Could a relay be driven on the (+) and (-) sides of the circuit instead of the LEDs, driving a light bulb circuit? Ah, the possibilities...

Not really; a relay is a binary on/off device. The Interactive LED Panels are analog, and won't deliver a clean signal that could be used to control a relay.

Analog circuit output is more of a sine wave, while relay input should be a square wave, right? Is there any way to "twinkle" AC lights with this circuit?

There *are* ways, just not many simple or obvious ways. You might, for example, scale the input down and use it as input to a digital circuit, either a simple threshold comparator or a microcontroller with an ADC input and digital output.

I want to stay analog, it just seems wrong to introduce digital components... What if I stay DC but just want to step up the amount of light produced? To increase the output of each "light point" (of which there are 10 per sensor, 5 +, 5 - , i think) could I run 2 or 3 LEDs in parallel at each point as long as my power supply can handle the amperage? The point of this is a checkerboard type layout where each 12" x 12" tile lights up (corresponding to one LED on the kit board) in response to people walking across the area. Thanks!

Quote by: dayjerd

I want to stay analog, it just seems wrong to introduce digital components... What if I stay DC but just want to step up the amount of light produced? To increase the output of each "light point" (of which there are 10 per sensor, 5 +, 5 - , i think) could I run 2 or 3 LEDs in parallel at each point as long as my power supply can handle the amperage?

It's not just an issue of what your power supply can produce. If, for example, the LEDs are being driven off of digital I/O (DIO) pins of a microcontroller such as an AVR or PIC, then realize that each DIO pin can only supply some maximum amount of current which is far less than your power supply produces. Typical max. values for DIO pins on AVRs and PICs are around 20mA on the small chips and maybe 40mA on some of the larger ones (e.g., ATmega48). And, while I've not looked at the schematics for any of these light tables, I'd be surprised if the LEDs aren't being driven off of DIO pins. After all, that's how you do the nice fading and other effects with LEDs: by using a DIO pin and playing PWM games with the digital signal going out the pin driving the LED. (And that's why hooking a relay in in place of an LED won't work -- the relay won't like a digital signal which is oscillating off and on in the kHz freq. range.)

Dan

Dan is basically correct-- just because the power supply can handle more LEDs does not mean that the components can. The op-amps that control the LEDs cannot directly provide power to additional LEDs. It is possible, however, to add a push-pull output stage (basically a pair of transistors) to each of the outputs that connects to the LED strings, and that can be used to boost the current capacity. This is not a supported modification, but you're certainly welcome to experiment.

Quote by: Windell

Dan is basically correct...

But wrong in supposing it's DIO & PWM driving the LEDs. Just saw that the LED light table panels are analog.

Dan

Quote by: dnewman

Just saw that the LED light table panels are analog.

Dan

Yeah, that threw me the first time I made some mention about PWM and the tables. I still forget that they're analog every now and again. Maybe I just need to buy and assemble a few so that I can remember!

Quote by: squall_line

... Maybe I just need to buy and assemble a few so that I can remember!

Funny, that was my reaction too. Unfortunately, our coffee tables are all the display/curio case kind with my kids' rocks, snake skins, dead scorpions, and you name it in them. After a week, they'll be after me to not have the panels blocking the view of their prize findings. (And, besides, I enjoy looking at their findings too.)

Dan