QUESTION: Can Ardunio activate a red strobe light?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello,

I am unfamiliar with the innerworkings of Arduino and was curious if someone would be able to point me in the right direction. here are my specific questions if anybody is able to comment on them?

  1. Can Arduino connect a 12v red strobe light to it and activate it?
  2. If so, what Arduino board/product could do this?
  3. Can a scripting software such as AutoHotKey interact with Arduino and send it a command to turn the light on?

Any insight is appreciated!

2
  1. Yes, with an intermediate FET. None of the Arduinos work directly with 12 V.
  2. Any.
  3. If it can work with serial data the yes.
3

Regarding point 3) https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=14978

4
  1. No/Yes It depends on the strobe light. Most not directly but you can do it with a driver such as a relay or MOSFET.
  2. Any of the Arduino boards would do this.
  3. I am not familiar with AutoHotKey but this should help: Arduino + AutoHotKey > Serial Connection
1 Like
5

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Here's the vision

6

Nice vision, does it include make and model numbers of the light along with a link to its technical information. How are you powering it?

1 Like
7

How do you normally control the strobe light? By a simple switch, a sensor, etc?

8

Any arduino board will be fine to manage the control. You will need either a relay board, or a FET/motor driver board depending on the exact specs of the strobe.

According to Copilot, the Autohotkey (never heard of it before!) script to send the text "ON" to a serial port is

#Persistent

; Configure serial port
PortName := "COM1" ; Change to your COM port number
BaudRate := "115200" ; Set the baud rate as needed
OpenCommand := Format("mode {1} BAUD={2} PARITY=N DATA=8 STOP=1", PortName, BaudRate)

; Open serial port
RunWait, %ComSpec% /C %OpenCommand%,, Hide

F1::
    ; Send "ON" to the serial port
    FileAppend, ON, %PortName%
    return

Esc::
    ExitApp

So code on the arduino to receive the text "ON" or "OFF" can be used to turn the strobe on or off when you press F1 or F2 on your PC

9

This is the strobe light LINK TO EBAY it's just 2 wires so I was hoping the arduino would be able to power it

10

No controls yet, it's just a strobe light I linked in another reply. Positive and negative wires coming from the light so I was hoping the Arduino would be able to power it

11

Thanks for the information! I read that the Arduino UNO REV3 board would be able to support powering stuff up to 12v (which is the voltage needed for the light LINK TO EBAY LIGHT)

Do you think I will still need a relay board?

12

What you read is wrong. You will still need a relay board or a driver board.

13

How will the Arduino be powered? From USB? If so, USB has only 5V, not 12V.

Maybe a "boost converter module" would solve that problem.

According to the page you linked, the strobe light needs:

Rated voltage:12V DC
Rated current: 120mA

A boost converter module would consume 120 x 12 / 5 = 288mA. Maybe 20~30% more than that because boost converters are not perfectly efficient. So call it 350mA. Add another 50mA for the Arduino, and you are still comfortably below the maximum 500mA that USB generally provides.

To avoid the need for a relay or MOSFET, look for a boost converter module with an "enable" pin. This pin can be controlled by an Arduino pin, to enable or shut off the converter, and therefore the strobe light.

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14

An Arduino have no problem controlling stuff, this strobe light can be switched on/off with a relay as pointed out, or a MOSFET. But you cannot power that light from an Arduino, voltage mismatch, so you need a 12 V power source.

15

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