JonteBoi's Second Halo: Reach Spartan Costume

[TheAstroBot]

I think it's pretty rare to see Spartans who actually include lights throughout the suit, which is a detail that looks phenomenal, especially in your build. Looks great.

 

[JonteBoi]

I think it's pretty rare to see Spartans who actually include lights throughout the suit, which is a detail that looks phenomenal, especially in your build. Looks great.

Thank you! I love me some lights in a cosplay, they add a whole new element which makes the costume look so much more awesome.

 

[ItSpartan116]

Look Awesome Good Job

 

[JonteBoi]

Look Awesome Good Job

Thank you!! That means alot

 

[morkar78]

Great suit. What kind of lights did you use?

 

[JonteBoi]

Great suit. What kind of lights did you use?

Each light is a 5mm LED driven by 3V. Each part of the suit has it's own circuit (one arm has 3 lights and a 9V battery and a switch, chest part has 9 lights and 3 9V batteries and a switch, and so on..) It's a little annoying turning all the lights on since there is a total of 5 switches, but the batteries seem to last forever, I still haven't changed them!

 

[TurboCharizard]

Each light is a 5mm LED driven by 3V. Each part of the suit has it's own circuit (one arm has 3 lights and a 9V battery and a switch, chest part has 9 lights and 3 9V batteries and a switch, and so on..) It's a little annoying turning all the lights on since there is a total of 5 switches, but the batteries seem to last forever, I still haven't changed them!

Three 9V batteries for the chest seems a bit overkill to me. I run a pair of fans and 4 ultra bright LEDs off of one in my NCR Ranger mask. Check out this LED Circuit Wizard for your next build. Just a guess from seeing other cosplayers do it but I'm guessing you have the three 9V because that's each one will run three LEDs without need of resistors, add some for safeties sake and to save money in the long run on 9V batteries.

If you're new to LEDs and circuits it's fairly safe to assume when doing a quick estimation that most have a 20mA forward current and roughly 3.3V forward voltage depending on size/colour/brightness but it's not usually too far off those values when it does vary. Below, science because electronics are kind of my jam.

 

[JonteBoi]

Three 9V batteries for the chest seems a bit overkill to me. I run a pair of fans and 4 ultra bright LEDs off of one in my NCR Ranger mask. Check out this LED Circuit Wizard for your next build. Just a guess from seeing other cosplayers do it but I'm guessing you have the three 9V because that's each one will run three LEDs without need of resistors, add some for safeties sake and to save money in the long run on 9V batteries.

If you're new to LEDs and circuits it's fairly safe to assume when doing a quick estimation that most have a 20mA forward current and roughly 3.3V forward voltage depending on size/colour/brightness but it's not usually too far off those values when it does vary. Below, science because electronics are kind of my jam.
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Oh man this is good stuff! I knew there had to be an easier way than this.. I'm very new to electronics and stuff, so this will help me out big time for my next costume! Cannot thank you enough.
Also, what kind of fan are you using? I was looking around but I couldn't find a small one to fit in my helmet.

 

[TurboCharizard]

I used 12V case fans that you can see in my non-Halo build thread. I don't remember exact sizing and can't really check now since they're encased in the mask but I'd guess 25mm and 40mm and run about $4.00CAD each at my local hobby store, DigiKey is another good option.

I've made a few changes to the wiring but I've run the helmet circuit with four ultra bright wide angle red LEDs and two fans off of a pair of 9V batteries in series which lasted eight hours. You can run the fans off of 9V but discharge curves are funny as are minimum operating voltages of fans and you'll lose the fans long before the battery is fully drained.

 

[JonteBoi]

I used 12V case fans that you can see in my non-Halo build thread. I don't remember exact sizing and can't really check now since they're encased in the mask but I'd guess 25mm and 40mm and run about $4.00CAD each at my local hobby store, DigiKey is another good option.

I've made a few changes to the wiring but I've run the helmet circuit with four ultra bright wide angle red LEDs and two fans off of a pair of 9V batteries in series which lasted eight hours. You can run the fans off of 9V but discharge curves are funny as are minimum operating voltages of fans and you'll lose the fans long before the battery is fully drained.

Awesome, I'll have to look into this when I get to the helmet.