Diving Head First Into Electonics...

For about a week now, I have been getting into wiring electronic devices for just expeirimental reasons, and to just see what I can do. So today, I went out to Radioshack, and bought some goodies to get started. I figured I would start simple, and assemble a working micro fan with a switch, and I present my first gadget to possibly go into my near completion Jango Helm.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...cfanswitch.jpg

I plan to move up when I practice re-wire a motor and possibly lead to installig a RC servo for the RF.

-tubachris

Good work there Chris. Keep me updated on your servo progress, I really want to sort one out for my bucket too.

Good luck

Dan

Here's an update. I took the battery pack, and a circuit board from the RC mouse toy car I had, and sodered the wires approprietly, and now I replaced the micro motor with a larger RC car motor I scraped for parts. And here it is, my first self-built RC motor, fully operational. The only issue ow, is how do I install it into my helmet...


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...newmotorRC.jpg
[COLOR=#ff4400][/COLOR]
-tubachris

So last night, I was testing the strength of the motor, and if it would be powerful enough to move the RF. Unfortunatly. this motor is not powerful enough. I was sure it wouldnt be in the first place. So the next thing is to find a suitble servo. I just found this online from fastcomponents.co.uk
It's called a sub-micro servo, you can see in the pictures that its only 2 cm long! I see that its also a pretty good price as well. but again, I am not sure how strong it is. Here's the link.

http://www.fastcomponents.co.uk/prod...products_id=74

-tubachris

Ok, after much persistance, I was able to head to a very large hobby shop in the area. I brought my helm and I go a servo. The had a massive counter full of a few hundred at least. The one I have is 4.8 volt powered, with 2.6kg output torque, roughly 5.7 pounds of torque. The servo itself is just as big as a small rectangular lighter. Anyways, I just need to figure how to arrange the servo horns and practice with the epoxy I got. I'll post pics later tonight if I can, got alot of homework these days...

-tubachris
(As my mom tells me, "If Star Wars was a school subject, you would be a straight A student...")

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Originally Posted by tubachris85x

(As my mom tells me, "If Star Wars was a school subject, you would be a straight A student...")

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:lol :lol Too funny!!

keep me updated buddy, if you get it working I may have to ask you to wire one up for me!

Dan

Well, I havent been able to get pictures, but I was trying to solve the voltage issue. Being that the servo I have requires 4.8 volts, I was thinking of adding two more 1.5 volt AA's with a resister on it. However, tonight, when looking for some dinner at the store, I came across the battery section, and found a 4 pack of AAA's, each of which equals 1.2 volts a piece. Simple mathe, 4 x 1.2 = 4.8 At this point, all I need to get now is a AAA battery holder that can hold 4 of them. Since that much is done, the only thing left is figuring how im gonna wire this thing.....

Another quick update on the actual RF. Ive taken two servo horns, cut the arms off so that I have two cylindrical horns. Since im only testing, I used some goop and attached them together so that it would be long enough to reach from the RF to the servo within the helm. Once I know it works I am gonna have to practice with the epoxy so that I dont screw anything up.

Oh the simple things in life we enjoy...

-tubachris
(Who's thankful my girlfriends grandfather is an electrical engineer...)

Well, I have been gone all weekend, but I was working with my G-friends grandfather on the servo. I feel that I may have recievd a faulty servo, or there is something we dont know about it. My original intent was to connect it to the RC board and go wireless. When I first attached the RC motor as a test, it only had 2 cables which made it simple to work. But this servo has 3 cables, one red, black and yellow. So now, I know that I cant use this servo on an RC board. However, while working with him, we tried to just power it and for some reason, it would just twitch once. We know there is something wrong with it, because it requires 4.8 volts and we even gave it exactly and just a bit more and it did nothing. We tried wire combinations, and everything. There is one more thing I can try to make it work, but its definatly not going into my helm with switches. He suggested connecting the battery pack to an SPDT as well as the servo. It would be a two way switch, flick one way, it would turn one direction and vice versa. So until I can find a suitable servo that will work with an RC, I wont have one. I am not however giving up on it. I am looking into possibly getting the hyperdyne servo kit that appears to be the rage.

