Adding Electronics to our Models

[arbit]

No problem.

But this is how I measure them with a ruler:

22mm H x 20mm W x 8mm Deep

These measurements are without the tabs.

[NZEOD]

Damn... mines still smaller... Inside the Wave Defender space is a premium even after removing a ton of internal panels not needed. I need to be able to twist the torso, spin the radar and raise the arms which are heavier than normal now they have brass vulcan cannons and motor/gearbox assemblies to spin the vulcans AND they have twin under/over 6 pack missile launchers on each arm. Oh and I need space the route the wiring for all that and the arm targetter LEDs AND the twin spotlights...

should be real easy... right?

Edited November 14, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

I'd love to see a photo of the insides. Dont know how you fit all that in there.

[NZEOD]

lots of dremel destruction

[arbit]

Also need your help for replacing the transistor in This example with a better amplifier breakout.

Will this Class D amp work?.

To replace the transistor with the amp, I think I need to connect as follows:

A+ to Arduino pin

A- to Gnd

Vin to 5v

Gnd to Gnd

Please let me know if you think this will burn anything out before I try.

Edited November 24, 2016 by arbit

[arbit]

Damn... mines still smaller... Inside the Wave Defender space is a premium even after removing a ton of internal panels not needed. I need to be able to twist the torso, spin the radar and raise the arms which are heavier than normal now they have brass vulcan cannons and motor/gearbox assemblies to spin the vulcans AND they have twin under/over 6 pack missile launchers on each arm. Oh and I need space the route the wiring for all that and the arm targetter LEDs AND the twin spotlights...

should be real easy... right?

Could you direct me to your smaller servo? And please check my corrections in the question above. Thx.

Edited November 17, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

Will dig up the details this weekend on the servo for you.

Your wiring is correct.

A+ is the audio signal in

A- Is the Gnd for the Audio signal (just a 5V Gnd source)

Vin is the 5V input

Gnd is the 5V Gnd

[arbit]

Your wiring is correct.

A+ is the audio signal in

A- Is the Gnd for the Audio signal (just a 5V Gnd source)

Vin is the 5V input

Gnd is the 5V Gnd

I'm an electronics genius. LMAO.

[arbit]

Success!

I was able to work sound, LEDs, and servos into my sketch using the TMRpcm library.

I found out Servos don't work with SD cards, so I used detach/attach servos before sound to solve the problem.

One of my servos seems to be starting at the wrong point...

Edited November 18, 2016 by arbit

[arbit]

Check out final sketch above. Still awaiting better amp and speaker.

[arbit]

After extreme dremmeling, I got a nice comfortable fit of the Trinket Pro, the servo and all the wires in the rear.

I can't keep those thick wires, so I have to decide whether to link them to magnet wire, or if its better to solder magnet wire directly to the Trinket.

Edited November 24, 2016 by arbit

[mickyg]

Man, these spambots are getting out of hand!

[Nyankodevice]

Man, these spambots are getting out of hand!

and they are preaching to the wrong choir....

[arbit]

How do I calculate what size battery I need, 100, 500, or 1200 mAh?

I have, say, 300ma servo, 100ma SD Card, 20ma leds, 4ma amp, and an 8ohm speaker.

So I approximate that a 500mAH battery will run this for an hour.

I've switched over the entire sketch from the Arduino Uno board to the miniature Trinket Pro.

Wow, went off without a hitch.

The pin numbers and functions are all the same and no special code was required.

I've got 16 data pins running leds, sound and servos from a 4cm board.

Call me surprised.

Two lessons here:

1. Arduino is idiot proof

2. You can learn anything on Youtube

Edited November 25, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

TOLD YA ITS FUN!

meanwhile I'm applying 1000 stupidly small, (as in 2.5mm) Hex masks to my Tomahawk to carry on the paintjob

Edited November 26, 2016 by NZEOD

[MechTech]

Your setup looks great Arbit! I'm considering messing with Arduino. It's just time I'm lacking. - MT

[arbit]

Your setup looks great Arbit! I'm considering messing with Arduino. It's just time I'm lacking. - MT

Glad to help you save time with some tips.

