Evolution of the Countdown

[Ei luj]

OK, I get what that Frisket film is for now... I’ve never seen that. The only reason I said something is because I could see the LEDs. It wasn't because of the brightness. Good and bright LEDs are great for visibility in daylight. For my circuit the brightness is a combination of the LED limiting resistor and the transistors limiting transistor. That's why my top two sets were dimmer then the rest, I didn't have enough resistors.

When I used acrylic on my computer case I used two different methods to make it opaque. I started with the scratch pad and then ended up bead blasting it. I had big area to cover and blasting it was convenient.

Your welcome,
Shawn

OK, I see what you mean, the "eyes" of the LEDs are visible.......

kinda like when the black eye makeup gets left off in the rush to get suited up

Turns out the LEDs I really really wanted are rectangular and bright, and there's a built in diffuser, but they weren't available any more from my favorite electronics shop

Speaking of said shop, I popped in after work and got some AAA battery holders and made some 6 packs** (BATTERIES, not BEER )

here's a couple pix,

on the board:

and now the board is skinnier (yup, I put it on a diet ):

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Ei'luj

**included in accessories

 

[greyback]

Congrats on your awesome countdown device, I'm rather speechless !

It just gonna look killer once integrated in the full suits!!!

 

[Brandon1]

Thats Damn nice!

and the only 6 pack i won't be trying to drink XD

 

[Ei luj]

Congrats on your awesome countdown device, I'm rather speechless !

It just gonna look killer once integrated in the full suits!!!

Greyback,

Many thanks, last week I finished the Rev. A’s, just a couple left to test, then I can get to the one for myself

Thats Damn nice!

and the only 6 pack i won't be trying to drink XD

many thanks, you got me and I'm glad you like it (the countdown plus the beer!)

Here’s some more background info, on old countdown, post 31, the first sheet has the AVP sequence, each row is about one second long, and has whatever is lit indicated:
http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...=5329&st=20

I looked at each column and got the maximum number of segments used per column, and that became the LED pattern that went in that particular window.

I went across and added up the segments; it turns out the total is 33 LEDs.

My IC has 32 outputs and so I used a driver chip to run two LEDs off of one output line… fortunately the last window’s segments all light up, then in the next row they are all off, so the cheat works.

This helped me write the code, just tell it brute force what to do...

Again my thanks to everybody for their encouragement, support, kind words, and especially Bovine13 for the referrals

People have been asking about the P2, so a countdown that fits Biohunter76’s P2 gaunt is coming to life, the schematic, layout, IC programming, parts purchase and board order are done, so its rolling

I used the AVP sequence, and just left the rightmost window off….but needed different size and placement of the windows -- again thanks to Dieabolic for the sketch he sent & Biohunter76 for the gaunt! – the sketch matches the gaunt to a T and that’s what made the template possible.

Then the schematic is drawn, and from that a layout is done; I use ExpressPCB, it has a schematic capture and PCB layout that work together. You can download the programs from their website: http://www.expresspcb.com/.

Since I had the AVP done, it was a matter of editing the schematic and layout and doing a little rearranging.

Since the layout prints 1:1 it made it easier to move the LEDs to fit the template.

Before:

After:

the two boards compared, P2 on right, AVP on left:

Coming soon to this thread: A built P2 board with the same sequence as the AVP, but without the fifth window. Boards came in Friday and I have all the parts, so am going to start building

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Ei'luj

 

[Ei luj]

No problem, I'm really liking the ease of use with the Arduino. It didn't take that much for me to get up and running. Since I'm allready familiar with C, I had no problems with the programming side. Especially since there are examples of everything.

I know there are plenty of examples out there better then mine for a small display matrix. I just like that I was able to actually do it. When making things like this it's alway nice to have options too. Basically, I'm glad I could bring something to the table that would make someone think about it.

Could multiplexing be reduce the part count in your original designs? Or is it just something that would be a different way to do it?

Off of the circuit topic... If you use a green scratch pad you can dull the lense and defuse the light. That will make the light fill out the rectangle and hide the LEDs. With your set up I think it would look best on the inside of the lense.

Master Anubis,

more on multiplexing, I built up this circuit for another application and found that the timing needed to switch back and forth between the segments meant that the segments weren't on long enough for easy viewing, they were too dim. So I split it up into two ports, one for each segment and modified the code accordingly.

see this site for code and circuit diagram:

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:0zF2p...lient=firefox-a

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Ei'luj

 

[predator666]

P2 gauntlet on the way WOO! U go girl Will defo be picking up 1 of these in June/July. Cant wait to see the working version, cheers Julie

 

[xdmray]

wow. hey julie is the P2 board for a specific makers P2 gaunt?

