Rigging up some gun lights WIP

Equipment Proton Packs
1

So Gencon is Friday. Proptronix and his amazing gunlights and sound adapters are backed up. Id like to have some lights in the gun since i know i wont have sound. So i went searching for some electronic kits and came up with this

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C6891

I put it together and wasnt pleased with the brightness. Cue idea. I had one of those cheap 9 led flashlights i was going to use for the vents. I soldered the led board to the leads from the circuit board and well…

now im horrible at soldering electronics (orthodontic appliances im far better but thats another topic), but this turned out pretty good.

I need to wire up the bargraph display i got from jupiter electronics with some LEDs once i pick up proper resistors. And of course another led flashlight.

Now personally id just grab the electronic kit from our electronic gurus here, but if you are in a bind or just want to do it yourself..this works…well so far anyway.

2

Wow, that’s really brighter than I expected! I like it alot!

G

3

yeah i dont recommend looking directly down the barrel

4

I looked down the barrel, Ray.

All joking aside, it looks nice – really bright!

5

Finished them up

I ran out of room to install the led underneath the back top light as the circuit for the bargraph is right there. Still looks ok though and will work for gen con

6

Awesome! They look great!

7

Thanks, turns out didnt need them, decided to do Doctor Who both Days.

Still good to have down

8

I love this stuff! Great job! How about more details for someone like me who might want to try to duplicate this?

9

How disappointing were the lights before you modified them? Could you see them at all in a well lit room?

10

all i did was wired different LEDs to it.

As far as details, i can try, but like i showed in the video its an awful mess in there.

For the strobe part, i just put wires were the leds should be soldered then i added the momentary switch between the battery and the circuit.

I wired everything else to a single 9 volt in parallel. The blinking top light was a blinking led i got off the same site. I used a resistor calculator to figure out what resistor to use (I think i ended up using a 270 ohm resistor).

Then i shoved it all in there.

I kinda just winged it. Had i thought and planned everything Id write out the plan.

Id uninstall it and take pics but im afraid it would all go to heck

11

Oh I don’t blame you for not wonting to tear it down, but many people like myself have limited electrical knowledge, and couldn;t really attempt anything like this without more detail. Those are also the same people though who would be hunting for a inexpensive light solution as well, unfortunately.

12

well of i dont get an order in with proptronix soon, i will be building another and will take more progress pictures and post them.

I will say once again, its more a duct tape solution than a profesional one. i wouldnt be surprised for it to stop working for no apparent reason.

13

So, let me get this straight. You took the strobe board, removed the LEDs on the board, wired the LED flashlight head to one of the empty LED sockets on the board, and installed the board into the gun box? Nothing else was wired to this board, correct?

Also, you used two batteries in the gun box. I assume one was the old battery that powered the barrel light, and new 9V that powered everything else on the gun box?

14

i tried doing something like this but i know nothing about voltage and resistors and most of my leds ended up burning out :frowning:

15

Just type, “wiring LEDs” in google. There are a couple good resources so you don’t needlessly burn out LEDs.

16

Turned out really good!

17

I replied in PM but just so all know this is exactly what i did.

In playing around with my other bargraphs i snapped some of the pins off so im waiting for replacements, i also some IC sockets to displace some more space between the bargraph circuit and the gun wall to hopefully allow space for the other top LED. mi might also get a small universal circuit board from radio shack to wire all the components into to make organization a wee bit easier

18

I took your advice and bought a couple of those circuits. Mine strobed with new or old batteries. As long as the pot is cranked all the way up, it should strobe.

Since Myers doesn’t exist where I live, I went to Wal-mart, and found this for $3

The ring around the light cluster fits perfectly inside 1" PVC pipe.