So im going to test the new servo connection method and if it dosnt work, im just gonna take it back.

-tubachris

All right. I feel dumb. I should have researched this a bit more. I now know the reason why the servo didnt work. I need a servo control board. I originally thought the hyperdyne servo kit was an actual servo. Apon research I realized direct power to the servo will not work, because it requires pulses that are only created by the control board. Thats why it was just twitching. So now I know why it hasnt been working. The problem now is just gettin a control board, which I can make all the correct attachments, and in turn, connect it to the RC board. For now, I will just have to wait a bit before I can pay for a hyperdyne servo board, or possibly find something equal to it at the hobby shop. I'll keep this updated.

-tubachris
(How did I miss this?)

Ah technospeak, a language I'm sadly not fluent in. Perhaps once you get the hyperdyne servo etc, you could create a tutorial with pics showing the step by step progression of installing one in our buy'ce. I know it would help me to set mine up, otherwise I'm clueless right after I've bought the parts needed for the project...Thoughts?

:skull

Just my 2 cents, but if you get a hyperdyne servo RF kit thing I would install that first and then paint the helmet. I very kind member here painted my bucket, and I have been very careful with it trying to get the servo in. It's been kind of a pain trying not to mess up the outstanding paint job and make the mods that needed to be made.

I will post a tutorial to the best of my abilities, but it may not be for awhile, the hyperdyne control board is expensive right now, and I do not know where to find a similar control board. I just need the funds for it and then I can put it all together. Once that happens I'll make a tutorial up, that even the most completly unknowledgable person who's been living under a rock his whole life can put it together.

As of now, my helm is already painted, its not until after that I decided to do this. I dont think it would be that much of an issue of installing it, because the components are obviously inside. I imagine the only issue would be drilling a bigger whole for the servo gear w/ servo horn. However, there are still some touch ups I need to make because last night I discovered the power of a hot glue gun, and realized an alignment error with the mandables. It required a screw driver and my now painful thumb to take the visor off and remove the excess glue. Fortunatly, there is no damage to anything except my thumb, and a partial area on the helme that just merely got scratched. Easily fixed. This weekend, I will fix the mandable issue, and reattach the visor.

Back the servo project, hard enough as it is to get the parts right now, I dont intend on letting this idea go down toilet. Sure enough, it will happen.


-tubachris
(who was wondering last night how the mandables became uneven after extensive prep work and posistioning was done)

How much does the Hyperdyne servo cost? I've never really looked them up as I just learned about their existence the other day. I assume it's over $100 or so?

:skull

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Originally Posted by Dha_Syntir

How much does the Hyperdyne servo cost? I've never really looked them up as I just learned about their existence the other day. I assume it's over $100 or so?

:skull

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Servo Controller Board - $55.00
RF transmitter - $75.00
Servo - $35.00
And shipping, worth every dime.

Well that's not as bad as I thought really. I'm just wondering if my big head is gonna fit in my helmet with the servo etc, pcu fans x2, headset and microphones, camelback hose for a drink without taking my helmet off. I think that's all I have planned now anyway. May be a tight fit to say the least.

:skull

Well, thats alot of things to be having inside your helm, then again, your trooping, so its kinda necessary, and a comodity to have in the heat. For me however, I dont troop for (1) all I have is a helmet (2) no money to make a suit (3) no place ive seen to troop at, and (4) I just really like the helmet morso then having a whole suit. Dont get me wrong, I'd love to have one, but right now for me its not a necessity, nor is the helmet, but I decided since I will most likely never have a suit, that I would just get a helmet, cause its cool and a really nice display item. I really want to install a servo because to me and people who arent really into this, will think for that brief second, "is that thing real?" With certain things Ive seen so far in this hobby, you may think "well, this suit isnt functional, its just a costume." In many ways, thats right, but in others, its wrong. Yes, they arent made for battle, the blasters dont shoot, the flame thrower, well with certain people are real, but with all these upgrades and devices installed make these suits functional. They are user friendly when made to specifications. Like Dha_Syntir said, hes putting in fans, a mic, a camel back hose and may do a servo. The water hose and fans are what make it user friendly, and with the mic and servo, make it a functional suit. My reason for this is becaue it could be just a costume, but with everything like those mentioned above that are installed make it more then just a costume. I like to think of it as a fully functional Fett.


