Electronics And Armor?

[GMer56]

I'd run wires from the parts all the way to the torso (perhaps have the wires hidden in the under suit, and they connect under the armor), where I'll have a 6v NiCad rechargeable battery hiding.
The question is this: What electronics are actually necessary for a suit of armor that looks good, and would having lights on the different armor parts enhance the effect? (e.g. lights on the arm piece, leg piece, etc.)

 

[Carpathia]

This is actually an issue I've been thinking on myself. As far as I can tell, the only electronics neccessary for lighting up the suit are LED's and resistors (apart from the power supply and wiring). These would be very simple circuits to design and all but the wires could be housed in the various pieces of armor. If you're really ambitious, you could put one or two switches in the helmet that would control all of the lights. I've seen helmets with lights on either side of the visor before, but the lights were controlled by two different switches (on per side) and on the inside of the helmet (requiring the wearer to take off the helmet if they wanted to turn the lights on). My plan, when I get to it, would be to put maybe two switches at the bast of the helm (one to control the helm lights and one to control the rest of the suit lights).

 

[GMer56]

Yeah, I was thinking something along those lines.
making wire run all through the armor could be a little messy if done improperly, I definitely am not making each part run on an individual battery, because they would be expensive to replace.
Why not place the switches somewhere no one would look? There are those little pouch things on the sides of the pelvic armor that could be a little chamber to store them (put on a little door ), and when you turn them on it would just look like you are looking for a clip, or a pen!
Where would be a good place to get the proper colored LEDs for cheap? Solarbotics?

 

[Carpathia]

Great idea with the location for the switches in the belt. I've used this site in the past to purchase LED's. They're pretty quick and not very expensive, and they have a huge selection.

 

[spaz47]

I was loking at halo 1 mark V armor. Out of the four areas for lights only one is actually a light. What are the other three for?

 

[Carpathia]

I was loking at halo 1 mark V armor. Out of the four areas for lights only one is actually a light. What are the other three for?

I'm not sure. Do you have a reference picture you can post? It may help to clarify your question.

 

[M07Marauder]

I've seen helmets with lights on either side of the visor before, but the lights were controlled by two different switches (on per side) and on the inside of the helmet (requiring the wearer to take off the helmet if they wanted to turn the lights on).

This is not true, I have mounted two separate switches (one on either side) in my helmet and with my padding in and everything I have no need to remove my helmet to switch the lights on.

All it would take is a reach in near either side of my jaw to switch the LED's on.

Sorry if I sound like a jerk, I'm not trying to .

The switches are nice and hidden inside my helmet .

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

Actually, electronics have been done quite a bit in the past, on both helmets and armor pieces. Connecting all of the pieces to a single, or to only a few, switches would be somewhat difficult if you don't want the wires showing. However, if you have the wires blend in with the undersuit well enough, and, say, stay attached in a uniform fashion, they'd be quite unnoticable, while still carrying the same effect.

You can't pull all of the LED's with a single 9v battery, though. So, you'll need to have separate batteries for each armor pieces, and have a single switch to activate them all at once.

 

[Syphon]

sounds close to the idea i had for my armor, i was gonna put one 9v batter on each piece that had lights, and maybe a couple for the helmet to run the fan and the big lights, would take a round eight 9v batteries, then i was just gonna hide a switch on each piece that would be easy to get to, like on the knee protector for the shins, inside the bicep for the arms (ill admit it, i has skinny arms lol), i was thinking about hiding the switches for the big lights in the little vents under the housing the light sit in, but ill have to work the details out on that one, and for the chest i was planning on adding a sound system so i was gonna have the left pec fold out on a hinge and i was gonna put the switch in there somewhere. whew, wadda wall of text lol

couple things i havent been able to figure out ( looked and couldn't find anything) is how long it takes one 5mm LED to drain a 9v battery, and what kinda lights are used on the side of the helm, i know someone used halogen bulbs but said he couldnt leave them on for very long cause of the heat they put off, is there any other good light to use?

PM me is ya can, i dont wanna jack this thread, thanks

 

[sharkhead7854]

What electronics are actually necessary for a suit of armor that looks good, and would having lights on the different armor parts enhance the effect? (e.g. lights on the arm piece, leg piece, etc.)