 

[Ei luj]

Predator666..., Xdmray

many thanks and I gotta get cracking on it (despite changing from day shift Mon Tue Wed to night shift Thu & Fri this last week..... I get to reverse the process this next week also..... @_@)

To answer your question, Xdmray, it fits a Biohunter76 P2 gaunt.

Here's the tracing of it that Dieabolic did off of his gaunt & sent to me; see if it matches what you have:

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Ei'luj

 

[xdmray]

very nice, im glad you are doing the P2 also. i need to start saving!

 

[Bovine13]

Julie.....you are awesome. Thats it....awesome.

 

[MasterAnubis]

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:0zF2p...lient=firefox-a[/url]

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Ei'luj

That's the stuff. My circuit is setup nearly identical to Fig. 6. PICBASIC doesn't call to me, that's for sure.

I didn't care about the dimming, I knew if you were to light it a sixth of the time it wouldn't be full brightness. I also don't know how bright they would really need to be to be seen in the majority of situations. I might just have to continue on and see now.

I'm almost done with my blade gauntlet and will move right into the other. They have small versions of the Arduino micro controller I'm using that doesn't include the USB connectivity and use the same DIP just a smaller trimmed PCB. I think one of those would make it fit fine into my gauntlet.

Like I said, your inspiring. Thanks for the links, too.

Shawn

 

[Ei luj]

Julie.....you are awesome. Thats it....awesome.

Like I said, your inspiring. Thanks for the links, too.

Shawn

many thanks Scott Shawn Xdmray Predator666

You all made my week; after working a weeks worth of night shift and then at the end of the week getting hit by the XP Guardian 2010 virus I really needed the boost (am writing this from a Linux box )

More progress pix

Fit fit and more fit; Exacto knife the inside where the board corners meets the gaunt so it doesn't wobble

the wrist end:

the elbow end :

Windows and LED positions match:

The built board and the overlay under construction:

Board and overlay with the leather backing and velcro that holds it in; short screws and nuts secure it:

Front

back

There's enough room in the "wing" part at the elbow end for the 9v battery; it velcros in also.

It runs!

thanks for watching

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Ei'luj

 

[Usurper]

this is just super sweet.

this is one of those little things that shows the extra mile has been gone with a suit build. and again shows the people of the lairs ingenuity.


A++++

 

[shockwave1]

Just brilliant!

Don't know what happened to your link, but this should work...

 

[Ei luj]

Shockwave,

thanks for fixing it, I think I know what happened.... I left some of the tag off

(plus not enough sleep; @#$% virus.... *gggrraaaaarrrrr!!! powers up plasmacaster and goes after virii writers*)

Usurper,

*shy grin* thanks again

(OT: gonna have to nuke the harddrive from orbit & reinstall, but that won't hinder me

Greatly tempted to start a thred about virii in the General Discussion...)

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Ei'luj

 

[predator666]

Absolute legend Julie, cant wait to get 1 now for my P2 suit in the summer

 

[Darkwolf1]

Julie that is the absolute "bomb" really bad pun sorry. I can't believe the level of detail, just amazing. I know it's probably my fault and I'm reading right over it but....did you post how much you were going to sell these for? It's a absolute must add down the road.

 

[Ei luj]

Julie that is the absolute "bomb" really bad pun sorry. I can't believe the level of detail, just amazing. I know it's probably my fault and I'm reading right over it but....did you post how much you were going to sell these for? It's a absolute must add down the road.

Darkwolf,

I love bad puns, I torment people with 'em "thats a crappie one I did just for the halibut"

Many thanks for the props

I think I sent that PM with the details...... if I didn't, lemme resend....




(errrgh, virii make me wanna go Carlart, Robillicus, and Arbitrator all at the same time on the vermin that write 'em)
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Ei'luj

 

[Bovine13]

Cheers Julie. Another stellar piece of gear from the Arbitrator herself. The design and build itself is clean and neat. Awesome.

 

[Ei luj]

Cheers Julie. Another stellar piece of gear from the Arbitrator herself. The design and build itself is clean and neat. Awesome.

Many thanks, Scott

more goodies in the works

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Ei'luj


(OT: progress being made in the hunt for bugs, i.e. malware, da Arbitrator is cleaning out the nest....)