The reason for making my helm with little devices, will to me, make it seem that much more real. Although we are only imitating fictional things, we make them real to the eyes, the imagination and to those who wish to believe things like this, are real. Its exactly like music. We make music to entertain, excite and inspire people. Whats so different from the affects of our art work? Obviously the inspiration for me doing this came from this site. Its exciting seeing our suits in real life, knowing that its not everyday you see exact copies of famous movie characters. And all thie little things that I imagine the trooping does, also entertains, such as the parades and such. As Ive heard on this board awhile ago, when in costume, your are actors, in turn, your also a performers. As a musician, I do exactly the same, just another form of art. In marching band, Im the Tuba player, the stereotypical big guy (6'7 265lbs) playing on a seemingly large instrument. In some ways, that can be similar to this, because your fullfilling a role seldom seen in the world. I can say seldom because half the kids in my school never even heard of a tuba. Just to end my little rant by which I dont even know how it started, I will say that overall, the two thins are indirectly related. For I wouldnt even be a musician, if it werent for the music of Star Wars, and I wouldnt be sitting here writing about it if it werent for you guys, so I thank you for inspiring my current hobby.

-tubachris
(Who's gonna be the bad-a$$ souaphone player tonight in the marching band competition)

hey man nice job. do you think you could rewire my hyperdrive motivator?

You bet! ;)

:skull

Well as far as electronics goes, tonight, Im gonna install that 12v computer fan inside my helmet. I went by a radioshack yesterday and bought a smal batery holder that can hold one of those tiny 12v batteries. So Im just gonna attach it all together with that switch, and probaly hot glue it all in, or velcro, not sure yet. Gonna feel nice to have circulating air inside, especially during halloween and whatnot when I'll be runing around outside.

-tubachris

Cool Chris, I'd like to see a pic or two after you get it all together and all. I want to see how you've mounted and placed yours. It'll give me a better idea of how and where to place mine for maximum effectiveness. My plan was for at least one fan ould be mounted somehow so that hot sauna-like air would be blown out the back through the key slots or whatever. Then have another fan or two inside to cool things down. Was that wrongheaded thinking, or would it be feasible?

:skull

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dha_Syntir

Cool Chris, I'd like to see a pic or two after you get it all together and all. I want to see how you've mounted and placed yours. It'll give me a better idea of how and where to place mine for maximum effectiveness. My plan was for at least one fan ould be mounted somehow so that hot sauna-like air would be blown out the back through the key slots or whatever. Then have another fan or two inside to cool things down. Was that wrongheaded thinking, or would it be feasible?

:skull

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Hey, you know I thought about doing that, having fans blow air out the back vents for a "realism" effect. You can see how I placed mine in my helmet, just posted the pics. The reason I put it there, is because it was a small fan, and that I felt more of it on my forehead, then on my left side. I aslo put the switch in a location that is easily accessable, yet subtle. The whole set up is pretty simple. I did it through common sense. I went to radioshack, looked and found the smallest fan, a 12V fan, which was surprisingly $13. I then proceeded to those large drawers of switches and battery packs, and found the one way switches and got a pack of those. I then purchased a small battery holder, I believe the packaging said it was a "N" battery? Just ask them for a 12V battery, its really small, and you can match up the battery holder. You will aslo need a sodderin Iron.

