Arduino Lightsaber

Post #95 also corrected.

anyone hear of /try these?

Quads? 10W supper high voltage and uses a single Lens not a tri lens.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10w-Cree-XLamp-XM-L-RGBW-RGB-White-Color-LED-Emitter-4-Chip-20mm-Star-PCB-Board-/231519043679?hash=item35e79c405f:g:PWYAAOSwPhdVGPkT

RGB+W !?

billpealer:
anyone hear of /try these?

Quads? 10W supper high voltage and uses a single Lens not a tri lens.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10w-Cree-XLamp-XM-L-RGBW-RGB-White-Color-LED-Emitter-4-Chip-20mm-Star-PCB-Board-/231519043679?hash=item35e79c405f:g:PWYAAOSwPhdVGPkT

RGB+W !?

Yes Sir, one of my TCSS sabers use this. I also intend to use 2 of them in my upcoming saber staff (powered by Arduino of course :slight_smile: ).
BTW, in the TCSS saber I used only RGB, W was left unconnected, since I did not need it. But with the added fleixibility of Arduino based electronics, I will in future. And only one lens, that is right.

Protonerd:
Yes Sir, one of my TCSS sabers use this.

how's the brightness? heat? seams like 3500ma in the space where normally one LED lives is,.. cozy. tgtbt.

Hi guys

Just a quick update..

I was really busy this w/e as it was my son's 13th and had a whole lot going on and etching didn't get a look in. However, I did spot something I missed which would have been a problem, fixed it, and ended up with two distinct versions of the board in doing so.

There's now a low volt board for 3.7v~5v supplies and a high volt board for 6.5v~12v supplies.

The issue was with the micro boost buck, a 7.4v delivery would just go and let all the magic smoke out of it and there just wasnt room to stick in another component so replaced the boost buck with an LM1117 5v fixed regulator which instantly reclassified the circuit for high volt while retaining it's WT power rail flexibility.

The buck is still present on the original file so that became the low volt board, the only real change on that one was to removed the redundant power rail from the RAW pin.

Talking of which, the little space gained by removing said redundant power rails was used to increase the size of the bridging pads so they're easier to solder.

Canobi:
Hi guys

Just a quick update..

There's now a low volt board for 3.7v~5v supplies and a high volt board for 6.5v~12v supplies.

I like it and I think this makes more sense.

Just another quick question about momentary switch ratings.

They come in 12v, 9v, 5v, 3v. prolly 6v too. I plan to use two 18650 batteries.

So for a illuminated momentary switch, what voltage rating do I use?

I know I need a resitor or a Dyna-Ohm to protect the LED.

Would 12 v be OK because it can handle all lower voltages?

Bought too long of a switch so I gotta get new one, it was a 5v 16mm.

Neat it seems momentary, and latching if you press it further. Too bad it won't fit
in 1 1/4 sink pipe.

For that matter two 18650 are 1 7/16- 36mm wide, so they won't fit side by side in 1 1/4 pipe.
So they would have to be single stacked lengthwise. Series or Parallel?

Now I see why the discussion on battery size.

Stink, are they the 16mm momentary switches? If so i recomend the short barrel version. not the 32mm one,... The shorter one. And get 12v. They can handle more than 12v. They are like 12v 20amp. That's liket 200 watt. These sabers... The Most will be 10 watt.

Treat the LEDs on them like stand alone. Blue/green 3.2v 50ma. Red 2.5v 50ma. Resistors for that.

Jake, I'm glad you can look at those pcbs and contribute to it. It all looks like Tron to me.

Hey guys thanks for the fast response, Ebay cart is awaiting.