This should be a breeze for you.

Get yourself an Uno R3 Starter kit with a selection of electronic parts, and you should be good to go.

Then you can follow some Learn Arduino tutorials. Start at Lesson 0.

It should take you no more than a few minutes to set it up and have a few sketches working.

[arbit]

TOLD YA ITS FUN!

meanwhile I'm applying 1000 stupidly small, (as in 2.5mm) Hex masks to my Tomahawk to carry on the paintjob

Why do this to yourself?

Meanwhile I'm laying 50 stupidly small fiber optic cables that I never planned for. This 1/1000 piece of .... is busting at the seams.

Edited November 27, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

you doing the sparkly gun charging thing?

[arbit]

Naah. I've got bigger problems to deal with.

[MechTech]

Thanks! Those fibers will be worth it when your done. Your little model will weigh like 5 pounds I'm actually experimented with doing "the sparkly bit." I bought a Christmas ornament a couple years ago, swapped the clear LEDs with yellow, candle effects ones and seeing how that goes. The tough part, how / where to put the fiber. The cannon is clear, so I thought of gluing it outside, but then that will leave marks or can be seen. The next one was to drill holes and place them, but the same thing. All glues eventually yellow the clear plastic. So I'm stuck thinking about it in my spare-spare time (which there isn't much of). - MT

[arbit]

I actually asked the Japanese guy on youtube.

As NZEOD guessed, it is a blinking led with fiber, plus a neopixel led for the gun.

I wouldnt worry about the glue, its deep and dark back there.

I guess fiber strands could be jammed around the gun led.

Great, now I gotta go try it.

...And nope. Couldn't blink the led while neo running. I tried "Blink without Delay"...still didn't work.

But I'm sure it can be done.

Edited November 27, 2016 by arbit

[hal9000]

http://poweredplay.net/catalog/largevehicle-kit/

Has anyone looked at these guys, the plug and play aspect is nice but I don't know if it off sets the price.

If you can solder I would just order parts. I'm thinking about trying one on a quick light conversion for a minatures game.

[NZEOD]

Those are convenient but way over priced. You can bang that setup up in about 6mins for about $7USD

9V is a pain too. Running 5V means you can go with either USB or 4 x 1.2v AA or AAA rechargables which are everywhere. 9V rechargables are not so common.

Edited December 7, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

http://poweredplay.net/catalog/largevehicle-kit/

Has anyone looked at these guys, the plug and play aspect is nice but I don't know if it off sets the price.

If you can solder I would just order parts. I'm thinking about trying one on a quick light conversion for a minatures game.

Those look pretty cool.

But it all depends on whether they do the effects you want and if they will fit in your kit.

If you take off-the-shelf and don't want to solder, you wont be able to customize the fit.

If you have only one project that needs lighting, or just want to give it a try, then this plugnplay might be cost effective for you.

On the other hand, if you plan to light up a lot of projects, it might be worth your while to learn how to solder and buy packs of blinking/flickering/steady LEDs off ebay, pre-wired for the voltage you want to use. They are between USD 2-5 for bundles of 10. You will also need wires, switches, and battery packs, all of which sell of USD 2-3 for packs of 10 or more.

I recently ordered these to help with wiring in some tight spots.

Edited December 10, 2016 by arbit

[arbit]

Gents, I have been defeated by science.

I need some help with resistors and mixed types of leds.

I have 6 red 0402 SMDs and 1 blue SMD, I am trying to wire with a single resistor to save space.

Based on the Resistor Calculators, I need one single 100 Ohm resistor for these in parallel from 9-12v power source.

But when I wired them, I got two problems:

1- All the red SMDs work, but the blue SMD doesnt light up. It works on its own but not with the reds.

