My Han in Carbonite panel upgrades 23 Nov 2013
- Thread starter kurtyboy
- Start date
Warpcell
Active Member
I know this is an old thread, but in regards to attaching the panels to the block, I intend to use rare earth magnets. This way I can remove the panels if I ever need to move the block. I'm just at the beginning of my construction so I'll post a thread when its underway. Thank you for this thread! It was very helpful!!!
bpatneaude
Active Member
Re: WIP: Han in Carbonite (panels)
Thanks
Brian
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Hey i was curious about 2 things, 1 what are the paint colors for these 2 panels, 2 what are the 4 small greeblies that go around the scanner on hero 1,
Thanks
Brian
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Slave1
Sr Member
Ironically, I was playing Battlefront tonight and the recently vacated carbonite slab showed the yellow LEDs this way. Yes, I was actually checking out the virtual panels to see what they did with them.
I have that data at home. By all reports they are electrically fragile and you need to design your circuit carefully to ensure reliable startup and avoid burning them out prematurely.
I have actually been planning to do a design and build - and maybe a run someday if there was enough interest - once I get my workshop put back together. I have a few of the displays on hand and all the test equipment needed. It is really a matter of free time (very little) and motivation...
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Hmm now I am scared. My current plan is to use the fettronics board outputs for the 7 segment displays to switch Solid State relays which will control the 160v DC cathode connections to the gas discharge segments. I was just thinking that I would only need a 22k resistor on the anode. Does that sound like a valid plan or am I risking destroying the displays?
Thanks,
Mike
Thanks,
Mike
According to spec, the displays require 160vdc to fire, and typically less to maintain. I’m not sure where the sweet spot is reliability & longevity wise. That would take a little experimentation. But, given the expected steady state current (very low), you would be running them pretty close to the firing voltage using a 22k resistor.
If you are switching with relays, it might be prudent for the driver circuit to use some capacitance and/or clamping diodes - to avoid voltage spikes during switching. Although, if you overdue that, the display may not fire reliably. It’s a trade off. And these displays are way older than the manufacturer expected them to last. The actual specs may be somewhat drifted from those originally published. So, more experimentation.
I’m not familiar with the fettronics board. If you could send me a link or some references I’d like to see what other solutions are already out there before I spend a lot of time needlessly reinventing the wheel.
I’m also interested in the pattern people use. I half suspect that the prop makers just had each segment that blinked independently on a random timer. That would have been the easiest thing to do. If so, designing a board that recreates the exact pattern that appeared on screen will be a lot harder for us than it was for them.
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Here is the link to the Fettronics board http://www.fettronics.com/Showcase2.Htm
That appears to be a LED board. If your idea is to drive individual relays with the LED driver outputs to the segments... that might work. Depending on the relay being used, and the current capacity of the driver chip, and whatever you decide to use for the HV power supply. But I think it’s a risky idea. Both for the Fett board and for the nixie displays.
If there are no better solutions. Looks like I’ll be doing a little freelance design work after all. Driving the displays will be the easy part (for me). The hard part will be coming up with an economical way to reproduce the pattern that doesn’t involve using a modern micro-controller - a solution I think it unlikely the original prop-makers used. ;-)
Does anyone have a reference for the actual pattern? I don’t really have good tools to do screenshots. And all I remember from watching the movie is that they didn’t use any of the vertical segments, only the horizontal ones.
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From what I know, all of the horizontal bars light, one panel has a 1 (2 vertical segments), +, and - that all light. As for pattern, I can not say if there is one and what it could be but I know the current suppliers of the electronics put in a lot of effort to replicate the patterns from the different movies and scenes.
For the other electronics, I got these from Amazon:
High voltage DC power supply (I will drive from a separate 12v power source)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074N5LVFH/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
SSR Boards are 8 channel 5v can handle 240v 2a loads that I found on ebay. Not sure if the Fettronics output is 5v. I will measure. May need to try and find 3v relay boards or possibly boost the signal with transistors to the 5v.
High voltage DC power supply (I will drive from a separate 12v power source)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074N5LVFH/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
SSR Boards are 8 channel 5v can handle 240v 2a loads that I found on ebay. Not sure if the Fettronics output is 5v. I will measure. May need to try and find 3v relay boards or possibly boost the signal with transistors to the 5v.
As an alternative to relays, you might try the nixie drivers the Russians made: KM155ID1.
With relays you have the issue of voltage standoff and back emf. Conservative design would require a 320v relay - drivable from a low voltage & current source. I haven’t checked the datasheet on those chips yet. But if they are well designed they should have clamping diodes and stuff built in to address the major issues.
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You can pretty much do anything you want if you go with one of the myriad micro-controller boards out there and are willing to learn whatever language that board uses for programming.
I wanted to go more old-school and figure out how to do it with the equivalent of discrete TTL components; which is what I imagine more in line with what the original prop makers did. It would end up being a way simpler circuit - once you figure out whatever tricks they used.
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