Ok, first of all I'm a total beginner (but with a good sense for things), so please bear with me.
I'm interested in building a simple Audio Level Meter. I've found several scematics and the proper IC (i think so at least). However, all of these are to control LEDs that are attached to the circuit board itself. What I want to do is to use the circuit to control seperate lights that have their own power which is not coming from the circuit.
here is an example IC that i found which I think it close to what I want:
**broken link removed**
however, I don't really know what I would need to do differently. Basically I want the lights to function just like the LEDs would, to turn on when the audio level passes a certain level. However the LEDs draw their power directly from the circuit board, where as I just want the audio signal to turn the appropriate lights on and off which are powered seperately.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if I left anything out.