What the heck is that, you say? The integrated pack controller is a single board that sits in the proton pack. It controls everything you would ever need: The power cell lights, cyclotron, wand bargraph, wand firing lights, wand motor, wand static lights, optional sound board, switches! It is also programmable and includes several different wand lighting effects. It will also have 2 special modes - known as the “movie accurate” lighting mode and the “theoretical operation” lighting mode. This is very exciting, as something this integrated has not been done to date.
The sound board interface is included on the board also, so you can add on your own sound board any time you like. The board will support several off the shelf sound boards that are easily installed in your pack.
For wand lighting, all you will have to do is run the wiring up to the gun. This will allow you to have the spring activated tip no problem! All other wiring for the pack lights will be included also. We are also implementing a never before seen firing effect that should be a real eye opener!
Anyway, I made the prototype to go inside my new pack. I also just got in some extra boards. The whole system is working great, I will have some pics up very soon.
Here is a quick shot of the new integrated controller board.
Everything simply plugs into this main board with readily available ribbon cables. I will also offer the pre-formed cables in the kit.
I also got the gun “sputter” mode working. It’s pretty cool, when the power bar runs out the gun barrel LEDs start flickering and the sound board plays out a wand sputtering sound.
I also have the bright gun flash working, need to just wire one up.
ok man, here are some videos!! They are big files, I just took these with a standard digicam.
There are multiple videos attempting to show off all the features of this new integrated pack board. I had the proto unit in the lab and finally decided to shoot some video of it working.
Also note, my dig camera has a fairly low frame rate. So the fast sequencing in the videos looks incorrect, sometimes it seems slowed down when actually that is just spatial aliasing. Dont fret!!
Hope you like them. Feel free to post or shoot me any questions you may have. It took me a long time to get this all worked out, but I am very happy with the final results…
And for those people wanting to know pricing info, this board will be starting at $249. That gives you everything you will need, and is cheaper than if you bought a wand light board, power cell board, and sound controller separately.
I know some people here complain about price, not much I can do about it when I am trying to recoup my initial research and development costs. Anyway, I think this one board solution for the proton pack is very competitively priced, and includes features you wont find anywhere else!
From the looks of the board it appears to be pin connectors similar to those found on a motherboard , so it should be match connector a to slot a …I could be wrong though and I think Hyperdyne would know a heck of alot more about it than I do
Yes, I did use standard headers in case somebody wanted to use their own cables. The gun bargraph and power cell cable hookups are standard 34-pin IDE! I figured I should try and make the design as generic as possible.
The board does come with detailed color instructions on where everything connects up to. You also get the ribbon cables with the package, so you just have to plug the cables into the board (the board headers are also keyed).
You will have to wire in the cyclo LEDs and the gun static LEDs. The cable for the gun bargraph has a connector to mount the LEDs already, and we also offer a power cell LEDs daughtercard that just plugs into the end of the power cell cable for easy install of the power cell (that is the only optional piece). You also get cables for external sound board hookup and the vib motor and optional flash unit - just wire in your stuff and that’s it!
I tried to make the kit very flexible for different types of pack setups.