Just to let you know I saw the RGB-W's as well, but check these out!

http:/5x CREE XBD XB-D 9W white+red/red+green/Yello+green/RGB LED Light Emitter 7V/8V/www.ebay.com/itm/5x-CREE-XBD-XB-D-9W-white-red-red-green-Yello-green-RGB-LED-Light-Emitter-7V-8V-/222002233766?var=&hash=item33b05d41a6:m:mUmj13QzPcQeOcGyDw4a_1Q

Only problem is its 5 of them minimum. Nice for you multiple unit pro builders. Still its like 18 dollas for 5! Not bad :slight_smile:

And thanks, you talked me out of making a battery pack, the thought of them gassing out in a sealed tube, the blade shooting into the ceiling etc etc... lol!! 2x sled mounted in removable battery holders I already have. Then I can take them out and store them in steel box. I always charge batteries in a porcelain sink so if they cook off all I get is gassed, no fire. Just don't turn on the tap!

billpealer:
how's the brightness? heat? seams like 3500ma in the space where normally one LED lives is,.. cozy. tgtbt.

So far no issues, but it sits on a sizable heat sink. As far as the max current is concerned, you probably never ever want to turn on all the LEDS at the same time with max current, anyway the brightness gain at half current and full is not that big.

I only have sporadic problems with the red die, I have a single protected 3.7V 18650 and occasionally my red config with blue FoC leads to a kind of reset, I assume from the protection circuitry, although the current of the red is rated 700mA (out of my head)? Blue and Green based configs do not experience this and the White one I do not use at all.

For those of you using clash and swing sensors (not accellerometers), what orientation do you use? Do you use multiple swing sensors?

In my head, there should be one swing sensor that is vertical, and the clash sensor should be horizontal, facing perpendicular to the user.

jshaw:
For those of you using clash and swing sensors (not accellerometers), what orientation do you use? Do you use multiple swing sensors?

I found that 2 sensors in a cross and both 45 deg off of the horizontal and vertical axis (tipped forward 45 deg) works best. when perfect vertical,.. the swing wont trigger till the saber is almost 180 degrees flat. and a sensor perfectly horizontal, is too hard for the roller ball to rest at a state, so you may be holding the saber perfectly up and down, but the swing sound is going ape $h!t. this will give you triggers on swings, rolls, positions and guard change, and spins.

I also did it like that to keep space tight. they are epoxied together. and then hot glued to the mass of parts in the hilt nerve center.

i have them in parallel on one pin. putting them on 2 pins did very little for sensitivity and accuracy. i use debounce switch code,.. so the roller ball can't fidget for less than 50 ms, and every swing command has a 200 ms delay.

Diagram for 1 CR123A batt No LED driver, no PWM, no regulators,. and blue or Green 3W LEDs. SW-200 swing sensors. Just a reminder, back in December, this was almost the exact set up being recommended by Jake for first time builds. He was into PWM color mixing/fading. In all honestly. FoC is probably cooler when using it. For show, blade growth and recessions is neat. when dueling it is ornate at best. but for marketability, blade emission seems to be pretty important.

Long time reader, first time poster.

First off want to give a huge thank you to JakeSoft and billpealer, I started reading about all this when i think JakeSoft first posted in thecustomersabersshop. Been reading a lot and finally am getting started. I am using 5V Arduino Mini and 5V WT588D-16p. I have so far it coded to turn on and make turn on sound with a second of hum, and turn off with power down sound, with a momentary switch.

The part im having issues with is getting the Hum to repeat, or even play afterwards.

I can make startup loop with

WT588D_Send_Command(0); //Play sound 0
WT588D_Send_Command(0xF2); //Repeat sound

however if i add anything it doesnt play, nor does the repeat work for said sound.

Not sure what i am doing wrong. it is in the Loop section, using Jakesoft's recommended setup for the button using If, Else, and While.

Kdot:
Long time reader, first time poster.

First off want to give a huge thank you to JakeSoft and billpealer, I started reading about all this when i think JakeSoft first posted in thecustomersabersshop. Been reading a lot and finally am getting started. I am using 5V Arduino Mini and 5V WT588D-16p. I have so far it coded to turn on and make turn on sound with a second of hum, and turn off with power down sound, with a momentary switch.

The part im having issues with is getting the Hum to repeat, or even play afterwards.

