More great information. You are very generous with your time and knowledge. It is greatly appreciated.
I understand the point about repeatability and accuracy. My initial goal was to stagger the on time of the lights. Having them turn off in a staggered sequence would be an added benefit. Something I hadn't considered adding into the sequence.
As far as timers go I am not married to any specific components to accomplish this goal. So i will rely on your guidance and expertise to recommend components. Reliability and ease of use would be towards the top of my preferences. Almost anything can be accomplished given enough effort, time and money. The question becomes the cost to accomplish the goal.
Whether the time delay is started by powering on the timer or a trigger would depend on if it is better or necessary to have the timing module powered all the time. Since the timing module retains the timing settings on loss of power I am thinking it is not necessary for power to always be on.
The "mangled English translations" is one of the problems that i have had in the past when trying to figure out these micro controllers.
So looking and reading about the different delay timers for sale I came across one of these and had a thought. (don't say it, yes I'm having trouble seeing through all the smoke)
I am not exactly sure how this chip works but I am going to take a guess for the sake of our conversation about timing.
Currently one circuit powers two or three building. If the programmable timer located at the base is used to power the circuit to the buildings could something like this "chip" be used to delay the power to the second and third building? Or even individual rooms. The 5vdc from the voltage regulator that lights the LEDs in the first building would supply the 5vdc to this "chip" located in the second building and another one in the third building. It looks like the delay is set by adding a component (resistor or capacitor) to the left side of the board. If this is the case the value for the timing component could be calculated for different fixed delays of say a 30, 60, 90 seconds or 1,2,3 minutes and so on. It would be a very cost effective means to add more control to each circuit. It would also make it possible to give a more random look to the lights coming on.
For this discussion power is supplied to all the timers at once. See if this makes sense.
Circuit #1 has 3 buildings labeled buildings 1,2 and 3. Bldg 1 turns on when power is supplied to the timer , using a "chip" bldg 2 will be delayed 2 minutes, bldg 3 chip will be delayed 4 minutes.
Circuit #2 has 2 building. Buildings 4 & 5 - the circuit #2 timer output turns on one minute after power is supplied to the timers. Bldg 5 has a 2 minute delay chip.
Sequence of operation would be:
Building 1 turns on when power is applied to the timer. One minute later building 4 turns on when timer for circuit #2 output is energized. One minute later building 2 would turn on (2 minute delay from building 1), one minute later building 5 would turn on ( 2 minute delay), and one minute later building 3 would turn on (4 minute delay from building 1). This would give a more random appearance of lighting. Exact timing would not be critical. More interested in the effect than precise timing. This same set up could then be used for another 5 building. By varying the programmable time delays relays slightly all ten building would turn on a slightly different times.
Since I'm a visual kind of guy.
Or is that all just crazy talk.
