I'm new to this forum and am in need of some help. I really would like to know how to make LEDs fade on and off instead of instantly coming on and off. Here is a video of what I mean below. If any of you are familiar with Star Trek, I'm talking about the gradual activation of the deflector. For those of you who are not familiar with the "deflector", the effect I seek can be seen at 00:31 of the 02:18 video. Notice how the light gradually gets brighter as it activates. Can anyone tell me how to achieve this effect?
A resistor can slowly charge a capacitor. An emitter-follower transistor is fed the rising voltage which applies a rising current to an LED.
But I think you don't know what I am talking about.
Your circuit has a very nice linear ramp. But it uses a lot of parts.
Just a resistor charging a capacitor and then an emitter-follower transistor sensing the capacitor's charging voltage can slowly fade-in an LED. A diode can discharge the capacitor when the power is turned off because he didn't say he wants the LED to slowly fade down.