6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit for 220V AC LED Strips

For Decorating with LED Chains in Diwali or Christmas, we need a 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit which works in the 220V AC line. This circuit is very famous in India for decorating lights. In this post, I will share how to make 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit 220V AC at home.

What is 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit?

Light Chaser is a circuit where 1 LED light is switched on after another LED. That’s mean Leds are chasing each other.
This 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit is mainly made of 2 ICs, 555 timer IC & 4017 Counter IC. Using these components we can decorate with forward & reverse wave only. To make more complex & attractive decoration, we need microcontrollers like Arduino or 8051.

LED Knight Rider Chaser Circuit making

This Chaser circuit is also called LED Knight Rider Chaser Circuit.

How does it work?

The 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit works with two ICs, 4017 & 555. The 555 Timer IC sends a clock pulse to the 4017 Counter IC. The counter IC counts and sends a signal to the next output pins. There are a total of 16 pins in the 4017 IC. out of them, 10 pins are output pins. When it completes 10 countings, it again counts from the 1st pin.

Speed Control 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit

To control the LED chasing speed, we use a 470K potentiometer. We can increase or decrease the speed using this pot.

AC 220V 6 Channel Light Chaser Circuit

To control 220V Electrical Components like 100W Bulb, TV, Fan etc We need a Mosfet named “BT136”. This is basically a TRIAC.

How BT136 Triac Works?

There are 3 terminals in BT136. The most right terminal is the Gate. Here we apply a small voltage like 5V DC.
The most left terminal is T1. Here we Connect Ground of 5V DC Signal & Neutral of 220V AC line. The middle pin is the output. After getting 5VDC at 3rd pin, It switched on and AC Neutral is connected at 2nd Pin.
To use high wattage, we have to use a heat sink. Remember to use different small heat sink for each BT136. Do not connect all BT136 in a single big heat sink. It will not Work.

Why BT136 doesn’t work in the DC Switching circuit?

As Triac works in the AC line and it switches only at 0 Crossing of Sinosodial signal, the BT136 can not switch on/off the DC line. To switch the DC line, we have to use another MOSFET like IRF540N.