Finally finished the lights for my second pack, had some trouble making the lights
look right on the power cell so I made some compromises.
Main thing is I can adjust the speed of the lights independent of each other, and now
I can get started on the thrower.
Man I gotta try doing my own light setup one of these times.
Looks great!
Looks pretty sweet!
One of the better custom jobs I’ve seen.
G
what did you use for your light kit?
It’s custom built, the power cell lights are based off of this kit
And the cyclotron lights are run off a 4017 and 555 timing chip.
It really is worth the money to just get Exoray’s kits unless your like me and want to try
and make it all yourself.
Have you thought of making a guide? Cause this is pretty sweet and I have to say looks like it is worth the time.
If I could figure out a simple way to run 15 lights in the proper fashion I probably would
but the 4017 chip I use only runs 10 so you have to set it up in an array with another
4017 and that’s where things get messy.
I could do it with a PIC or Basic stamp but that’s a little more complicated.
I’m assuming you mean the 3914 LED driver?
The 3914 datasheet is a train wreck but it is possible to work out how to daisychain them. It comes down to setting up a voltage divider between the reference pins so the lower half your signal voltage lights up the first 10 and the other half lights up the rest. I’ve been meening to toss together a schematic for people as I know it took me a few hours of staring at it to figure it out but haven’t gotten around to it. 
Actually I didn’t know about the 3914.
That looks like it would be simpler to use, I’ll have to get a few and play around with them.
11 bucks vs over priced for the same stuff? no.
id like to see more on how you made yours, im interested in doing my own work for my props rather than support him.
id really like to see a plan or a walk through or something, i have a nerd friend that could figure this out, but id like to try it by reading a guide.
Datasheets are available online for free for all the chips. They can be a little obtuse but technically they do describe how the chips work and often have sample applications worked out.
There is a big difference from hypothetical cost of a few parts vs a turn key professionally finished product, that only requires batteries… You are comparing apples to oranges…
I’m all for people doing their own stuff, go for it…
Yea, minus the whole professionally designed, tested, and fabricated product that is of better quality and movie accurate that’s good to go right from the start for the end user instead of countless hours of trial and error and hair pulling. Plus a guy who stands behind his product, good luck getting Radio Shack to do likewise. Otherwise it’s the “same” sure.
:sigh:
right. so, what a “professional” makes, with “quality” and whatever you want to toss in, makes their stuff from magical items one cannot purchase and make on their own? and whats this i hear about them not working all the time?
please, try again.
Not for $11 as you claim… My schematic, pc boards and simulation software cost me $1999 in itself… Yeah you can get by with cheaper software packages but if you want to compare apples to apples then you have to compare apples to apples…
I also have professional PC boards manufactured, FR4 composite, solder resist both sides, and plate through holes they cost a fortune in small hobby sized runs to get made…
So you asked what makes it ‘professional’ and ‘quality’ that is beyond the scope of an $11 DIY price tag, I tell you and you resort to a childish antics?
As you so eloquently or not so eloquently put it
Wiz-GB008 did it, he built one and in his own option in the end my price tag is worth it… If it’s not worth it for you then by all means go build your own, no one is forcing anyone to buy one…
Ok I need to set a few things straight.
First of all I have around $45 in parts to make the pack controller, and I still have to make a different one for the thrower,
but I have $104 total in the project including supplies (wire, larger breadboard for testing) so I’m not really saving
that much money.
Another problem is making something that is close to accurate. In the video you will notice that my power cell lights
go from the top and bottom to the middle, not 15 lights from bottom to top, that’s because all the IC’s I have used
only control a max of 10 outputs and trying to make an array of 15 lights that scroll and stay on until it resets is a lot
harder than you would think. (I actually did have it working in the correct way but the first set of lights would dim
when the second row would start so I went back to a simple design)
My point is most of the time when making any prop/replica you have the option of buying pre-made parts or DIY
and in most cases your not really saving that much money, if you factor in the time you spend your not saving at all,
but you do get the satisfaction of making it yourself and you have the option of making custom changes that will make your prop unique.
I’m thinking about making a 3rd pack sometime next summer so I can document it and make a how to post for
some of the harder parts but for the electronics I will probably just order a full kit from Exoray. Yeah, I could build
my own and probably even make it all accurate, but it’s worth it to me to spend a little money and save a lot of time.
You will need better power regulation to avoid this, it’s a common side effect as you tap the circuit for juice it simply can’t supply, even my first pack light kit design slightly dimmed when all 15 power cell lights were lit… Part of my newly designed pack kit was to rework and better regulate the power to avoid this dimming… It gets even harder if you use bulbs vs LEDs…
And Wiz you are right in line with the cost I have estimated on this forum several times for a single CMOS designed pack kit, it’s amazing how fast the nickel and dime cost add up…
And that is sometimes priceless…
regardless of his price tag, i know its cheaper than yours, especially if one has that satisfaction of doing it on their own. im sorry people wanting to do things on their own and figure it out takes money out of your pockets. boo hoo.
as for the pattern of the lights isnt there a way you can just swap the pattern of the lights? not so much in the programming?