DIYino - an Arduino compatible board for prop electronics

Hi guys

I'm Thibault from Canada. First of all ... great work to you ! Very impressive.

I was wondering if there were still DIYino boards left to buy ? Question for Protonerd I think.

Thanks and happy new year.

Thibault.

Anyone see an issue with programming in a "night light" mode? I was thinking adding some coding to allow a double press on the main button when in standby that would turn on the blade at half-brightness, no sound, for display on the wall. This particular saber is using the diyino board with a single LED luxeon rebel. Any problem with running it 8 hours or so at about half brightness?

lewisdw:
Anyone see an issue with programming in a "night light" mode? I was thinking adding some coding to allow a double press on the main button when in standby that would turn on the blade at half-brightness, no sound, for display on the wall. This particular saber is using the diyino board with a single LED luxeon rebel. Any problem with running it 8 hours or so at about half brightness?

I made some code modifications so that a single press on the aux button in standby mode turns on the blade LED with a periodic flicker, and no sound. Hopefully, that will not overheat either the LED or the main board. I'll keep an eye on it. At night it will be hung on the wall and charging.

The only issue here might be with charging while running. A good charger is going to shut off when the battery is topped up and it is not ideal to "trickle charge" your lithium battery. If your setup includes a way to isolate the battery, perhaps you could directly supply the hilt with a 5v source.

Can you add me to the order list? Can I order multiple boards?

This is exactly what I was trying to accomplish by piecing together several boards. Amazing!

Protonerd,

I sent my payment.

I hope I hear from you soon. It has been a couple of days.

I got it. Thanks!

I'm happy to present you a new family member of the DIYino saber sound boards, the

Stardust

This tiny but powerful board is a mid-range member of the Arduino compatible DIYino boards, capitalizing on the already proven architecture
of the Prime and at the same time streamlining the design to give you a board which is easy to integrate into a saber hilt.
To this end I applied certain adjustments to the Prime architecture, like:

  • replacing the bulky SD-card with a 16MByte on-board SPI Flash. No moving parts involved.
  • swapping the DFPlayer MP3 chipset to a more advanced one, capable of handling SPI Flash
  • using 3 instead of 6 driver channels for LEDs and other peripherials (making board smaller but still perfect for RGB LEDs and neopixel builds)
  • it comes with an micro USB connector like the Prime v1.5
  • the USB signals are broken out so you can hook up an external USB connector, serving as general access port (and more!)
  • all connections necessary to operate LSOS or USaber type saber softwares are integarted on board, eliminating the need for on-board wiring
  • The board can also operate on a single 3.7V battery, or using a small DC/DC to boost the voltage to 5V. No need to find room for 2 cells in the hilt.

But there is more! The Stardust is not a stripped-down version of the Prime! It incorporates a feature unique among the saber boards

USB charging of the battery

:grin:

This opens up a whole new world of possibilities of hilt design and interaction with the electronics. Only a single interface suffices to reach all features:

  • charging a single 3.7V Li-Ion/LiPo battery, via USB
  • no charging device needed, no need for a big recharge port
  • software updates can be flashed over USB
  • the on-board SPI flash can be directly accessed over the USB as well, eliminating the need to take apart the hilt if you want a new set of sound fonts

I hope you like it and I will keep you updated about the board features!

Nice! What's the cost of the board though.

I've got a lot of inquiries as to how to buy a Stardust so I try to answer here to reach a bigger audience.
I did plan a bigger RUN1 to start, however I've got a bigger commission for the Prime v1 (yeah :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: , this is a BIG THING!!!) which takes all my time allocated to this project to secure. Therefore the Run1 of Stardust had to give room to this "strategically more important" delivery.

However I'm still on it, if everything goes according to plan I will have Run1 available by end of May/early June. In the mean time I hope I can assemble my first Stardust based RGB saber and show it off here. Stay tuned!

Is it still possible to order the Prime? I've damaged my first board so need to get a replacement!

Yes, it is. The 5th Run will start in May, so stay tuned! I will post a message as soon as I have the boards. How did you damage the board? Can you describe the fail behaviour?

Soldering iron was too hot and I managed to fry the contacts for the led string.

Shall I send payment now or wait until you post up?

Hello,

I am very interested by the Stardust !

What type of battery does it support ? I must say that the USB recharge is really a killer feature !

First batch should be available around june, right ?

Hi Protonerd!

What you've done is absolutely incredible, would the stardust board be available for sale and could I Purchase a few? I've been wanting an Arduino based saber for a long time and would love to work with yours that was tried and tested as the Diyino :slight_smile:

dannyc09:
Soldering iron was too hot and I managed to fry the contacts for the led string.

Shall I send payment now or wait until you post up?

Now you can order, parts arrived.

There is a large restock of the DIYino Prime v1 boards available starting NOW! Although this 5th run is the biggest so far, I recommend signing up quickly as the stock diminishes fast.

Payment sent for one prime! :slight_smile:

dannyc09:
Payment sent for one prime! :slight_smile:

Got it! I will send it out in the coming days! What are you up to with the board? Just curious...:slight_smile:

Protonerd:
Got it! I will send it out in the coming days! What are you up to with the board? Just curious...:slight_smile:

I'm doing a custom saber build. Made a nice green led string!