LED Flash Rates

May 19, 2023by Shelly Jamison

Flickering, flashing, blinking, oh my!

Fast

Normal

Slow

Evan Designs carries a variety of flash rates to fit every hobby need. In this blog post, we are going to compare and contrast all the different types of flashing LED lights sold by Evan Designs so you can choose the perfect fit for your hobby project.

There are 11 flash patterns available at EvanDesigns.com and we will go over each option in detail.

Normal flashing
Slow flashing
Fast flashing
Breathing
Flickering
Strobe
High brightness MEGA flashing LEDs
Synchronized
Heart Beat
Single LED Alternates between 2 colors Red- Blue, Red-White, and Blue-White
Flashing color change LEDs

Flashing LEDs sold by Evan Designs can be catagorized into 2 types:

"Integrated Circuit'' flashing LEDs. This advanced technology allows the flash circuit to be integrated inside of the tiny LED bulb. Many flashing bulb LEDs (5mm, 3mm & 1.8mm) are of this type. The benefit of this is that no circuit board is needed for the flash. Additionally, this integrated circuit allows each micro LED to flash independently of other tiny LEDs, even when they are run off of the same power source. This results in a random flash effect with multiple LEDs. If you want synchronized LEDs, check out the Synchronized LED section below. If you are running your LEDs on 3 Volt power the flashing LEDs of this type only have 2 wires allowing you to slip the wires through tight places
"External Circuit'' flashing LEDs. The external circuit contains the flash rate instructions that provide the flash type. One option with this design is that when we hook up more than 1 LED to an External Circuit the LEDs exhibit the same behavior

Flashing LED Types

Most of the flash rates described below can be applied in any color and size LED we offer.

Slow Flashing

Slow Flshing LEDs have a Flash Rate of about one flash every 1.5 seconds. The slower flashing LEDs are a great choice to simulate Water Tower beacons, and radio towers.

Normal Flashing

Normal Flash LEDs have a Flash Rate of approximately one flash every 0.5 seconds. This has many uses when a flashing LED is desired from simulating the flash rate of revolving lights on older emergency vehicles to wing tips on airplanes

Fast Flashing

These flashing LEDs are great for when a really fast flash is desired. Fast flashing LEDs have a flash rate of 2.5 flashes per second. Modern Police, Fire, Ambulance, and all other emergency vehicles use fast flashing lights and they are a great choice for all emergency situations and scenes.

Breathing LEDs

These individual "breathing" LEDs have a continuous pattern of bright and dim pulses to create a breathing effect. The pulsing fading effect ramps up and down with a short off period. The whole loop is about 3.5 seconds.

Due to the integrated circuit, each LED will have its own breathing pattern. If you want to make a pair of these breathing LEDs synchronize keep reading in the Sync Breathing section. Synchronized breathing LEDs can be great for applications such as eyes in masks or figurines.

Flickering LEDs

With flickering LEDs, the hobby LED never fully goes out, just goes up and down in brightness in a nice random pattern. The flickering effect produced is great for fires, torches, oil lamps, coal in a blacksmith's forge, and other places where a soft subtle flicker is needed. Other creative ideas for flickering colors include:

Cool white flicker: simulate movie theater projectors and television
Warm white flicker: candles and lanterns
Blue flicker: spacecraft engines exhaust and televisions
Red flicker: race car exhaust, hot coals
Green flicker: witches brew, aliens

Quick Burst Strobe Flash

The quick burst strobe flash has a quick and short flash with a 1.5 second pause between each flash. The result closely mirrors a strobe light. This flash pattern is eight colors and seven sizes.

High Brightness flashing MEGA LEDs

The flashing Mega LED is super bright and can be seen from long distances. This makes them great for applications in drones when you need to keep track of your drone when flying either day or night. Since they are offered in six different colors, you can choose a unique color to distinguish your drone from others.

We added the flash circuitry in a small circuit in the LED wires to make these mega flash. The High Brightness Flashing Mega LED is available in fast flash (approx. 2.5x per second) and normal flash (about 1-1 1/2 times a second).

Synchronized Flashing LEDs

Synchronized LEDs have a flashing circuit outside the LED, instead of an integrated circuit, allowing the LEDs attached to the circuit to flash at the same time. The micro LEDs come pre attached to the circuit and can be connected directly to power just like any other tiny LED at Evan Designs.

The synchronized flash circuit is available in all the flash patterns: normal flash, slow flash, fast flash, breathing, and flickering. Additionally, this mini LED circuit is offered in 7 different colors and 7 different sizes.

MARS Light HeartBeat LED

The MARS light was a safety light implemented in the 1930s. This oscillating light warded passengers of an upcoming light. Evan Designs MARS light simulator is perfect for application in modeling early diesel era Model Trains. The MARS Light never goes out, it features a double pulse effect on a looping circuit. Available in 7-19V AC/DC/DCC, this MARS light circuit can be attached directly to your train transformer or your non regulated wall adapter.

The MARS light also simulates the effect of a human heartbeat, for this reason, we have started to carry this circuit in other colors such as red. This heart beat effect is perfect for SiFi or futuristic modeling applications.

Red-Blue Flash, Red-White Flash, and White-Blue Flash

These small LEDs alternate flashing one color and then the other. These two-color LEDs are only available in the fast flashing option.

Flashing color change LEDs

Evan Designs color change is our only mini LED that features several colors in one hobby LED. The micro LED itself flashes from Red to Blue to Green as well as purple and pink.

This bulb-style LED cycles continuously through the colors first shifting in a normal flash speed and then changing to a fast flash and then going back to a slower flash. If you have several bulbs connected to power, each mini LED will flash and change at a slightly different rate giving you a great random effect. These small LEDs are a great choice in your miniature concert halls and nightclubs or for nightlights, theatrical settings, or just anywhere you want colorful action LEDs.

Flash options

This might seem exhaustive, but here at Evan Designs we always strive to introduce new products to fit every hobby need. If you can dream it, you can model it with Evan Designs battery powered LEDs. Still need help after reading this article? Feel free to reach out to us at Help@Evandesigns.com with any questions and a lighting expert from our team will get back to you as soon as possible. What is your favorite type of flashing LED? Comment in the section below and be sure to check out our other articles on fun topics like The History of the LED light.