"Help!" for: Electronics

[The italian]

Hi, I'm making an Iron Man armor and I would like to motorize the helmet faceplate. Did someone do that? Could you give me some suggestions?
I also have to reproduce arc reactor light and hand propulsors.
The arc reactor is simple, but what kid of plexiglass can I use to cover led? (I have the triangular arc reactor).
For hand propulsors I would like to make a system that turn on led only when I open the hands.

Please help me!

 

[MW Immortalking]

I would like everyone who posts in the thread to watch this video,

We're here to help, not do things for you.
Not saying anyone is asking us to, just though I'd throw it out there.

 

[cory045]

thanks guys

 

[BlueSol]

Hey guys,
So i'm new to electronics and just wondering if i bought these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/AA-Battery-powe...ultDomain_0&hash=item5add84466c#ht_2491wt_902
could I cut them apart, and just get a separate power source for the other lights, would i need any extra resistors or anything? Thanks!

 

[Late to the meeting]

@ BlueSol I think your good on the amount of resisters it has unless your thinking of uping the voltage which would depend on how bright you want them but i wouldn't recommend it they are LEDs I meen how much brighter would you want them I can help you out more if you told me what there for.

 

[thatdecade]

You can see in the picture that each led has a resister. Should be fine. As Late suggested, you do not want to change the voltage. Use the number and type of batteries.

 

[IchigoBLEACHcake]

Hey~ I'm totally new to the electric field, so i was just hoping for a few tips. I's currently making the Varia suit from Metroid: Other M. I know it will still be a little while before i finish, as I'm about a third of the way through the pepakura stage, but I'd like to get my materials together and familiarize myself with a few methods before actually building on my suit.

As you can see, there's a couple green lights present throughout the armor. However, I also want to get the arm cannon to light up as well, preferably with orange and yellow lights. There's only been one person to have a video on youtube, and it's a father and son. It looks faaaar too complex for what I'm aiming for. Also, it really doesn't break down how to do it. If I could just have a few suggestions, that would be amazing. Thank you!!

 

[Dreadnaught]

Being an electrician myself, I should know the answer to this. I must meekly admit that I have worked for far too long on very large system installations and, while I know the electrical works do scale pretty well, I'm unsure enough to ask a few questions.

If I wanted to put lights/fans/electronic doodads on my suit, would you advise an individual power source for each item, or would it be better to co-locate the power sources in one location? It's understood that going with a common voltage, or at least, as few differing voltage requirements as possible, is desired for optimum use. What I'm really curious about is one simple question. If I wanted lights in the shins on my suit, would a 9v battery pack in the backpack lose too much power in the transmission distance/quick disconnects to power said lights?

I'm former Army, and walking around carrying 60 or more pounds of gear is something I've done more than a few times. As long as it's well distributed, it won't be an issue for a couple hours of cosplay. However, I don't anticipate the suit and electronics to weigh more than half of that, total, so I'm hoping I have some wiggle room.

 

[Madsvg]

For those of you that's still a bit hesitant about how to do this I've taken the liberty and copied a couple of posts that might help you.

LED Resister Selection - HOW TO
Lots of words and no pictures, enjoy

Summary: Read the Current number on the LED packaging. Divide the voltage of the battery by the current number. That is the resistance you want.

Example 1:
Two AA batteries = 3V
LED needs a Current of 20mA

3/.02=150 ohm
150 is a common and easy to find resister value.

Example 2:
Three AAA batteries = 4.5V
LED needs a Current of 12mA

4.5/.012=375 ohm
375 is NOT a common and easy to find resister value. You will not find a 375 ohm resister. In this case choose the nearest value resister you can find. I like to choose on the low side, 330 ohm or 360 ohm are much more common and will work just as well.

Example 3:
One 9V battery = 9V
LED needs a Current of 18mA

9/.018=500 ohm
500 is a common and easy to find resister value. 470 or 510 will also work.


Already have a resister and want to know if it will fry your LED?
You should never increase the current number by more than 50% beyond what the LED is rated.

Example 4:
Four AA batteries = 6V
LED needs a Current of 20mA
Already have a 220 ohm resister.

6/220=0.027
That is 27mA, this is perfectly fine. A 300 ohm resister would be ideal (6/0.2=300), but your LED will be fine with the 220 ohm resister you already have.

Example 5:
One 9V battery = 9V
LED needs a Current of 20mA
Already have a 150 ohm resister.

