Solutions informatiques
HAVE FUN AND LEARN
ABOUT:
-Visible and invisible light
-Additive colors
-Subtractive colors
-Color screen technology
-Color printing
-LED principles
-Voltage and current
-Switches
-Resistors and color codes
-Printed circuit boards
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A GREAT GIFT IDEA
FUN FOR KIDS
EDUCATIONAL
REALLY WORKS
BRIGHT LIGHT
VISIBLE CIRCUIT
MADE IN CANADA
FUN AT NIGHT
FUN WHILE CAMPING
FUN AT HOME
3 - AAA BATTERIES REQUIRED, NOT
INCLUDED
-ALSO AVAILABLE IN KIT FORM TO BE
ASSEMBLED BY USER
RGB FLASHLIGHT
PRE-ASSEMBLED
User manual
RGB701AE
Solutions informatiques
IMPORTANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS :
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AGES 5 AND OLDER ONLY
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CHILDREN MUST BE SUPERVISED BY AN ADULT
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LIGHT FROM BRIGHT LEDS (LIGHT EMITTING DIODES) CAN DAMAGE YOUR EYES; NEVER LOOK
DIRECTLY AT THE LEDS WHEN LIT.
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REMOVE BATTERIES WHEN NOT IN USE
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PLASTIC BAGS ARE NOT A TOY; KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN
About AMD designs
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Thank you for buying Canadian, by doing so you are supporting local businesses and
the Canadian economy.
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These kits are designed and assembled in Canada and create jobs for Canadians,
possibly your neighbors.
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Questions or comments, contact: sales@amddesigns.ca
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Thank you for your support.
AMDdesigns.ca
Interesting facts about light and color:
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Light travels at a very high rate of speed, close to 300 000 000 m/sec. At this speed, you
could travel from earth to our moon in less than 2 seconds.
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Light is an electromagnetic wave much like the radio signals captured by your F.M. radio,
only at a much higher frequency. Both travel at the same speed and act quite the same
way.
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Our eyes can only see a very small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the visible
light range. The lowest frequency we can see is red, the highest is violet. You can see this
rainbow of colors by looking at the bottom of a Compact Disc or DVD.
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Colors at a lower frequency than red cannot be seen by the human eye, but can be just as
bright. This color is called infra-red meaning less than red, and is used where light is
practical but we don’t want it to be visible, for example in remote controls, fiber optics,
sensors and even nighttime baby monitors.
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Colors at a higher frequency than violet are also not seen by the human eye but can be
very bright. Much of the light from the sun is in this range and causes burns on our skin.
This color is called ultra-violet meaning more than violet. We must protect our eyes and
skin from high intensities of this form of light, by using UV filtering glasses and suntan
lotion.
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Light colors can combine to give us different colors of light, just as combining two pigments
of ink gives us a different ink color.
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Your portable telephone’s screen, your tablet, your computer monitor and your televisions
only produce 3 colors of light; red, green and blue. By combining these 3 colors, you can
produce any visible color.
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Color printers and copiers also use only 3 colors to produce images; yellow, cyan, and
magenta.
AMDdesigns.ca
Solutions informatiques
Additive colors
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Color monitors like the one on your computer produce only 3 colors of light, Red Green and
Blue, same as this flashlight.
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By changing the intensity of each of these 3 colors, monitors produce every color of light in
the visible spectrum.
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At full intensity, these 3 colors combined will produce white light
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Red and Green only, you’ll see yellow.
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Red and Blue only will produce magenta.
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Blue and Green only will produce cyan.
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Turning off all 3 colors will obviously produce no light, thus black.
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Our eyes see the light that is reflected off an object. This is what gives certain objects
distinct colors. White objects such as snow reflect all light. A black object absorbs all the
light energy and reflects none. That’s why black objects get hot in the sun, and white
objects stay cool.
GREEN
RED
BLUE
Cyan
Yellow
White
Magenta
Black
AMDdesigns.ca
Solutions informatiques
Subtractive colors
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By mixing color pigments such as ink or paint, we can produce all visible colors again by
using only 3 colors; Yellow, Cyan and Magenta. This is the exact opposite of additive
colors because pigments absorb light instead of producing it.
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This principle is used in all color printers and photocopiers. Notice that the ink cartridges in
these printers use these 3 colors.
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All three colors combined will print black.
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White is produced when no ink is applied to white paper.
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Yellow and cyan combined will produce green.
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Cyan and magenta combined produce blue.
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Magenta and yellow combined give us red.
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To resume, for pigments we use subtractive colors, and for light we use additive.
AMDdesigns.ca
Solutions informatiques
Experiments
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Turn off all lights in the room and point the flashlight at a white wall.The light at the center
of the beam should be white (RGB additive colors)
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Using the 3 position DIP switch, turn off only the Red LED. The light produced is now a
combination of Green and Blue and produces Cyan. Turn the Red LED back on.
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Using the 3 position DIP switch, turn off only the Green LED. The light produced is now a
combination of Red and Blue and produces Magenta. Turn the Green LED back on.
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Using the 3 position DIP switch, turn off only the Blue LED. The light produced is now a
combination of Red and Green and produces Yellow. Turn the Blue LED back on.
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With all LEDs back on again, hold a pencil or pen vertically between the flashlight and the
white wall. Notice all the colors. Look for yellow, cyan and magenta.
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Now place two slightly separated fingers in the path of the light until you can see green in
the middle.
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Try other objects for interesting patterns. Walk around a dark room and observe the
shadows and reflections.
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Try simply covering any LED with your finger.
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This principle is also used in those bright billboards you see by the roadside.
AMDdesigns.ca
Circuit schematic and notes:
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Battery voltage is 4.5 volts, each AAA cell produces 1.5 volts, and there are 3 in series.
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SW1 acts as a master switch, cutting off current to all LEDs
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SW2 acts as individual switches for all three LEDs
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51 ohm resistors limit the current to the individual LEDs to approximately 20 milliamperes,
the manufacturer’s recommended current. The colored stripes on the resistors indicate its
value in Ohms. Green =5, Brown =1, and Black is 0, a base 10 multiplier. Therefore these
resistors have a value of 51 ohms.
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LEDs are available in different brightness levels measured in MCD (millicandela), or
thousandths of the brightness of a candle. The LEDs on this flashlight are roughly 5000
MCD or the brightness of 5 candles each. They are focused into a 30 degree beam of light.
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LEDs develop a forward voltage drop when conducting. You can measure from 1 to more
than 3 volts across a lit LED. Here are the actual voltage drops for our LEDs taken from
the manufacturer’s datasheets:
a) Red LED:
b) Green LED:
c) Blue LED:
2 volts
3.2 volts
3.2 volts
AMDdesigns.ca
AMD Designs
City of Greater Sudbury
Ontario, Canada
sales@amddesigns.ca