led
ocasionally.

 

[Deefoo]

fairly universal, the full name would be
"one kilo ohm resistor, one quatrter watt, 5 percent tolerance "

typically looks something like this

---{#####}---

with coloured bands. red,black,red,,gold ( , is a gap ,, is a wider gap )

For a 1k resistor this should be : brown,black,red,,gold ( , is a gap ,, is
a wider gap )

--DF