The connecting of the cables is simple.(NOTE: do not have the battery in while connecting unless you want to be shocked) The fan has to cables, the Black, which is the neutral, and the Red, I beilieve for hot? Anyways, you take the Black cable from the fan, and sodder it onto one of the switch prongs. There are two sperate prongs on the switch. Male sure that the exposed portion of wire is addequetly attached to the prong. Then taking the red wire from the fan, and the red wire from the battery pack, twist together the exposed wires, and then sodder it so it dosnt come apart. After that, take the remaining Black wire from the battery pack and sodder it to the other prong on the switch. Once this is done, put the battery in and flip the switch and it should turn on. Another thing, for neatness, I cut the wires down so that I could lay it straight and flat, without having wires flaying everywhere. I hot glues the parts in and used tape to hold the wires together and hold them down. Heres the set up.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...edinteriro.jpg


For the heat fans, I wouldnt recommend it personally, because I live in Florida, and its hot enough as it is. I would just be afraid of your bucket super heating on you. I felt how hot the blow dryer made my helmt, the paint even got stcky for a little while. So I would just recommend using regular fans for that. Hope that it works out for you.

-tubachris

Mmmmmmmm a ventilator ... to be nice and cool jeje:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :jango :jaster

Heat fans? I was just going to use the simple CPU fans-although I hadn't thought about the fan in a hair dryer-that'd move some air, probably just enough to act as a bellows before it caught your hair on fire. And since I have enough hair for any 4 people, so that would truly concern me...That brings up another issue in my case-how to keep my hair out of the fans. I reckon I'll just have it braided and let it hang out the back.

I was also wondering about what I can only assume is your helmet liner of some sort. Where did you get it and how does it work for you? It looks perfect for me as it doesn't take up alot of room so I can add more gadgets inside. If you can and would recommend it, could you please try and hook me up with whomever you purchased it from? Was it pricey, or? Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dha_Syntir

Heat fans? I was just going to use the simple CPU fans-although I hadn't thought about the fan in a hair dryer-that'd move some air, probably just enough to act as a bellows before it caught your hair on fire. And since I have enough hair for any 4 people, so that would truly concern me...That brings up another issue in my case-how to keep my hair out of the fans. I reckon I'll just have it braided and let it hang out the back.

I was also wondering about what I can only assume is your helmet liner of some sort. Where did you get it and how does it work for you? It looks perfect for me as it doesn't take up alot of room so I can add more gadgets inside. If you can and would recommend it, could you please try and hook me up with whomever you purchased it from? Was it pricey, or? Thanks!

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Reagarding the fan, you said "sauna-like air" to come out the back, so thats what I thought you meant. As far as hair goes, I dont have much, Ive kept my hair military regulation since I was in 6th grade, so I dont know what you could do with yours as far as not interfering the cpu fans.

That little piece of foam is actually from an old triple 8 helmet I used when I was doing aggressive inline for awhile, and almost broke my neck, grinding my head (with the helmet on fortunatly) on the hard concrete. Left a massive scratch, not so different from Boba's "cat scratch" on the ROTJ helm. It works very well for me, its not too bulky and its not too small either, it makes it so that I am exactly eye level with the visor internally, which really works great. It also helps from the helmet wobbling around my head, I was thinking about getting a chin strap, or possibly even add more helmet pads if I can find some. I plan on putting a real liner that makes it look clean and sharp. I bought two yards of teo different materials, one is a black cloth, the other is like a paddish vanilla colored cloth. I expect to use the paddish cloth as an internal layer, and cover it with the black material so that it blends with the helmet interiror and so no light will reflect from it, exposing my face. I imagine thaat I could just use industrial strength velcro to hold it in. The hardest part though is cutting it in the right dimensions of my helmet. I also plan to have it hide the wires and merge with the fan, battery and switch. Im not sure yet what exactly I want to do. Another thing is the valuable signature from Vince, marking my helm as #13 and a BKBT. I was thinking about actully covering it with a clear piece of plastic to protect it. So many ideas for a liner though. Hope it helps.

