Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

There were (still are, I guess) red/green dual-color LEDs that worked on this kind of principle. At one point I was exploring ways to computer-control individual LEDs in a model, which led to exploring the signaling systems used by model railroad setups for instance. (i.e. you have two "wires&q...

I use 32 awg 7/40 for damned near everything. It'll handle usual LED power loads w/o an issue and fits well into tiny places. The multi-strand makes soldering stronger and easier (I've found). I use a similar wire, a stranded 30 AWG. I chose it years ago because I had been using 30AWG wire-wrap wir...

Ok, the datasheet is here https://maplindownloads.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/n33fldatasheet-6735.pdf Also, is there any way of increasing the flash frequency to say 2Hz from the current limit of 1Hz? The oscillation rate is governed by the charge/discharge rate of the capacitor C1. So you either ne...

I recently purchased a 555 Astable switch kit from Maplin (cat no N33FL) https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/555-astable-switch-kit-n33fl I want to use it to simulate a Machine gun. The output should cause a white LED to flash (it would be nice if I could drive a speaker too ) The kit specifies a 12V DC sup...

If you're making 50 of these it may very well be worth making PCBs rather than using generic breadboards. I've created some PCBs for my own use, currently I use a program called "kicad" and my boards are fabricated (in small quantities) by OSH Park. If you're making 50 of them it may also ...

now i have some new ws2813 led strip , but i want to use arduino to control it , if anybody have this code for it , if ws2812b code can use WS2813? It seems the 2813 is an updated version of the 2812 that uses the same protocol. The main functional difference is that the 2813's have a second data i...

Which is why I'd just order them. I'm a wimp when it comes to soldering tiny LEDs. Well, based on my experience building LED clusters for police lights I wouldn't think less of anyone who chose to buy them rather than build them... But did the site you linked sell the LED clusters? I thought it jus...

Which is why I'd just order them. I'm a wimp when it comes to soldering tiny LEDs. Well, based on my experience building LED clusters for police lights I wouldn't think less of anyone who chose to buy them rather than build them... But did the site you linked sell the LED clusters? I thought it jus...

Video unavailable! It's cool that the site Kylwell linked has instructions for how to build these - but in terms of how to physically construct them the instructions pretty much boil down to "solder them together". That's the part I've been having trouble with, though: Or more specifically...

I think wiring the LEDs in different clusters together in series sounds like a nightmare, personally. It means that instead of running 5 (or even just 4, if you want to deal with the headache of trying to wire the LEDs into a series loop) wires to each group of 4 LEDs, you now have to run 8, and hav...

I'd also like to remind everyone how easy this is with a Microcontroller like Arduino: You can set those two values however you like. There's no restriction on the duty cycle as there is with a 555, and you don't need to rewire your circuit if you change your mind about the flash rate or duty cycle...

I was watching Jay Chladek's YouTube channel and he used 3V LEDs in his Moebius Cylon raider build. Since he powered it with a 3V battery pack (two AA batteries) and wired everything in parallel, it was all 3V so no resistors were necessary. I did the math on this at one point - but the problem wit...

I think you miscalculated your RC time and you have an LED blinking at too fast a rate for the eye to detect. I think your off blink time is about 10 msec. I suggest increasing your resistor and or capacitor values to get a longer RC time. Turns out you were right! I had been calculating it on the ...

$7 is expensive? I'll have to admit my ignorance about Arduinos. I saw one for four times that price, or at least whatever it was I believed it to be an Arduino. Perhaps it was pre-programmed or something. I should look up some tutorials on how to use them. I do know that they are good for more tha...

Well bear in mind these things don't truly emit a 360 degree arc of light anyway. Which I think would be acceptable for light sabers in most cases. If it's upright, face the darker side towards the figure as most people won't be able to look through the painted plastic. If it's pointed forward, poi...

IIRC there are similar products available commercially for clothing effects. https://www.aliexpress.com/popular/led-lights-strips-for-clothing.html The URL is a bit incorrect, those appear to (almost) all be electroluminescent strips, not LED products. There's a few exceptions, like This one , whic...

perfect (for instance) for a 1/12 scale light saber. I like the way you think! First obstacle I see to that is the return circuit. How would you complete the circuit without a noticeable line through the light? Is there any sort of conductive clear coat? Well bear in mind these things don't truly e...

So I can't be the only one who sees some model-making potential in these things right? Basically, there's a kind of LED light bulb on the market called a "LED Filament" bulb. The idea is that it's meant to emulate the look of an old light bulb, with a visible incandescent filament inside g...

With that kind of space I could (and would, honestly) use one of my microcontroller boards: Raven PCB project (a bit outdated) The smaller boards are in the neighborhood of 9mm x 11mm and can be cut smaller (at the expense of some I/O pins) Disadvantages: You need to know how to program a microcontr...

You know, since the windows on the Enterprise-D kit are recessed, I wonder if it might make sense, instead of drilling out the windows, to cut away material from behind the window instead? Still a lot of individual windows to deal with but you wouldn't have to cut out the window's shape - just thin ...

And there is that. Makes no sense as to why they couldn't fit a half a mm larger battery in the head thus making logistics easier. Sometimes a half a millimeter is just a half a millimeter too much. Could be they designed it as a 1025 slot but screwed up, and said, "Rather than retool this... ...

I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage. One would expect a 1025 to be a half millimeter thicker than a 1020. Ah'm just stating what multiple groups ha...

I have been told, and after a few hours of online search through battery cross indexes I agree, that the CR1020 can be replaced by a CR1025. Same dimensions & voltage, longer amperage. That would surprise me, 'cause the numbers for a CR cell are dimensions: 10: 10mm diameter 25: 2.5mm thick So ...

Those are good prices but not like crazy good. It depends on the color of the LED, actually. Red, green, yellow, and orange LEDs (the traditional varieties that have been common since the 1980s) are dirt cheap. Like 6 cents each. Colors at the high end of the spectrum, like blue or white (white LEDs...

What's the number stamped onto the coin cell battery? It may not be as hard to find as you think. You can get the batteries online, popular size in Asia, but it's hard to find in any stores in America. Miniature batteries are a total rip-off if you buy them at retail in the US. Compared to the same...

Yeah they sorted out the backorder problem sometime this morning. Prior to the fix the sold-out items had the status "not available for backorder" I bought myself a couple Pro Minis and a Leonardo. (Leo's not on sale but I wanted one.) Now that the backorder thing is fixed I'm tempted to p...

Today's the 10th anniversary of Arduino and Sparkfun's having a sale on a few Arduino boards to celebrate. It may be worth getting in on it. Unfortunately there's a slight SNAFU at the moment - according to the promotion, backorders of out-of-stock boards are allowed during the promotion, but the si...

I´ve only seen a few guys being able to upload sketches via BT. Can you provide a link to the procedure? 'Fraid not. I'd be more inclined to muddle through myself. Probably by using code in my sketch to trigger a reset, like I said. Less convenient but it gets the job done. Wiring a reset line to t...

there is no way to programm the Arduino over the BT connection. That is not a 100 percent true, because you need to hold a reset button on the Arduino while sending the programm. Hard to accomplish with a sealed model. That's not quite true either... When you reset the Arduino, it starts up and run...

Thanks! I hadn't seen that one before, that's pretty cool. Some neat stuff to be found in the E-textiles crowd...

I like the Lilypad battery holders, too - one of the smallest "off-the-rack" battery holders I've managed to find, actually...