Many people on the site have put lights in their "spartan?" (sorry I don't know halo lolz) helmets. This topic will tell you exactly what you need and how to go about putting it together
http://405th.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2481

 

[GMer56]

Many people on the site have put lights in their "spartan?" (sorry I don't know halo lolz) helmets.

Yep, spartan helmets, its okay if you don't know much about halo, I just got the 1st game last year, and I knew just about squat. The LAN club in my school specializes in Halo, so I know so much about Halo now.

M07Marauder, the inside of the helmet is a good idea, but couldn't you turn your head the wrong way and flip the switches off, I mean, what if your helmet started sliding around?

Ah, Syphon, I would not mind a bit if you "Jacked" this thread (as long as my questions get answered and I hear other opinions I'm happy)

I think I'll be really careful and run wires from the chest piece to each light and stick a block of rechargeable batteries (I have an overstock of 6v NiCad from RC cars)in the chest piece. The irony is that the batteries would probably be in the same place as the Fusion reactor that power Master Chief's Armor. (or does the MarkVI armor run off something different than the Mark V?)

So exactly how many lights are on a Mark VI?
(that kinda sounded like "How many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop?")

*edit*
I've counted up to 8 (depending on if you want to double up on the thigh lights) decoration lights then the 4 Helmet lights.

 

[Syphon]

So exactly how many lights are on a Mark VI?
(that kinda sounded like "How many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop?")

*edit*
I've counted up to 8 (depending on if you want to double up on the thigh lights) decoration lights then the 4 Helmet lights.

did ya get the lights on the back of the calves to? they are hard to see but they are there, cant remember where i saw the ref pic that had them in it though. i think there is 8 if you count the thigh lights as 2 and 10 if you count them as 4 separate lights.

Hope that helps, ill see if i can find some good ref pics of all the lights

here ya go, found the pics, hadda dive into our very big image gallery, almost didnt make it out alive

hope these help

 

[Ehkru]

For placement of the switches, it could be possible to house them under the casing for the lights on the helmet, actually on the outside if they were done to be small, smooth switches that didn't stick out too much.. From what I can see from my Halo 3 Legendary helmet at least, there is a groove under that particular section that could be used to house a switch in each. One side could power the helmet light, whereas the other could trigger the armour's lighting. Of course, that make removing the helmet somewhat tricky, but if it proved too difficult, there are a myriad of places on the armour itself to house a small switch. It's probably worth running all the lights through careful and discrete wiring to a central power supply in the chest piece, then you can get something big enough to power all the lights at once to cut down on the amount of batteries in your armour and it saves turning each individual piece on and off.

 

[GMer56]

Ehkru, thanks!
An thanks to all of you!

 

[Cadet]

I picked this off these forums some time ago, long forgot which thread, it maps the locations of all the lights on Halo 3 version of the Mark VI:

 

[GuardianBaku]

I was loking at halo 1 mark V armor. Out of the four areas for lights only one is actually a light. What are the other three for?

Aside from the Flash Lights on the Helmet the other lights along the armor are the Shield Emitters providing the Mjolnir Armor it's protective invisi-shell. Or at least that is the only viable reason I can see for them to be there.

My plan for the lights is similar to Mr. RC Car battery there. With the addition of the pieces being modular. Meaning I'll have break away points for when I take the armor off. I also plan on using a diffuser plate over the LEDs in the system so they don't look like a bunch of lights and I want to make them flicker too.

 

[Syphon]

yea, i saw a thread a while back that talked about using a glue stick as a diffuser, just stick an LED at each end and turn them on, from what i remember it worked really good. another idea i saw somewhere was the curtain rods that you use to adjust the blinds, get a clear one of those and put the LEDs at the ends.

the curtain rod i can attest really works because i saw pics of the finished product, the guy used the rod to make his own angle eyes for his car's headlights, it diffused light really well and looked like the angle eyes that come on the high dollar headlights

 

[Christopher]

hi im new to 405th so id appreciate it if u helped me. I started my Mark vi armor and im done from the head to thighs. I made the pelvic armor one piece and its huge and the thigh armor actually tucks into the belt part. I realy dont want to start all over on that piece but if i decide to should i put aan actual belt inside and make it 2 pieces. Im also gonna start the boots now hi detail from the pepakura files its 3 pieces. Any tips or suggestions i heard something about putting a wood bottom on it. Im such a noob to halo armor id REALY APRECIATE IT if u helped me with my two delemas. I purchased an energy sword from TrueSwords.com to complete the look