How to make Arc Reactor lights 'power up'

[FutureBoy]

Hi

I'm currently in the process of building an Arc Reactor and I want to sort out the lighting electronics before I really get into it.

What I want to do is rather than having a simple circuit where an on/off switch controls whether they are lit up or not I think it would look cool if they seemed to fade on and off, as if they are powering up and then down. I don't mean I want the lighting to cycle up and down constantly, just when I turn the switch on they fade up and when I switch it off they fade down.

I get this isn't 'screen accurate' but I think it would look more interesting at conventions, parties etc.

Is it relatively simple to do this? Please bear in mind I'm a complete noob when it comes to electronics!

 

[Adam H]

I'm also an electronics noob, but I think an Arduino controller is a good easy way to get it to do what you want. If you go that way, you might have to build out the whole thing instead of just the front (what pepper pulls out of Tony's chest as opposed to what ends up in the "Proof" display) as the controller might be too deep for just the front, but just based off of pics of both the arc reactor and the Arduino, I think it might fit in there without making the whole reactor bigger around than is accurate. The other (easier) way is to use a dimmer switch to turn it on/off instead of a regular switch.