VU meter tower. need advice

[singed5059]

I have the tower it self built already and it can be viewed in the attachment. The design is based off this vid:

LED VU Meter - YouTube

I was wondering what are all the components I need to fit it with. I heard about the LM3916 circuit but dont understand how to apply it to a tower. I also heard that arduinos are good to use and am willing to program.

All in all I was looking for someone more experienced then myself to give me a play by play on everything I would need to buy to make this come to formation.

 

[Enzo]

Look up Conn Dynalevel. It is a tube version of something similar. I have rebuilt a few and even have one in the shop right now. Won;t help you build your thing, but you might find it interesting.

Conn Dynalevel - YouTube

 

[mickeymoose]

singed:
You need to answer a few qs:
What is your budget?
How many colums (frequency level indication)?
How many LEDs each column?
How bright?
AC or DC
Wats your electronics capability?
etc, E

 

[LAJ]

I would go with a driver chip that has hysteresis. The first youtube one doesn't have it, but the Conn Dynalevel looks like it does. (The LM3916 doesn't have it built in but I have seen a design with an opamp front end that accomplishes it.)
The Samsung KA2288 does have it but its only 7 LEDs.

 

[singed5059]

experience: I can do basic breadboard work. i can soder for example if i could modify some prebuilt board. I know how to program an arduino. I can solve for voltages and currents and resistance according to my B+ in circuits class .

Budget: 80$ ish

Ten columns, with one pretty bright led each to disperse throughout the frosted
12 inch by 4 inch plexiglass

LED brightness: Not sure how how the lumen unit scales in regards to brightness when purchasing without seeing them in person.

AC current

 

[mickeymoose]

Here is a circuit from an old German mag that should do the trick. The beauty is that you can add LEDs(for brightness) as each row/column is driven be a transistor. Seeing that you have a guitar in the pix you may want to adjust the frequency bands to the output of that instruments (no need to have 31 or 16kHz displays) E

 

[singed5059]

looks fun haha and thank you. can circuitry like that be done on a bread board? And where is a good place to obtain the components?

 

[mickeymoose]

Yes it can. Parts from Digikey, Moser, Jameco and many other suppliers. Have fun! E

 

[singed5059]

also is there a name for the entirety of the circuit?

 

[singed5059]

and also what is the entire function of the circuit hah. I feel like it does much more than just flash 10 leds ^^. The german language is confusing.

 

[singed5059]

http://www.instructables.com/files/orig/FX5/67GS/FLROK12R/FX567GSFLROK12R.gif

Im wary of instructables, but this looks really simple and I have seen it referenced in a lot of peoples vu meter projects.

Does this look viable as all I would need for my project?

 

[epicyclic]

Answer to thread 10


It will give you a bar graph display of 10 frequencies , 10 freqs x 10 vus = total of 100 leds.

 

[sjh327]

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzY0OTIzNzQw.html

 

[sjh327]

TA7318P [TA7318] PEAK POWER METER DRIVER

 

[dangus]

Real Time Analyzer.

Popular Electronics magazine published plans for a portable version back in 1979: see my post here http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digi...ble-spectrum-analyzer-project.html#post900827 It's very slightly possible that Goldline would sell you a bare circuit board or something (stuffed board from an obsolete revision?), which would save a lot of work.