-tubachris

I meant hot, sauna-like air as in the humid heat that will surely build up inside the helmet with me sweating and breathing inside. Hence the fan and vent to expel it. I confuse myself sometimes Chris, so I'm hardly surprised it befuddled you also...:lol

I stopped in Radio Shack earlier today and picked up the same micro fan you bought, but they didn't have the same one way switches, nor the same power supply/battery holder. In it's place, I picked up a single AA battery holder for the power supply, and a micromini toggle switch-although I do have another push button switch I found here, shown in the below photo, albeit a bad pic...Before I go soldering things together incorrectly and burning up the fan motor or the switch I thought I'd ask and see if the fan will work fine before I go hooking it all up. So what do you think?

Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it. I thought this was going to be a major ordeal to set up, but so far it's not been so bad. Hopefully the parts I picked up will work sufficiently. The only issue I think may be the power supply/battery holder. Electrical work is fairly foreign to me as I've said, but hopefully with help from folks here I'll get all my wiring etc done myself. Now I just need to find a tutorial for setting up an led spotlight on my gauntlet(s) and/or helmet, as well as blinking/non-blinking colored lights here and there also and I'll be well upon my way...

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/7...fankit2zs8.jpg

:skull

Well I hope im helping you with this. From your pic, you have what you need, however, ive never used a toggle switch. One though is that your gonna have to get the smaller battery pack so that you can get the 12 Volts needed, or els it won't run to its best. So thats what you should do.

-tubachris

Just curious, because I just saw the picture for the first time, because my PSP wouldnt let me open it. I imagine you could use the toggle switch, assuming it works in the same way as the switch I have, because the toggle switch appears to be one way as well. I would just be concerned with how you would want to mount it inside. Dont get me wrong, it would work, I'm just suggesting probly trying to find something flatter. All the parts I used did not all come from the same Radioshack, because I could not find everything I needed. Now you have the fan, it runs on 12 Volts. At first, I ignored that really, and I just attached two AA batteries to it. In order for it to move after I fliped the switch, I had to boost it with my fingers, and then it would run. I had to 2 of them on the fan, so only one, I can only imagine wont run well at all. Trust me, it took awhile for me to realize that, I just thought the fan sucked at the time. So you just need to get the appropriate battery holder. I recommend going to a different Radioshack, you may have more luck. Your only other option is using 6 AA batteries, but thats unecessary when you could only use one.

Just another thing about the button switch you have. It looks like it has two black wires coming from it? Ive never seen that before, but then again, Im still learnign about it as well, so you could just experiement with it, and see what happens. Just get the correct battery holder, and it should be smooth sailing from there.

-tubachris

Yeah, I kinda thought the AA battery holder wouldn't work, but I'm sure I'll be able to use it elsewhere to power a few leds on the RF don't you think? I went to Radio Shacks site, which I should have done initially, and finally think I know what parts I'll need. The "N" battery holder part #270-405 is the one you used, correct? And I also found the slide switches you mentioned as well, so I'm going to go ahead and order it all after I'm sure that the above part number is the one you used-it must be as it's the only "N" battery holder they carry as far as I can tell. I wasn't sure how I was going to mount the mini-toggle switch-probably epoxying it on it's side after grinding it a bit flat on one side. I'll just use them on my gauntlet later on down the line. Now I just need to learn how to wire a series of leds back to one or two power supplies/battery holders...Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks again Chris, you've been extremely helpful as usual...

:skull

The "N" battery holder its the correct one that I have. So far t=you have everything for the fan. I dont know how exaclty LED's would work, perhaps if you post some pics I could make a logical guess, maybe they may function similar to the connection of the fan. Are you planning to put this on the RF front? Or the interior part that faces inward on the RF? I have heard of methods that use a ball bearing I believe, so that when you lower it, the ball rolls forward, and the LED switches on, and turns off when the RF returns up to its usual position.

Just to throw this out, I had an idea while on the bus to a marching band compitition. As I notced everybody's several hundred dollar cell phones, I noticed that, especially on the flip phones, they have mini screens. I had the idea of if ever possible, to get hold of a cheap phone, and dissassemble it, removing the small screen and seeing if I could control it to some affect, and put it on the RF. Would be awsome if I were able to do something like that. Just an idea.

