Circuitry, Leds, Effects, Wiring, Etc...

[timonemycat]

I would consider myself a good solderer, so I'm not worried about creating the system, its more whats behind it that I'm having a hard time with. My suit is going to be red, so I will buy Red LEDs. I was thinking about how I'm going to light the whole suit, and an idea flashed by my mind: Have a battery pack able to run the whole thing branch off to the helm lights, the body lights, and the fans inside the helm. There are lights on the shoulders, thighs, chest, and cuisse, so I was thinking I could just put an led in each place, and have it come to a connector. On the undersuit, I could sew pathways on the inside of the material, and a hole with a connector coming out to power the leds. This would solve the problem of wires showing, and making a power supply centrally located.

I'm hesitant to just slap an led in the place where there are lights, that would be pretty lame. I thought maybe making molds, and using hot glue to diffuse the light in that area might work. What do you guys do to make the light from the led more realistic?

Any other ideas as far as an all inclusive system go?

 

[spaz47]

look around the creation discussion because there are tons of threads on this already

 

[Slimguy379]

pure example of a noob, sorry. but yeah definitely check the other tutorials etc

 

[timonemycat]

I wouldn't have posted this if I could find the advice I was seeking. Havent found any topics regarding wiring the undersuit. Only random blurbs about diffusion. I am also seeking help with simple circuitry, for instance: Powering the whole suit on a lipoly battery, having all circuitry on one board, switches and dimmers for lights, speed settings for fans, etc.

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

*sigh*

How to Wire LED's to Your Helmet

Although it was a stickied topic in the Pepakura/Cardboard section, the other two member's posts were completely unnecessary. Just ignore nonconstructive people that spam your topic, just report their posts and continue on, and you'll get an answer eventually.

On a side note, look at the join date of the guy who called someone else a noob, lol. XD

 

[Adam]

don't make a comment if you're not helping. New people should be welcomed to the site, and guided in the right direction, kindly.

Thank you ImaGGY, for being welcoming. Welcome to the site Timone

 

[timonemycat]

On a side note, look at the join date of the guy who called someone else a noob, lol. XD

Yeah I saw that, haha. I've read that sticky numerous times, they should make it more in depth! You veterans underestimate us noobs!

I'm looking for a more advanced version of that tut, lol. I should probably just take a circuitry class or something...

I would really like to be able to put all the body electronics on one breadboard.

 

[Azzarth]

Is this more like what you are trying to do?

[attachment=8764:battry.JPG]

Just branch more wires off of existing ones. Might need more resisters or a stronger battery though...

As for "diffusing the light" just donr't make the LED visible, only the light. That way it shines down the surface of the armor. Ambient lighting 0_o

 

[timonemycat]

Yes thats exactly what I'm trying to do, except before anything, I would like the battery to power the circuit board, which branches off into the different appliances. I'd keep the board and battery centrally in the chest or back.

Thats a really good idea about the ambient lighting, I've been think of diffusing the light with hot glue or something, but that almost sounds better. Thanks.

Still in need of someone who can help with circuitry! thanks a lot guys

 

[Sean Bradley]

You're going to need an electrical engineer or student to design something like this for you. It's pretty involved.

Before you go so far as to ask the help of the electrical wizards, perhaps it's be a good idea for you to draw up a plan that shows everything (all fans, lights, etc.) you intend to connect to this magical mystery board. Have this in hand before contacting them... or they're just going to put you to the drawing board.

The other reason I suggest this is that if this isn't something that can be done with a circuit or microcontroller, you'll need to divide your power source with resistors to achieve the necessary voltages at the places you need them in a wiring harness. Your plan will be needed for this.

Gokussj5okazu and thatdecade are the only two members I know here who would be capable of helping you with this (providing you have the resources and plans ready), and I can't assume they have time to help if they haven't replied to this on their own..

It's worth asking though... somebody might do the work for you if they can turn it into something that someone else wants too.

 

[timonemycat]

I'm not sure on the exact specifics of the fans and lights yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll use a 11.1v Li poly battery pack. I have a bunch lying around from the RC Helicopter days. The LEDs I'm going to use require 2.2v.

Here's what I'm looking for, maybe even just help with what to use to ramp the lights using a dial.
But here's a pic, since everything's easier with a diagram:

It's a pretty generic design, one I'm sure every spartan or armorer alike would use in their suit.

 

[M07Marauder]

When it comes to simple circuits I can build them just fine but I would go with someone more advanced than myself .

What you are wanting to build is a Parallel circuit not a series, a series is like a straight line from the positive to negative where if one object in the circuit goes out it's lights out for Mr. Spartan . Parallel circuits are where each object is connected directly to the power via a splice from the main wire or point in the circuit board (bad description?) so each object is basically on it's own circuit yet all in one, if one thing dies the rest will work just fine.

That and if you just threw everything together in a series each resistor would just keep dropping the voltage as you go until the thing at the end of the line would have very little power to go off of.

You could invision parallel like a tree, different portions branching out.

Sorry for the long description but I always like a chance to talk about electronics .

If I have some free time I could possibly help you out with the schematics but I'm not too sure.

 

[timonemycat]

Yeah, I think I'm on the same page as far as basic electricity goes. I know the circuits parallel vs. series. The only thing I'm gonna have a hard time figuring out is how to raise/drop the light intensity and the fan speed. If I have everything in parallel, I can just use one resister for each branch, and theyll all receive the same voltage.

