"Help!" for: Electronics

[thatdecade]

Sure, I can write up a more detailed outline. Send me a pm when you get your parts to remind me.

I've only fried one of those circuits one before. Mixed 5V and 12V batteries and got some interesting destruction. Anyway, you should not have to worry about that. Replacement parts can be had at RadioShack. They carry everything but the 4017 chip.

 

[Viper 466]

So I'm not super new to the forum but I'm still new to the world of wiring up pretty much anything beyond a simple parallel circuit for some fans, and some LED's. So here comes the hard question. If I were to put a mic/speaker set up inside of my bucket so that I could speak to people while wearing it. What would be the best way to go about this? I'm kind of hoping to have the power and speaker separate from me helmet(I'm hiding it in a fair sized radio pouch on my shoulder) and the mic on a circuit that has a connector that I can detach. To me this sounds kind of huge as far as ideas go since I have no real experience with wiring up too much stuff. But I have a soldering iron, solder, wire, and determination. If anyone could help me out I would be super appreciative.

 

[Jason 078]

What I'm planning to do is wire a throat mic to some speakers in my chest armor. It will save a little more space in an already fan-cramped helmet.

 

[Johnny Knoxville]

Anyone know anything about ammo counters?

 

[thatdecade]

what would be the best way to go about this? I'm kind of hoping to have the power and speaker separate from me helmet

Use a cheap portable powered speaker connected to an ordinary inexpensive microphone. You will need a headset to headphone adapter if the microphone does not have a headphone jack output.

2.5mm female headset splitter to 3.5mm female headphone

Anyone know anything about ammo counters?

I know a lot about ammo counters and have made many, what's up?

 

[Johnny Knoxville]

Use a cheap portable powered speaker connected to an ordinary inexpensive microphone. You will need a headset to headphone adapter if the microphone does not have a headphone jack output.

2.5mm female headset splitter to 3.5mm female headphone


I know a lot about ammo counters and have made many, what's up?

Basically, I don't have a clue about them. So, how can I make/buy one?

 

[Devohter]

So I just learned the basics for a breadboard as far as how things line up and connect. MY questions are.

1) how and what does it take to things such as eyes turning off and on

2) the circuit boards where it's motion activated

3) and basically what to do.

Any have a tut they can send me too. I really wanna do my iron man helmet right this time. Servos that bring my mask up, turning off the eyes, helmet down and turning the eyes back on

 

[thatdecade]

Basically, I don't have a clue about them. So, how can I make/buy one?

Ill assume you want an electronic one, can have it functioning or a static (unchanging) number display. Functioning count down (decrementer) requires some chips to do the logic, so I will skip that for now.
A static display is easier. Get two 7 segment displays, eBay, then wire them with 100 ohm resisters to 3 AA batteries. Exact wiring depends on your number to display. Just poke the displays with the battery and resister to light up the different segments, solder the wires in place when it looks the way you want.

1) how and what does it take to things such as eyes turning off and on

Switches? Ha, you'll have to me more specific what you want. From the sound of it, you are looking for a complex circuit. You could spend a lot of time designing one... or just get an arduino and program it to do all that. Links and tutorials below.

Arduino - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11286
Servo example - http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/SingleServoExample
Light sensor (simple motion detection) - http://learn.adafruit.com/photocells/using-a-photocell
Fading LEDs (pulsating) - http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Fading

 

[Gilmortar]

Thatdecade, so I am the biggest noob when it comes to electronics (not so much prop making...been here for a long time, no posts really though)...but my GF and I are getting heavy into Halo costumes...

I have one of the lasertag plasma pistols and will be revamping it for conventions. I am going to repaint it, but will be setting up a new LED system for it and (sorry in advance) have a very detailed questions which I was hoping that you would be able to help me as a complete noob who has no real clue to what any of the nomenclature in wiring or circuitry, could go about making an led setup that I can revamp and setup in the gun that when I pull the trigger, it will turn the LED on and make it BRIGHT like the pistol is charging as in the game. No super special effects, just want it to be bright....can you help me Obi Wan?

 

[thatdecade]

Do you plan to pull the other electronics out of their to make room? Space is tight in that pistol.

You can make it bright using a flashlight bulb and the correct number of batteries. The brightest led bulb are luxeon, you can find them in most single bulb led flashlights.

You can also buy them here as a kit, choose green.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Build-Your-Own-Seoul-P4-Electronics-Kit-P469.aspx

That will get you a REALLY bright light on the end of your plasma pistol. Luxeons are low level lasers

Also, optionally, you can add a buck puck instead of a resister. Helps drive the led with constant current, extending its life. Also causes the led to start rapid flashing when the batteries are low, which is kinda cool.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/BuckPuck-1000mA-4-wire-P364.aspx

 

[Gilmortar]

so this will make just a simple closed circuit right?

 

[thatdecade]

The basic kit I linked? Yes.

The circuit is wired in a loop.

 

[xXRabidForceXx]

Anyone have a tutorial on motorizing an iron man helm's face plate?