-tubachris

Now that I think I have a handle on helmet fan project for the most part, now I want to move on to leds. I want to just have some leds here and there on my armor-like the two in the MQ-1/key slot area on the helmet as well as the range finder and gauntlets etc-some always lit and others blinking. I figure I can use a similar power supply/switch as used in the helmet fan project but I have one problem. I'm not sure what the receptacle that the led itself is plugged into. See what I'm looking for? I have the leds but I'm stumped on what I need to make this happen. And what will I need to make some of the leds blink-and anything else I'll need for the project? Thanks guys-sorry, but I'm NO electrician to say the very least...

:skull

You know, after realizing how much humidity in the air and ther amount of heat there was on halloween, Im thinking about upgrading to a larger fan. Good thing is, even the larger fans Ive seen still run on 12v.


The LED's I imagine needs a board to sycronize the blinking. Ive seen them before, and I think the hyperdyne servo control board actually does come with two led lights that work in sync with the servo moving up and down. Kinda funny, can kill to birds with one stone. Unless, you can try to buld a circuit board. I know that at a radio shack, they have all the parts so you can construct something, the thing is, you need to know what to do. lol, thats where experimentation comes in, because I have no idea how to. I have actually thought about this, something to try in the future. Was just wondering if anyone before has ever thought about using a small cell phone screen to manipulate to put in the rangfinder, woould be pretty cool.

-tubachris

This is my kind o thread!! I'm a college student at Cal Poly Pomona, major in...... yea electronic technology!! if yea seen my friends C3P0 outfit i made the eye lights and fan in his helmet work.... not to mention rig it so the power supply was in his back!!

LEDs are nice little lights, but they really don't "plug in", yea sodder them to wires. be extra carful due to they have a charge, you must make sure the posative side of the batter is hooked to the posative side of the LED..... i asume you guys know this

any questions, i can most likly answer..... ok i will try and answer. Blinking lights, may i recomend useing capacitors?... they are fun and can discharge and recharge at a rate you want thme to... but that may also be more complex... too long of post, sorry!

one more thing, if you have pictures of things you need help with, i could help yea out.

Ha, finnally someone who knows what their doing unlike me trying to learn it through trial and error, zappin myself, only endin up to look like Albert Eistein's hair. I managed not to long ago to replace a whole light fixture in my house's laundry room. The electrical wireing was old and caused some issues, so I had gotten a new whole floresent light fixture, and replaced all of it.

A question to Marx, is your major closlely related to electrical engineering? I am planning on doing this when I get into college. Thanks for your help!

-tubachris

I see-well sorta.I assumed that the wires/leads coming directly off the led itself went into some kind of receptacle rather than just being soldered directly to the wiring. I assume you just tape it up after and affix the led where you want it? How about power supply for two leds? Would they work off of an AA or couple AA batteries? I know my maglite led kit for my flashlight runs off two AA's, and that's three leds total. As far as capacitors, do you think you could be a bit more specific. You're talking to someone lacking in the technology department. Perhaps you could pick a specific capacitor that would do the job for us as I'm sure many of us want red leds here and there on our armor and buckets etc...And thanks alot, it's nice to have another person familiar with electronics here to help out!!!

:skull

::craks knuckles::..... ok first, yes my major is that which you think. The diffrence is... well lets say engineers draw up plans and i will be makeing them

alright forget the capacitors... and much else realy.
go to http://electronics.howstuffworks.com it tells all on how stuff works... so if you want to make something new go there, type it in and see how it works

second, i belive many people here have done LED things, (light emitting diode) and i bet many will help. If you need help makeing lights flash on a gauntlet go to the gauntlet forum and begin a discusion on such. if they don;t help.... well i will try my best.

Thanks for the link, I definitely could use some info on how this all works. I'll also check the gauntlet/armor area and perhaps create a thread on the subject. I'll figure this all out eventually.

:skull