Help with designing simple, compact led strobe circuit.

[gabri.peic]

Hi everyone. I want to make led Christmas lights with quick bright strobe effects so it looks like a "sparkle" effect.
The problem is if i use microcontroller I need to rune a lot of wires and cable would just be too thick...
So I was looking at some simple, cheap circuits that I could fit behind each led potted in the heatshrink tubing.
I am looking for the effect similar to the airplane strobe (quick bright flash and few seconds off)
I did find a circuit that uses optocoupler and seem to give effect that I want but is the optocoupler really the cheapest/simplest option?
If anyone knows of any circuit with that "airplane" strobe effect please let me know.
Thank in advance.

[Zero999]

A small, 6 pin MCU, such as the PIC10F200, or similar.

[woodchips]

Do LEDs survive such brutal treatment? Flash tubes used to make a pop when they fired, as the surge of current went through them.

[gabri.peic]

Hi thanks for the feedback.
Small, cheap microcontroller is probably the best option, Also Led should not have any issues because I am not planning on overloading it... Bright white led seem bright enough to me at normal current rating.
I will see what I will do.
Generic optocoupler led blinker circuit that I found on YouTube seems to give me good results but I will have to see how much the parts will cost.
Optocouplers and resistors are dirt cheap on eBay but I will have to see about capacitors since each oscilator needs 220-330uf capacitor to get the rate I want approximately.

[StillTrying]

Do LEDs survive such brutal treatment? Flash tubes used to make a pop when they fired, as the surge of current went through them.

For on times <2% and 1us to 10us wide I've passed up to 800mA through 5mm 15mA LEDs, they all survive.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/20w-halogen-bulb-viewed-by-a-photodiode/msg2411274/#msg2411274

But for a visual flashing or twinkling effect very bright microsecond flashes are not much use, to the eye they just look like dim 10ms flashes. So you might as well go for 10ms @ 30mA through a super bright LED, ...or something.

I am looking for the effect similar to the airplane strobe (quick bright flash and few seconds off)

I don't think you'll get LEDs to look anywhere near the brightness of a xenon tube even if the LEDs are on for 30ms.
So bright at night or in a dim room but nothing like a xenon in daylight.

Bright white led seem bright enough to me at normal current rating.

If they're only on for <100ms you could double the current of superbright LEDs and not worry about it.