Flashing LED

[JoeJoe]

Back of the house is facing a park, so want to make sure nobody walking there is tempted...

I have a false alarm cover/box that matches the real one at the front of the building. I would like to hang it on the wall at the back, but if possible, add a flashing LED to it. Something that would be powered by, say, a 9V battery, with a red LED flashing every 20-30 secs (adjustable if possible), and the battery lasting a long time (a year? two?).

Any suggestion for a turnkey solution? Alternatively I am happy to assemble something if given a diagram.

TIA.

[Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp]

Try Maplin I'm sure they used to do LED's that just connected across the supply and flashed.

20-30S may be a problem. Faster would be easily available.

You may have trouble sleeping at night though, having deceived all those people in the park so readily.

Have you thought of becoming an MP?

AB

[Murmansk]

I got one of these on Ebay about six years ago and it's still flashing!!

[Peter Parry]

[Dave W]

Perhaps you could have a solar cell array to power it by the sun. Or adapt one of those solar powered garden lights.

[Brian Gaff]

You used to be able to buy flashing LEDs at one time for warnings etc. I clearly recall seeing them in an old Tandy cat back in the day when I could see to solder. Brian

[Harry Bloomfield]

JoeJoe expressed precisely :

The CMOS version of the 555 timer IC, combined with just a few components, plus a PP3, might suit your needs.

[Brian Reay]

Several here:

I use regularly use Ebay for components and I've never had a problem- be they coming from the UK or the far east. Obviously, if coming from the far east, delivery time can be perhaps 4 weeks but, if you can live with that, they tend to be cheaper.

[JoeJoe]

Thanks for that.

It won't be easy to provide it with power other than a battery. In the description it mentions "...When a permanent 12V supply..." which suggests that it would probably be too power hungry for a battery.

[JoeJoe]

Thanks a lot - that's what I was after! Easy when you know what to search for...

[Bill Wright]

A bellbox with a flashing LED tells a burglar that you don't have a real alarm.

Bill

[dennis]

Then he finds out that he was wrong when the alarm goes off. There are at least five alarms with flashing LEDs I can see from here that I know are live systems. AFAIK only one is a monitored system.

Mine doesn't have a flashing LED but it does have a red one and its not a dummy either.

[ss]

As per previous poster, from China 100 slow flashing LEDs for £3.30

[Andy Burns]

They're the slow fading type, not flashing. It'll look less like an alarm box, and more like someone's stuck a chintzy solar garden light on the wall ...

[ss]

Ah well you will know from my previous posts (re charger) that my electronic knowledge is almost non existent :-(, it may be worth searching on ali express though.

[Bill Wright]

But the purpose of the alarm is deterrence. Once they're in the damage is done. The psychological effect on the resident is the main thing.

Burglars do regard a flashing bellbox as a possible bluff, and are more likely to enter the property than if they see a normal bellbox.

It's the same with CCTV cameras. Never ever install a camera that looks like it might be a fake, even if it isn't.

Bill

[harpingon]

Every single external alarm box enclosure on our estate contains flashing red LEDs. They're all installed and running systems. Two different suppliers/brands/styles too as the contract must have been changed half way through the estate build. House builds date from 1997 to 2003.

From looking around the rest of the village, this is far from uncommon.

[charles]

Our local SCO said "Burglar alarms alarm burglars"

[dennis]

Flashing lights on bell boxes are common on real alarms. Burglars would have to be pretty thick not to know that. They have been common since LEDs were affordable.

Real alarm companies fit them so the burglars know its not a dummy.

Given what you have said then they all look like fakes to burglars. 8-)