 

[thatdecade]

I have not done it myself, but there are some good threads discussing it and videos showing the motion.
http://www.google.com/search?q=iron+man+faceplate+mechanism+servo&tbm=dsc
http://www.google.com/search?q=iron+man+faceplate+mechanism+servo&tbm=vid

Sorry for the lame response. /googlesearch

 

[harican89]

anyadvise for a helm comlink with speakers to the outside?
i want to add this in my next armor because i had several problems talking with other people while i have my helmet on.
i tried this month ago, but it doesnt work. i just used a voice amplifier for 10€ and tried to connect it with 4Ohm speakers. but i get terrible voice effects and after that i let the project buried.
Do you have any advise, maybe some links to the components to build this, also without any type of amplifier?

i want to connect my helmet mic with some speakers inside the chest. this reduce the feedback problems. do you have some tips to connect the system WITHOUT any cables (helmet <-> chest). is it possible to send the sound with wireless?

 

[thatdecade]

Wow, that's a tall order.

From the sounds of it, you have a current mic / amplifier combination, but are suffering terrible feedback.

An electrical solution does exist, is called noise cancelling, and uses a second microphone to cancel feedback between the first mic and the speaker / second mic. Is complicated and expensive.

A better solution would be lowering the amplifier volume and finding a position for the microphone to minimize feedback. In addition, you said you mounted the speaker in your chest. A better location would be your hip. Far away from the mic.

If you really have some money to burn, search for "personal voice amplifier". Price range is ~$40 to $200.


edit: Here is the cheapest one with the highest ratings: http://amzn.com/B003FQ2X56 - Aker Voice Amplifier

Here are some good reviews of that voice amplifier in regard armor and feedback:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RTE3OZF4W25RQ/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_3
Very excellent quality, size is a little too big for inside a helmet, but is easily hidden in other parts of the armor...
some feedback issues at first...but once the volume and proper distance was worked out, everything worked great

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2LLPCPI0FIK3M/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_2
Since I use this for my Stormtrooper armor the speaker has to be in my chest area and the mic is in my helmet. I have no been able to produce a good loud volume without it making a loud squeal but that is my fault. If you're planning on attaching this to your waist it is the best price you'll find anyway.

A good product perfect for a on-waist application.

 

[Revenant1988]

Question about wiring mess

Hey guys,

So I'm working on a little side project and long story short, its a simple job where I just need to wire several LEDs to a simple switch and a couple of AA batteries. I've got the cirucit workign the way I want it to however there is a lot of.... mess. Admittedly, I could have measured better, but the end result looks like the picture below. Basically what I end up with is a mess of 12 individual negative leads all trying to connect to the one negative lead from the battery. I also end up with a similar result with the 12 positive leads from the LEDs to one wire that connects to the switch. This is what it looks like (pretend there are resistors on the LEDs)



If I could get my last job to look 1/2 as organised as that pic I'd be happy. I basically have two wads of wires soldered together that looks, well, craptastic.

There's got to be a better way.

I'm looking at terminal blocks and something called a busbar but I can't find any diagrams that are helpful that I can apply to basic LED wiring. When I'm working with 4 or less LEDs its a non issue, but when I have 12 of them things get messy haha. Can anyone link me to any tuts on how to incorporate a terminal block or busbar for simple circuits?

Thanks for looking!

 

[Revenant1988]

I think I found the answer to my question, well a few different techniques really.

Just spent a long time on google and getting the language right which lead me back to instructables.

Move along folks, nothing to see here. Revenant r dum.

Question about wiring mess

Hey guys,

So I'm working on a little side project and long story short, its a simple job where I just need to wire several LEDs to a simple switch and a couple of AA batteries. I've got the cirucit workign the way I want it to however there is a lot of.... mess. Admittedly, I could have measured better, but the end result looks like the picture below. Basically what I end up with is a mess of 12 individual negative leads all trying to connect to the one negative lead from the battery. I also end up with a similar result with the 12 positive leads from the LEDs to one wire that connects to the switch. This is what it looks like (pretend there are resistors on the LEDs)



If I could get my last job to look 1/2 as organised as that pic I'd be happy. I basically have two wads of wires soldered together that looks, well, craptastic.

There's got to be a better way.

I'm looking at terminal blocks and something called a busbar but I can't find any diagrams that are helpful that I can apply to basic LED wiring. When I'm working with 4 or less LEDs its a non issue, but when I have 12 of them things get messy haha. Can anyone link me to any tuts on how to incorporate a terminal block or busbar for simple circuits?

Thanks for looking!

 

[thatdecade]

Oops, I wrote a reply yesterday and didn't hit submit. Here is for your original post, Revenant.

---------------------------------------

A busbar or terminal block.... not sure what you are asking. Those are parts to help sort wire messes sure, but it is still up to you to organize.

What I do is twist a wire pair running to each LED. The twisting keeps the wires together and from being tangled with another twisted wire pair.

Alternatively, you can buy intercom or doorbell wire. It comes in 2 or 4 pairs already. Just cut the 4 pair one into 2 for two 2 pair wires cables.
2-conductor wire - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062655
4-conductor wire - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062656

 

[Roku]

I'm having a bit of technical difficulties with my helmet. It's my first time installing lights/electronics. Here's how the tests have gone so far.

First test: YES!They all worked...then just 1 out of the 3 burnt out
Now I'm going to remove the bulb and replace it with a new one. Hopefully the 2nd time round will work *fingers crossed*

Second test: The bulb i replaced burnt out again and also the other bulb on the other side doesn't work. We're not sure if it burnt out or just stopped working. 2/3 no longer work. I'm not sure what the problem is.Here's what I'm using:

LED: 20ma x3
Battery Pack: AA x4
Wire: 20 Gauge Solid

I'm a little unsure with what the issue is.If anyone could help or have any suggestions that would be great,thank you.