Hi Crash,

I have been watching and chatting, A bit more input from you, though.

I dont see a problem making a fast fade, or a slow fade...those will be on our new strips.
But in a single bulb, I think your question is how to make them more "Random".
If they are in an always lit GI, What would trip them to fade at a certain point, and not others?

If in a controlled light, they would need a large Cap, to fade, once they received a signal "on"
that would be turned "off" before it had all the power it needed. I dont believe there is a Cap, strong enough
to fit inside the base...

So I am typing "out loud", and please excuse any and all ignorance....but perhaps with your input and others,
I can understand more.....

Art

I think you would need a microcontroller capable of producing a PWM signal to the LED to fade it properly. But hey, I am no electrical engineer.
--Scott

That was my first though as well, but that would be complicated unless you wanted to control all or entire row of G.I. bulbs off the same micro controller. You'd essentially have to re-wire the entire G.I. to suit your purposes. Obviously at that point you could to all kinds of tricked-out fading and stuff/sequential lighting/etc.

A larger size cap for a fade-on wouldn't be necessary if you used a diode in line to slow the charge of the cap.

The cheapest and easiest solution in my mind would be to use a SMD 555 timer IC. All you need is 1 resistor and 1 cap to get a fade on/off. Obviously you'd still need the rectification diodes as well. Fitting that all into an LED casing would be next to impossible without ballooning the shape of it. I suppose if you used a double-sided board, put the 555 IC, resistor, and cap on the underside of the board, and the 2 rectifier diodes for the AC and the LEDs on the top it MIGHT fit with some modifications to the shape of the casing. The only downside to this would be that the fade on/off would be hard set, depending on the resistor/cap values. Still, I could see some use for this.

That's what my LED OCD and GI OCD do (without any rewiring requirement), but that's also not really what Crash is asking for. He's asking for a bulb that has a luminescence that decays due to a chemical coating on the bulb lens. I really have no idea as to whether this is possible. If it IS possible, the next question would be whether it's practical.

This. That's what I read from Crash's request as well. Problem is, do we really want to have the cheapest overseas labor trying to paint the inside of a dome with hazardous phosphors (evenly) and then attempt to completely seal it so none of the coating comes out? We know how good they do soldering, crimping and gluing currently

Perhaps they have made phosphors that are less dangerous that what were on TV's in the recent past, but I fear that we'd see a repeat of the radium clock hand factories of a hundred years ago with something that would have the functionality that Crash is requesting.

If you want a quick half bright decay, followed by a very slow to 0, you could coat the inside of a dome with the glow in the dark paint and have it placed on a UV bulb. Problem is they only glow in the typical light green, so you'd also first have to stain the dome with some type of color to shift it correctly. Something to at least play around with, but not exactly the effect wanted since it drops so fast initially when the UV is removed.

The main dimming option currently available would be DALI drivers, and possibly LED arrays in microminiature form. I just don't see phosphor or luminescent coatings being practical with all the emerging LED technologies.

"The iDrive® DALI+ implements smooth constant current dimming support from 100% to 0.3% of the output current, with the ability to turn LEDs completely off. Employing a continuous analogue dimming current, the iDrive® DALI+ overcomes health and LED flicker problems associated with driving LEDs using PWM techniques"
http://www.istl.com/daliplus.php

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2012/11/sharp-led-array-provides-point-source-color-tuning.html

OK, I am now in way over my head...

I think the best solution is Hergs Board, Period.

I cant see phosphorous, (or even the Glow glass/pigment I worked on for Sherman Williams Paint....neat stuff
If you havent seen it...flooring tile, paint, basketballs) being effective...not bright enough.

I can see an independent fading bulb...that I can try. As well as a Twinkle.
I think in the short run, the 3 SMD rgb Strip with Fading, might be worth a test in the applications people are
asking about. It may not be the most cost effective solution, but at least visually it can be tried in a socket.

Since anything truly from a person, technically, will escape me, I am happy to send a schematic, if you think
it will fit, to several factory engineers,

I do have bulbs with external boards now in sample...but $5.00 plus a bulb doesnt seem to be that sellable
in the pin hobby...they are like $30-$50 retail in Automotive.

What application would people see this use? and if for more then a couple of locations, wouldnt Hergs
Board truly be the best solution?

This just seems like the only thing that makes sense. Buy one board that's cake to install, fix all your LEDs that you already have in one swoop. It's fast, it's easy, and it's going to be cheaper than any fancy bulbs.

Agreed, but if you want to customize just a few specific areas, that would require a circuit on each bulb. I don't think $4-5 per bulb would be bad for that purpose, it is just a matter of whether people would be interested in that. I think that would be cool for specific spots in certain pins. I can already think of a few spots where it would look cool in my Pinbot.