MOD : how to make marvel legends iron man helmet light up continuously

[savmagoett]

Hi there everyone, so I want my Marvel Legends Iron Man helmet to light up with my Homekit setup via a smartplug.

To do that I've shunted the jaw push button, connected the output of a 6V power adapter into the battery compartment and placed it on the smartplug. The helmet does lights up when the smart plug turns on, but the problem is that the auto switch off still turns the lights off after a few minutes.

I have basic electricity knowledge but none about electronics, can anyone tell me if there's a way to make the helmet light up continuously ? (Preferably without any knowledge in electronics )

 

[moom1881]

Hi there everyone, so I want my Marvel Legends Iron Man helmet to light up with my Homekit setup via a smartplug.
View attachment 1372237

To do that I've shunted the jaw push button, connected the output of a 6V power adapter into the battery compartment and placed it on the smartplug. The helmet does lights up when the smart plug turns on, but the problem is that the auto switch off still turns the lights off after a few minutes.
View attachment 1372241

I have basic electricity knowledge but none about electronics, can anyone tell me if there's a way to make the helmet light up continuously ? (Preferably without any knowledge in electronics )

View attachment 1372242

You will need to bypass the circuit board I believe. I can't tell where the lights connect to the circuit board from your picture so the following is pretty much a stab in the dark:

Taking a guess I'd say there's an IC under the black blob that turns the lights on and off, probably via the transistor Q1.
If you're happy to give it a go you could use a multimeter to measure the voltages on Q1 when the light is on/off to determine which pad is feeding the lights (likely the one with the highest voltage). Then you would just need to attach the same voltage directly to that pad to turn on the lights.

Alternatively if it's not Q1 powering/that's too much of a pain, them you could trace the wires from the lights back to the circuit board. They should have common terminations so applying the same voltage as when the lights are on normally directly to one will turn them all on. Just make sure you identify which wire is positive/negative correctly as LEDs don't like being hooked up backwards.

 

[savmagoett]

I'll try that thanks

 

[savmagoett]

Bypassing the circuit board was the simplest way to go, it works like a charm.
In the video I switch off the helmets with the homekit app quickly for the demo, but they stay on as long as I want.
Thanks moom1881
(FYI the power output for the lights are n°1 and n°3)

 

[moom1881]

Glad to see you figured it out, that's a cool display

 

[savmagoett]

Glad to see you figured it out, that's a cool display

Thanks, and actually it's not finished yet, the Iron Man helmet is just sitting on a bunch of cylinders quickly taped together, I plan to make a shoulder bust that fits whit the Mark III… one day

 

[Vaxx]

Hi! I'm trying to do this myself with little to no experience with circuitry. Could you explain, when you bypass the circuit board, what exactly are you doing> re-routing the wires from the LED's straight to the power supply?

When moom1881 says 'Then you would just need to attach the same voltage directly to that pad to turn on the lights' i get lost lol.

Sorry to re-open the thread, but any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[savmagoett]

Hi! I'm trying to do this myself with little to no experience with circuitry. Could you explain, when you bypass the circuit board, what exactly are you doing> re-routing the wires from the LED's straight to the power supply?

When moom1881 says 'Then you would just need to attach the same voltage directly to that pad to turn on the lights' i get lost lol.

Sorry to re-open the thread, but any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hi Vaxx, I didn't remove or cut anything in the helmet if that's what you're wondering (except remove the batteries of course). I simply wired the two pads labeled 1 and 3 (marked by yellow arrows in the photo) to a 5v direct current power supply bought on amazon. As they are LEDs, first check if the eyes light-up by connecting the wires by hand, if they don't, just invert the wires, then you can solder them to the pads. And that's all it takes.

 

[Vaxx]

Hi Vaxx, I didn't remove or cut anything in the helmet if that's what you're wondering (except remove the batteries of course). I simply wired the two pads labeled 1 and 3 (marked by yellow arrows in the photo) to a 5v direct current power supply bought on amazon. As they are LEDs, first check if the eyes light-up by connecting the wires by hand, if they don't, just invert the wires, then you can solder them to the pads. And that's all it takes.

Ohhhh okay! That makes much more sense! Appreciate the quick reply man!

Cheers!

 

[Vaxx]

Ohhhh okay! That makes much more sense! Appreciate the quick reply man!

Cheers!

You don't happen to have a link to the power supply you purchased, do you?

 

[savmagoett]

You don't happen to have a link to the power supply you purchased, do you?

I'm in Europe, so I doubt the link will be useful to you except for the specs, but here it is anyway :

Aukru® EU Plug 5V 2A 3.5mm Alimentation Chargeur secteur Adaptateur 3.5mm x 1.35mm Pour hdmi switcher usb 3.0 Hub: Amazon.fr: Informatique

Achetez Aukru® EU Plug 5V 2A 3.5mm Alimentation Chargeur secteur Adaptateur 3.5mm x 1.35mm Pour hdmi switcher usb 3.0 Hub: Amazon.fr ✓ Livraison & retours gratuits possibles (voir conditions)

www.amazon.fr

 

[Vaxx]

I'm in Europe, so I doubt the link will be useful to you except for the specs, but here it is anyway :

Aukru® EU Plug 5V 2A 3.5mm Alimentation Chargeur secteur Adaptateur 3.5mm x 1.35mm Pour hdmi switcher usb 3.0 Hub: Amazon.fr: Informatique

Achetez Aukru® EU Plug 5V 2A 3.5mm Alimentation Chargeur secteur Adaptateur 3.5mm x 1.35mm Pour hdmi switcher usb 3.0 Hub: Amazon.fr ✓ Livraison & retours gratuits possibles (voir conditions)

www.amazon.fr

lol. again, forgive my ignorance with electrical wiring, but did you just cut the end off to expose the wires and then solder them?

 

[savmagoett]

You can do just that.
I wanted to be able to easily unplug the helmet from the power supply, it has a standard 3,5/1,35mm connector so I made a short cable with a corresponding female plug I had in my spare parts. I put the wires through a slot in the battery casing, the did what I described before.

 

[Vaxx]

You can do just that.
I wanted to be able to easily unplug the helmet from the power supply, it has a standard 3,5/1,35mm connector so I made a short cable with a corresponding female plug I had in my spare parts. I put the wires through a slot in the battery casing, the did what I described before.

Gotcha! Thanks a bunch for the help!!

 

[propmainiac]

Thanks, and actually it's not finished yet, the Iron Man helmet is just sitting on a bunch of cylinders quickly taped together, I plan to make a shoulder bust that fits whit the Mark III… one day

What kind of power supply did you use? Volts and amps? Thanks