[sdiy] my annual DIY holiday project

[KA4HJH]

>A way to increase the "cross-twinkler modulation" is to raise the power
>source impedance. I use a 2nd string of non-twinkers wired in series. The
>more of these bulbs unscrewed, the less power for the twinklers to fight
>over.

Do you mean that you're putting a parallel string in series with another
parallel string?

>Changes from independent blinkers to a chaotic system. I think that's
>chaotic. But I'm not too sure what chaos is and isn't.

Remember that incandescent light bulbs are PTC thermistors so their
behavior isn't linear to begin with. That could crank up the chaos quite a
bit.

>Also, I was thinking that a string of non-blinking bulbs would be good in
>series with something you wanted to power up slowly. Like something with old
>caps. Screw in bulbs one at a time. Kind of like a cross between a single
>light bulb and a variac. Kind of a "soft variac".

This would work in a pinch. When you screw in each bulb there'll be rush of
current until the filament heats up. In some situations this may be
undesirable.

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"