Led breathing

[Chemically]

so i have these nice leds but i want to do a breathing effect do anyone know how to go about that

[SImoHayha]

breathing effect you mean like fade in and fade out ?

[Crowes]

I think it's a software thing. Giving the LEDs a gradually increased amount of power and then gradually lowering it to create a "breathing" effect. Not too sure, though.

[Zubkover]

Make yourself a pedal with voltswitch from 0 to 13V, lol.

[Mojo-Jojo]

so i have these nice leds but i want to do a breathing effect do anyone know how to go about that

Look up something called PWM - Pulse Width Modulation.

By varying the width of your "on" vs your "off" with a frequency of hundreds, maybe thousands of times per second, you can alter how brightly the LED lights up.

[Chemically]

Okay

[Chemically]

But is there a simpler solution

[Chemically]

Like a controller

[Mojo-Jojo]

But is there a simpler solution

Any controller will either use a DAC to directly control the voltage or PWM. 

I think your best bet is to use a 555 timer IC, known and used by hobbyists for years.

It allows you to create simple circuits for this kind of stuff.

 

http://www.pcbheaven.com/circuitpages/555_Breathing_Pulsing_LED/ is an example of one such circuit; a breathing LED using a 555 kit.