9/150=0.06
That is 60mA. THREE TIMES MORE THAN THE LED CAN HANDLE. Use a larger resister to decrease the current. A 9V battery and a 150 ohm resister will destroy an LED in a very brief period of time.

Example 6:
Two AA batteries = 3V
LED needs a Current of 22mA
Already have a 500 ohm resister.

3/500=0.006
That is 6mA. This is way to little of current, use a smaller resister to increase the current. At 6mA even if the LED turns on, it will be very dim.

BE SURE TO WIRE THE BLACK WIRES TO THE SHORT ENDS OF THE LEDs

 

[Dreadnaught]

For anyone who may be curious, I answered my own question about loading. 22ga wire, at 6 feet, has less than .10 ohm resistance. In other words... Nothing to write home about. 20ga wire has a slightly lower resistance. of about .06 ohms for that distance.

 

[Late to the meeting]

I'm sorry dreadnaught I had writen a long paragraph giving you an idea of what you could do with some of the removable peices of armour but my laptop shut down on me. I didn't rewrite it because it took to long the first time and wel... you seem to have summed up what I had said in 6 sentences. I has't failed you forgive me...

 

[hubjubjub]

What I would do is get two small but not as small as LEDs and put them in the handle, one on each side since the sword has two blades

 

[nrettenmaier]

Hey moderators, do you think there's anyway we could get an electronics forum (or subforum of the noob forum)? It would make it a lot easier to find information and a lot easier to keep questions from a single project together, rather than having them spread out throughout everyone else's questions.

This thread is definately helpful, I just feel like an actual forum would make it much easier to navigate

anyway, just my two cents.

 

[Dreadnaught]

Late to the Meeting... No worries. As I said, I should have known the answer. I've become accustomed to working in big, freakin', hugely complicated aviation electrical systems. Backing down to a smaller scale threw me for a bit.

 

[Late to the meeting]

@ Dreadnaught: Understandable I use to dabble in electronics on a small scale like micro speakers and RC cars but I lost interest after a left a loose wire haning over a nine volt. batt acid every where it wasn't pretty at all then I started this and, well I needed to go get help from my friend who is amazing with this stuff (and because I needed to use his soddering gun cuase mine is no longer with us R.I.P) he helped me so much with LED's he works with model trains so he knows a thing or two about small scale painting. he was a big help, anyway dreadnuaght I'm glad you figured it out and am sorry the forum wasn't as helpful as it sould have been. (By forum I meen me.)

 

[MW Immortalking]

If anyone wants to for some reason add a computer to their armor this might be worth considering
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119032
Or this one if you want a little more power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119016

Just remember you need a way of powering these... You battery solution will probably end up weighing more than the 1lb computer.

The power supply says 19 V and 3.42 Amp so you need 19V of battery and at least a 4mAh to get an hour of use.
You could try somthing like this maybe http://www.atbatt.com/product/23376.asp#tabs_1

 

[BlueSol]

@ BlueSol I think your good on the amount of resisters it has unless your thinking of uping the voltage which would depend on how bright you want them but i wouldn't recommend it they are LEDs I meen how much brighter would you want them I can help you out more if you told me what there for.

I'm looking to do a Carter datapad, and also the lights on the back of a reach spartan for armor abilities. Was thinking of printing up a transparency and then putting some LEDs behind it. If you have any more efficient, easy ways to do this i would be glad to hear it.

 

[thatdecade]

BlueSol, you are on the right track. I wrote a guide on layering transparencies to make a fake or functioning display. Have a look.
http://www.westaby.net/2010/08/guide-weapon-counter-display-overlay/

MW Immortaltalking,
The nettops you linked to don't seem any more powerful than a netbook. Since a netbook is in the same price range with a battery built in, what is the advantage of these nettops?

Edit: did a quick ebay search in your price & spec range. Scroll down till you find one ending today, should be a good deal.
eBay Search Results

 

[Late to the meeting]

@ BlueSol go here use christmas lights as your lighting effect for you armor abilities armor lock would be pretty cool http://michaelbluejay.com/batteries/dc-christmas-lights.html
oh and thatdecade already awnsered your data pad question if you don't already understand how to wire some thing i think you need to do a little research as far as that gose. then if you do do armor lock go to radio shake as if they have a temparary switch place it in the palm of your armor it is up to you whitch on when you hit the ground squeeze the switch it will finish the wiring and turn on the lights. good luck.

 

[BlueSol]

Yeah I was actually planning to do the armor lock. Thanks a lot guys you're very helpful! I'll try to update as i get these projects going.