I can make startup loop with

WT588D_Send_Command(0); //Play sound 0
WT588D_Send_Command(0xF2); //Repeat sound

however if i add anything it doesnt play, nor does the repeat work for said sound.

Not sure what i am doing wrong. it is in the Loop section, using Jakesoft's recommended setup for the button using If, Else, and While.

Difficult to diagnose code without seeing it, but my guess would be an include in the wrong spot.

Kdot:
Long time reader, first time poster.

The part im having issues with is getting the Hum to repeat, or even play afterwards.

I can make startup loop with

WT588D_Send_Command(0); //Play sound 0
WT588D_Send_Command(0xF2); //Repeat sound

however if i add anything it doesnt play, nor does the repeat work for said sound.

Not sure what i am doing wrong. it is in the Loop section, using Jakesoft's recommended setup for the button using If, Else, and While.

Hi, Kdot. Welcome to the party!

Try putting some short delays in between your WT588D_Send_Command() calls. Also, you can make the hum sounds repeat for "free" but adding extra hum sounds to the end of your ignition sound. A.K.A. "The lazy Pealer method" (J/K, Bill!) :slight_smile: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: It won't repeat forever if you do it that way, but if you add enough of them it'll go on long enough for practical purposes until you trigger as swing or a clash or turn it off.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.

jshaw:
Difficult to diagnose code without seeing it, but my guess would be an include in the wrong spot.

Thanks jshaw, I was figuring I was but tried all kind of spots with deifferent results. Haha thus the post. This is all very new to me but so far it has been successful challenge.

JakeSoft:
Hi, Kdot. Welcome to the party!

Try putting some short delays in between your WT588D_Send_Command() calls. Also, you can make the hum sounds repeat for "free" but adding extra hum sounds to the end of your ignition sound. A.K.A. "The lazy Pealer method" (J/K, Bill!) :slight_smile: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: It won't repeat forever if you do it that way, but if you add enough of them it'll go on long enough for practical purposes until you trigger as swing or a clash or turn it off.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks for the welcome! Been great following everyone's progress.

I'll add a few hums at the end of sound on that part is working great.

I tried adding a delay equal to the time of start up sound and added hum, right after start up command.

Maybe wasn't long enough or maybe I'm reading the flow incorrectly.

Either way I'll get that section of code posted for further evaluation.

JakeSoft:
adding extra hum sounds to the end of your ignition sound. A.K.A. "The lazy Pealer method" (J/K, Bill!) :slight_smile: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: It won't repeat forever if you do it that way, but if you add enough of them it'll go on long enough for practical purposes until you trigger as swing or a clash or turn it off.

Haha, you can add my stamp there also. I'm using the same trick with the DFPlayer, cheers from the club of lazy humming-birds. It could be done cleaner, but this method is so much easier and quite robust!

JakeSoft:
Also, you can make the hum sounds repeat for "free" but adding extra hum sounds to the end of your ignition sound. A.K.A. "The lazy Pealer method" (J/K, Bill!) :slight_smile: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: It won't repeat forever if you do it that way, but if you add enough of them it'll go on long enough for practical purposes until you trigger as swing or a clash or turn it off.

Good luck. Keep us posted on your progress.

pfffff! i see how it is. i thought it was a brilliant! i would like to know how is the code that turns the on_sound on, then plays the hum sound,- is Different from the swing or clash tiggers, that play those sounds, then go back to hum. and are we talking sw-200 swings, or ADLX swings? i just got my ADL's in too, i am excited to see what this things are about.

I use If/Else with Boolean for on, and off sounds. Yes, i don't have hum triggers at all in my saber, but i did try it. I couldn't get hum to loop with the hex code. only play once. i don't know if I tried separating it with some delay tho... and my swings and clashes are standard switch code,.. from,.. here.
https://www.arduino.cc/en/tutorial/switch
i don't use the int = state. just the if/else with the debounce time saved. My variant of this code is posted here. it works pretty ok. i am not smart enough to make more complex code.