Progress updates (June 8th)
Rewiring the Shin's
I love how the LED's turned out, but I was not happy with how power hungry it is. So I decided to change a few things. The current setup used a 9v battery system. Which works great and the LED's are super bright but only for a few hours, then they dim down and remain at that dim stat for the next 8 or so hours.
This pics shows the guts of the shins getting torn out (right shin)
My solution was to use a lower voltage battery pack. Yet with the ability to still use a 9V system. I tried 3V - not happy with how dim the led's were. I tried 4.5V - still not happy with the brightness. Tried 6v - satisfactory.
This pic shows the 9V batteries installed along with the option to use 4 AA batteries (6V).
I did a duration test with the 6V system using fresh AA batteries. The LED's stay illuminated for approx 4 days with an acceptable brightness.
I repeated this process for the Thighs, Forarms and front chest piece. The rest of the pices do not have the room for the larger battery pack and will remain as a 9V system.
ELWIRE!!!!!
Not happy with having no light on the central part of the back of the suit. Specifically the spine area.
Looking at the back of the undersuit, I noticed that small ventalation holes were placed in the spine protection parts of my "Hot Weather" undersuit. LOL it was so simple to thread the ELwire through them. It may not look perfect, but I can deal with straightning them out later.
Test fitting and turn on to see how it looks.
Mounting the smartphone (my Cortana AI)
Played with some velcro straps and figured out how to temprarly mount my smartphone to the forarm.
This is has huge benefits as it removes the belt and wires from around my waist. It also means that I don't have to reach for the phone and pull it out from the belt pouch. Now its all clean and tidy on my forearm. (well almost) I stll need to disguise the straps and holder so that it blends in better.
The phone has 3 primary functions when connected to the torso's audio system:
PA system (a mic runs up to the helm)
MP3 player (plays halo tunes and some combat chatter)
Can answer the phone.
The phone is also constantly being charged by the torso's internal battery pack. Its the same battery pack that powers the 5 watt speaker system.
This pic shows the inside back of the torso. You can see that there are 4 speakers in this. 2 forward facing and 2 rear facing.
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click here for a larger view)
Everything is more or less dressed for a better cleaner view.
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click here for a larger view)
More indepth descriptons and pics coming soon. Getting things ready for the Vancouver Star Trek Con this Sunday
Cheers!