2- The resistor heats up tremendously, cant even touch it.

So what am I not understanding? Is it that reds dont play with blues; Is it that I MUST have a resistor for each SMD; Or, is it that I should increase the resistor size?

Advice appreciated.

Edited December 10, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

why in parallel? You cant step them down with a single resistor as they need different Forward V for blue than red. You could run all the reds that way but not the blue as well unless you add a seperate resistor for the blue as it needs more V.

What Wattage resistor are you using?

Can you post up the Volage and the Milliamps of the SMDs and the Resistor wattage? And the power source is it 9 or 12?

I found this data table for the 0402s

http://www.instructables.com/id/LEDs-for-Beginners/step8/Wiring-up-multiple-LEDs-in-parallel/

The passage from that instructible for you is...

"And finally, just some warnings...wiring in parallel drains your power supply faster than wiring things in series because they end up drawing more current from the power supply. It also only works if all the LEDs you are using have exactly the same power specifications. Do NOT mix and match different types/colors of LEDs when wiring in parallel."

Your Red SMDs need 2.2V so in parallel supplied by 12V that's a resistor of 560ohm 1/4W that you need for the six reds.

The Blue needs a 470ohm 1/8 or 1/4W resistor on its own 12V power lines.

Edited December 10, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

What Wattage resistor are you using? The only info I have is that it is 100R.

Can you post up the Votlage and the Milliamps of the SMDs? I have a range, not exact data on the leds. The standard red LED is 20mA at 2V drop and standard blue LED is 20mA at 3.5V drop.

And the power source is it 9 or 12? I am using a 9v battery.

I see one of my mistakes: I shouldn't have different types of leds on the same resistor.

Can I keep the reds in parallel with the 100 Ohm resistor, and add a 300 Ohm resistor to the blue?

Edited December 10, 2016 by arbit

[NZEOD]

Throw the 100ohm back in the tool box. Its the wrong one

0402 reds at 9V need a 390 ohm 1/4W resistor

0402 Blue at 9V needs a 330 Ohm 1/8 or 1/4W resistor

You work out the Rating in Watts by the resistor size. They do get hot too as they are dumping power as heat through the resistance wire core.

Edited December 10, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

It seems I am using the Resistor Calculators wrong and getting wrong values.

[NZEOD]

im at a bar watching the Boxing which has just finished and doing this on the phone so I'll post up some info and links for you when I get home and awake in about 8hrs

its 0031hrs here now

Edited December 10, 2016 by NZEOD

[arbit]

im at a bar watching the Boxing which has just finished and doing this on the phone so I'll post up some info and links for you when I get home and awake in about 8hrs

its 0031hrs here now

Sorry about that. there's no hurry. Enjoy the fight.

[NZEOD]

nothing to be sorry about, just didnt want you waiting for a reply just yet. All good

[arbit]

It seems I am using the Resistor Calculators wrong and getting wrong values.

For 6 red LEDs in parallel, I entered the following into the LED calculator to get 100 Ohms.

Source Voltage: 9

Forward LED Voltage: 2

Led Current mA: 120 mA (20mA * 6 leds = 120)

Resistor Value: 58 Ohms (rounded to 100)

By your calculation to get around 350 Ohms for the reds, it seems you are entering 20mA not 120 for LED current. How does that account for the 6 leds?

Do we not account for multiple leds when wiring in Parallel?

(The reason I am parallel is due to space, to avoids multiple shrink tubing.)

No hurry...

[NZEOD]

the calc you are using is for LEDs in series...

I'll check the math on power consumption and get back to you on this one but I THINK its treated as a single LED for the resistor.

OK found this for you... and me it seems as I may have gotten it wrong too.

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/174584/is-it-ok-to-put-leds-in-parallel

Basically... don't do it in parallel.

Some more detailed reading for you.

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/55823/how-can-i-efficiently-drive-an-led/166534#166534

Is this for the Yamato?

Edited December 10, 2016 by NZEOD