 

[M07Marauder]

Yeah, I think I'm on the same page as far as basic electricity goes. I know the circuits parallel vs. series. The only thing I'm gonna have a hard time figuring out is how to raise/drop the light intensity and the fan speed. If I have everything in parallel, I can just use one resister for each branch, and theyll all receive the same voltage.

What you are looking for to control the fans and LED's is a potentiometer, it will allow you to control the speed of the fans and the brightness of the LED's.

You could wire one up for all the LED's and one for all the fans (so the effect is consistent throughout the setup).

But it is sleep time now, if you need any help just PM me and I will respond asap.

 

[Carpathia]

You may be interested in this site. It's for fairly simple circuits and I'm not sure if it would help, but I've always found it helpful. Normally, the forward voltage of LED's is between 3.2v and 3.5v and their normal output current is 20mA. You could also enter a lower current output to get the range of resistance you would need to figure out what type of potentiometer to get. Hope this helps.

 

[timonemycat]

Im very very confused. It seems the farther I dig into this, the worse it gets. So here's what I've been thinking:

So far, I have locked in that I will be using 2.2v, 20mA LEDs, and a 11.1v battery pack. I'm going to need a baseline voltage to run through the led's so that it isnt possible for me to burn them all out turning the potentiometer up all the way.

The resistance rating on the potentiometer: is that it's max resistance, or what does that represent. One turn no resistance, the other ramping up to 100ohms, or what?

I have several clusters of LED's all over the place on the suit, so should I have the potentiometer first, then the individual led systems with their min. resistor requirements, or should i put one resistor before the potentiometer for the whole system? I think it would be simpler to put one on each system, that way I could run variations of series and parallel for this thing.

What do you guys think?

 

[DerKraken]

Here's what I'm looking for, maybe even just help with what to use to ramp the lights using a dial.
But here's a pic, since everything's easier with a diagram:

It's a pretty generic design, one I'm sure every spartan or armorer alike would use in their suit.

So we need illumination intensity and fan speed? This isn't terribly complex, and it would be fairly easy to build the entire thing onto one board (even integrated into an arm piece so that you can control everything externally)

Get a bit more detailed with your plans though. How many LEDs are you using, and were will they go? How many fans? Whats their current draw? Required Voltage? Your list should look something like this:

Helmet
Fans (x)2; 5.5v; 500mA draw
LEDs (x)4; 3.3v; 20mA draw
Left Arm:
LEDs (x)8; 3.3v; 20mA draw
Right Arm
LEDs (x)8; 3.3v; 20mA draw

etc etc etc...

Once you have all your details nailed down, you can figure out what size battery you need, what resistors to place where, and your schematic of where everything needs to go. Drop me a PM if I can help any.

Edit: you answered this while I was writing, heh... As for the individual pots, that might be a headache in the longrun. If you're constantly adjusting the brightness of 4, 5, 6 individual LED banks, my guess is you're going to get tired of it eventually. If you want to do so, just place the potentiometer between the resistor and output line of each set of LEDs.

If not, put a single pot between the supply voltage and the resistor. Test this out first, as some LEDs are finicky about how little voltage they'll need to illuminate.

 

[PillowFire]

Ok, so basically, you use ohm's law to figure out the resistance you need, if that's what you want.

E=IR

It's very simple algebra.

You can also replace the E with a V

V=IR

or, Voltage=Current (I) divided by Resistance.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_2/1.html

 

[Deadguy]

Just to throw-in a penny's worth.. from a guy who doesn't know a whole lot about this stuff..

Four things..

1- All LEDs should be on the same pot, assuming you really need adjustability. However, I would suggest that the helmet lights need their own adjustable pot because those are the only "exposed bulbs", and if you wanted to film with it or something, you'll really wish you had control over them. Same thing goes for going to a show or something where the damn things are intolerable to look at, or too dark to notice them in a well lit environment.

2- If you want a single board, don't hardwire the connections. You'll need quick disconnects (plugs) or you will absolutely hate life getting in and out of the armor AND undersuit. You could either run the disconnects on the board, or better still, run them at the armor plates and the board. This would allow you to not only run the wire through the undersuit, but actually keep it embedded there when you take everything off, and/or replace/repair components.

3- Parallel is always great on paper, but if you run the calf-lights and thigh lights in series, it allows you to run a single main disconnect per leg, which again, seems like a safe bet... you could still put a disconnect between the shins an thigh, plus one at the board too. Making the system less complex, and more friendly for wearing at the same time. A full parallel system is going to be a wiring nightmare, for wearing/removing/concealing/repairing/etc.

4- an "upgrade" might be to put a light sensor somewhere on the suit, to activate the armor lights. I'd still put the helmet lights on an independant switch though.. similar to how you have to turn-out the helmet lights in-game. If you DO use a light sensor, I suggest having a bypass switch for it too, so you can still show-em off when you want to, or blaze into light on a darkened convention stage.

 

[PillowFire]

I would like to add that, whilst everything said above seems complex, it is extraordinarily easy. A light sensor is not some fancy black magic configuration, it is simply a sensor unit soldered in just like any other component. As I imagine it, you could have the thing work as a variable resistor, so that the resistance variates directly correlating with the ambient light.

This basically means that in place of a potentiometer, you put a photoresistor. Perhaps you might need another resistor to make sure your LED's can't get blown out by a bunch of bright light. Or, you could just get a photoresistor with a certain min-max threshold fit for the LED's you are using.

The wiring and the schematic is very simple, but the effect is very high tech.

Depending on the backround light, the LED's will adjust in brightness as if by magic. Wonderful effect to all onlookers.