Diving Head First Into Electonics...

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?

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.

BKBTfinishedinteriro.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
 
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!
 
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!



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...
 
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...

 
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...

 
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!
 
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!!!

 
::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.

 
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