Pulse rifle counter

[Prefect42]

Juno,

Thanks for your prompt answer to my question via PM. Much appreciated.

I just sent off money for a PR board. Very excited!

Ted.

 

[juno]

Thanks, Ted. MooMooEgg, it is pre-assembled.

I'd like to note that the current board is only good with the resin PR shrouds. We're changing the board size for the metal PR shrouds. The new board will be ready in 3 - 4 weeks.

 

[Prefect42]

I just received my PR counter in mail today. WOW! This is a nice board. Looks like something off of an assembly line. Veeeerrrrry professional.

I need to tear my PR apart to wire it up the the switch under the trigger. So a more thorough review is a few days out. But LIGHTBENDERS, MATSUO and JUNO have knocked this one out of the park as far as I'm concerned.

Best part is how small it is. Shouldn't take much to install it into my MATSUO resin shrouds.

Thanks all,

Ted.
Prefect42.

 

[juno]

Thanks, Ted! Definitely post photos if / when you get a chance.

 

[zsherman]

Wow, that looks awesome!

 

[WardenTorBaaL]

Nicely done guys! I suppose the "magazine empty" switch could also be a "slide pulled back and round in the chamber" switch?

 

[DBoz]

Damn. I wish I had seen this about two weeks ago. I just bought a Hyperdyne counter. I think I am going to have to order one of these anyway. The small form and low profile LED are too much to pass up.

 

[VitaminZinc]

That... is pure awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Harry Harris]

Very cool! I had no idea about this, you guys should post over in the Aliens Legacy sales section.

Harry

 

[DBoz]

Sorry to necropost, but I thought this might be useful information.

I'm working on my pulse rifle and am using a Lightbenders counter. I had hoped to use a 3V CR2032 coin type battery because there is very little space in the shrouds, but these little batteries don't have the umph to power the counter. It will light up, but the counting function won't work. It will work with 3V CR123A battery, which is quite a bit smaller than a 9V, but also quite a bit bigger than the coin type battery.

 

[Nightcat]

Hi DBoz,

The board has a diode in series with the battery, to prevent an inadvertent reverse connection from destroying the board. The diode drops some of the battery voltage. If you short this diode out, it may allow the board to operate on a single CR2032. Of course, you now have to be careful not to connect the battery backwards.

Another option, if you have room, is stacking two CR2032's to get 6V. The board is happy with anything up to 9V (don't exceed 9V!).

Here's a pic of the location of the diode. I don't know how to make the picture show up large in this post, but if you click on it, you'll get a large image.

View attachment 53988​

 

[DBoz]

Thanks for the information. I may try the stacking option.

Edit:

I tried stacking the batteries, but this didn't work either. I don't think the problem is the voltage as the CR123A battery is also a 3V battery and it works fine. It seems that it may be a current issue. The CR2032 batteries are only 220mAh and the CR123A are much higher. I was getting 5.5 V with the batteries stacked and it still wasn't working. I think I will stick with the 123A and figure out somewhere to mount it.

Thanks again.

 

[barney five]

Are they still in business? I will need a counter for my HCG metal shrouds. I try to contact them over the Lightbenders Board, but got no reply at all....

 

[juno]

Hey Barney -- there isn't a Lightbenders board, just the Web site: Lightbenders. I believe Nightcat is my dad, aka Mr. Lightbender, but I'll have to confirm that tomorrow morning!

 

[barney five]

Thanks juno, of course i meant the website. have emailed to the lightbenders.info contact adress.

 

[juno]

Apparently, their Web master is a moron. Oh wait, that's me! I had the wrong e-mail address in the contact info. It's lightbenders@lightbenders.info

 

[Matsuo]

Webmasters are a surly lot...

M

 

[juno]

Webmasters are a surly lot...

M

We are so gonna fight! Oh wait ... you might have a better arsenal.

 

[Nightcat]

Hmmm... It should run on 3V (even less). One caveat is that the lower the voltage, the more current it draws because it is a constant power draw board. As you correctly point out, the CR2032s don't have a lot of current capacity. They won't last very long.

I'll work on one and see if I can make it happy on a 3V CR2032.

 

[exoray]

The CR2032 has a maximum rated pulse discharge rate of about 15-20mA for a few seconds... Max sustained discharge rate is give or take 3-4mA... That is enough juice to drive say 1 or 2 LEDs in short durations, but nothing more... That is not to say you can't overdrive the battery and milk a little more juice out of it for a short period as you can, but you are going to send it to an early grave...

Driving 2 seven segments and a µProcessor, simply exceed what the CR2032 can supply within specs...

On the flip side the CR123A is designed for high current draws, it can sustain a 1000mA drain and can go as high as say 3500mA on pulse... It would take about 200-300 CR2032s to keep up with that