"Help!" for: Electronics
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I am in the process of wiring up a fan or multiple fans inside of my noble six helmet. I have a variety of computer fans available. My question is does the direction of the airflow make a huge difference. All of the fans I have seem to direct airflow to the sides, instead of forward or backwards. I would think that having the fan blowing on you, as opposed to an exhaust fan or simply moving air around like mine, would be the best. I was also wondering if anyone has messed around with air louvers inside of helmets to help direct flow?
I'm pretty sure that he turned a white LED blue with some blue foil or plastic. That's probably the easiest method, too, if you can't find an LED with the exact colour you want.
Check out Adafruit and SparkFun for electronics. They both have blue LEDs with the same wave length and Adafruit has a picture of one glowing and they look somewhat similar to the colour in the picture above.
BlueSol
Active Member
Thanks for the quick reply I'm checking out the sites now.
I am in the process of wiring up a fan or multiple fans inside of my noble six helmet. I have a variety of computer fans available. My question is does the direction of the airflow make a huge difference. All of the fans I have seem to direct airflow to the sides, instead of forward or backwards. I would think that having the fan blowing on you, as opposed to an exhaust fan or simply moving air around like mine, would be the best. I was also wondering if anyone has messed around with air louvers inside of helmets to help direct flow?
In my experience when wearing a full head helmet, the "squirrel fans" worked the best when pointed in the general direction of the visor area. That is the area that will become fogged up and will be hard to see out of, when you start sweating inside the helmet. The air being blown around the visor will help cool you down as well but most importantly is that you can see through your visor. If the helmet has vents as part of it's construction, it is best to cut them out and attach black screen material inside to keep the wearer hidden from view but still able to get a good air circulation in addition to the fans.
SkullBoy13
Active Member
where can i get these "fans" and how do i attach them to the batteries??
Just to clear that up: By "same wave length" I didn't mean they have the same as the oney wiyumishere used, but that both sites sell similarly-coloured LEDs.
You can do a Google search for squirrel fans or check out Ebay, they usually go for about $6-$7 bucks if you're lucky. Otherwise, some sellers charge up to $12 bucks or more. The leads on the fans are usually color coded - red, black and white. The white is usually used for the tachometer for your RPM readings and can be cut-off and discarded. Black is ground/negative and red is positive. The squirrel fans are usually 12 volts and what I've used in the past for battery power is 9 volt per fan. Your local Radio Shack might carry 9 volt switched battery boxes/case where all you do is solder the wires from fan to the batter box - red to red and black to black. Make sure you cover up the exposed wires with either heat shrink tubes or hot glue to keep them from shorting out or coming apart. Below is a pic of the squirrel fan also known as a centrifugal blower.
Red is positive.
thatdecade
Well-Known Member
I'm curious, how long do those 12v fans run on a 9v battery? My guess is 3-4 hours, at most.
The fan I always recommend is a 5v fan, wired to 3 AAAs. Even when also wired to LEDs, runs for 10+ hours.
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?keywords=259-1345-ND
The fan I always recommend is a 5v fan, wired to 3 AAAs. Even when also wired to LEDs, runs for 10+ hours.
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?keywords=259-1345-ND
Yeah, unfortunately they only last about 3-4 hours. I have two installed in my ROTS clonetrooper helmet and only use one at a time. So, I get a total of about 7 hours combined. I had regular 5 volt fans before but they didn't do the job very well IMHO as they didn't direct the air where it's needed.
Spartan 010
Jr Member
Thanks for all the help in my previous questions guys 
New one,
I'm making a full size TARDIS for a contest. Anyone know how to make a pulsing LED circuit that would go well with the blinking lantern on top of the TARDIS? I need to do it without using an Arduino. Just using your basic 555 timer set up.
I am assuming, Battery>Switch>555 Timer>Resistor>Capacitor>Resistor>Back to Battery
Sorry it's not in the usual schematic diagram. Still learning all the symbols.
Thanks!!
New one,
I'm making a full size TARDIS for a contest. Anyone know how to make a pulsing LED circuit that would go well with the blinking lantern on top of the TARDIS? I need to do it without using an Arduino. Just using your basic 555 timer set up.
I am assuming, Battery>Switch>555 Timer>Resistor>Capacitor>Resistor>Back to Battery
Sorry it's not in the usual schematic diagram. Still learning all the symbols.
Thanks!!
thatdecade
Well-Known Member
A 555 can give you a LED that will blink at regular intervals. Can get a better effect using less parts with a NPN and PNP transistor push pull circuit.
http://wild-bohemian.com/electronics/flasher.html
If you want a more complicated lighting effect can do that with a counter chip and a register chip. The specific types depend on the lighting effect you want.
More simply, you can just find someone online with a chip programmer (me) and he can send you a single chip with exactly the lighting effect you want.
http://wild-bohemian.com/electronics/flasher.html
If you want a more complicated lighting effect can do that with a counter chip and a register chip. The specific types depend on the lighting effect you want.
More simply, you can just find someone online with a chip programmer (me) and he can send you a single chip with exactly the lighting effect you want.
angel62sir
Active Member
hey everyone iv just discovered a product here called electroluminescent wire, i thought it the perfect product for adding lights for armour and weapons, ive ordered some for my weapons and should be awsome.
Spartan 010
Jr Member
Dang... I knew I should have gotten a few PNPs and NPNs... Thanks for the Schematic man, REALLY appreciate it!!
thatdecade
Well-Known Member
Sure man, you can also google a 555 part value calculator. Like this one
http://www.csgnetwork.com/ne555timer2calc.html
http://www.csgnetwork.com/ne555timer2calc.html
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