Madman Lighting Kits

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:54 pm

Updates are coming!

At last I have time to fixup my website and get all the new instructions put up there, as well as post the new kits I've produced.

For those not following, earlier this year I redesigned my controller card to drive 2X as many LEDs and overhauled my product line. Ye GADS what a project! YOU try re-writing over ten sets of kit instructions sometime.

Anyways, this week I will be updating my site and posting all the new instructions there. Everyone who bought kits for the last 9 months or so already has all this stuff on the CD-ROM but now I can actually put it on the site. Yea!

O yea, almost forgot!

Soon I will have MY VERY OWN ONLINE STORE. You will still be able to buy from my regular retailers without whom I would be nothing but, should you like me better that day, you can buy direct from me.

Thanks!

PetarB · Post by **PetarB** » Mon Jan 09, 2012 10:59 pm

I've got the Fast Tramp Freighter Kit, and so far it works great. I'd like to add extra engine LEDs, however - the wide diffuse blue bright ones.

1) Can they be powered by the kit, and if so, do I add them in series? Or what's the best way?

2) What sort of luminous intensity are the current ones, so I can match?

Thanks Madman Lighting!

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:37 pm

Glad you like my kit.

Yes, you can add more LEDs, no problem.

Those are 20mA, 100 degree, viewing angle 1000 mcd blue LEDs. To add more you would create longer, series strings of them, and you would need a higher voltage power supply. This kit drives two strings of 3 LEDs but you can double that to two strings of SIX leds with an 18VDC power supply.

With 12 LEDs total, you're gonna have one bright Falcon engine.

PetarB · Post by **PetarB** » Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:45 am

One bright Falcon engine? That's what I want! In fact, I'm aiming for 'OMG I CAN'T EVEN LOOK AT IT!'
Thanks for your quick reply.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:11 pm

Hi all,

We now have our latest kit: Space Battleship Yamato Wave Motion Gun FX kit.

This kit has a very bright white LED with a "halo" of fiber optics to create a very realistic wave motion gun effect. It works with the 1:700 and larger Yamato kits.

Here's the YouTube vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFoqWaBZtSA

Thanks!

NathanJ · Post by **NathanJ** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:19 pm

Just got one of your lighting kits direct from you. Started by hooking up power and the board LED came on. Next circuit was the marker (strobe) which did not operate. Now I am more electrical then electronic. Checked continuity on both negative terminals (for power and strobe) and nothing. Checked voltages (fluke 117 on DC setting) and the voltages were ranging from 9 to 18 under strobe via it's negative terminal. Switched over to the negative to the power with the 117 and was giving me correct voltage. Checked and confirmed with bulb and it does operate using the power terminal. Can you advise?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:27 pm

Have you tried reversing the direction of the LED wires? LEDs only light when powered the correct way.

NathanJ · Post by **NathanJ** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:37 pm

LOL sorry bout that. Thought my mail might have gone the way of spam!

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:17 pm

Hey, no sweat. Enjoy the kit.

Mr sinister · Post by **Mr sinister** » Wed May 02, 2012 10:21 am

Got my fast tramp kit the other day and it's excellent but I was wondering if I decided to wire two more of the blue engine LEDs in to the kit would I need to up the volatage or would 12v still work?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Wed May 02, 2012 5:41 pm

Good question!

You will need more voltage to run a string of 4 of those LEDs. Good news is that the new Delux-24 card can take up to 18V input, so for those LEDs you can actually run two strings of 5 blue LEDs with an 18V input.

Thanks!

brt · Post by **brt** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 8:03 pm

Could you put your wire wrap tutorial back on your site please?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:55 pm

I can do better than that! I found a YouTube vid that explains exactly how to wire-wrap, using the Radio Shack tool.

Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SSOKppwpAE

This isn't me, but he's good. He's even got my slightly nasal geeky voice!

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:51 pm

I have a new retailer!

Madman Lighting is proud to announce that Free Time Hobbies in Georgia is now carrying our products and listing them on eBay.

Thank you.

brt · Post by **brt** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:10 pm

Madman Lighting wrote:I can do better than that! I found a YouTube vid that explains exactly how to wire-wrap, using the Radio Shack tool.

Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SSOKppwpAE

This isn't me, but he's good. He's even got my slightly nasal geeky voice!

Thanks. Just saw this. I got that tool from "the source" here in Canada. Formerly Radioshack here in the great white north. I put that link into my favorites.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:22 pm

Hi all,

I know this may be asking for trouble but I'm trying to verify something important here.

Earlier this year I added some ESD protection parts to my controller card, to combat a rash of possibly ESD induced processor failures. Customers would call up saying "Hey man, this thing sucks! The lights are on all the time and the FX button does nothing."

Well, what was happening was something was killing the processor doing the special FX and then you were done. I would hurry up and send out a new card and the issue (usually) went away.

So: For the past 6 months or so, I've gotten almost no returns. No complaints either. This is about when I started shipping cards with ESD protection so I'm guessing that either the ESD protection is working and people are happy, or people are just too polite to say anything bad. I'm really hoping its option one.

Thanks.

-John

Also!! Anyone got ideas for new lighting kits they just gotta have? Next FX is a runway lighting FX that will have two modes: "chaser lights" or "always on". Thats in development now and will be out in a month or two.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 8:17 pm

Well I'll take that silence as good news.

Over the past year or so I've gotten just one field return, for an older design that had a known flaw which has since been fixed.

Thanks guys.

And now: some updates:

We now have a Power Supply Kit available, in USA and International variants. Both can power multiple Delux-24 kits and are incredibly simple to use. Plug in the wall transformer, plug the supply-to-Delux-24 adapter in, and plug 1 to 6 cards into the adapter. Done. No soldering or fussing.

Our Runway kit is in progress and will be released soon.

As always, we are interested in new ideas people want to light up so drop us a line and ask.

blakeh1 · Post by **blakeh1** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:55 pm

Extreme beginner question...

I picked up the fast tramp lighting kit a while ago and I am now starting work on the Falcon. If i wanted to include a switch to turn off just some of the LED strings (like the landing lights/headlights for example) but leave others on always (like the engines and cockpit), can i just simply add a switch between the controller card and the LEDs, or will that cause extra voltage to be routed to the LEDs that are still on and wind up potentially burning them out or shortening the life span.

I guess a too make a long story short, does the controller card only send out a constant voltage needed to light the circuit, or will it wind up sending all 12 volts to only the one or two circuits on at the moment out of the four (five or six?) total?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:42 pm

Like I say, there are no dumb questions. (At least not here.)

If you want to turn off some of the lights, but not all, yes that is exactly the way to do it. By adding a simple single pole single throw (on-off) switch between the controller and the LED string you can turn off just that string and it will not hurt anything.

Each output on the controller is actually independent of all the others and makes a constant current to drive the LEDs. This is why the LEDs have the same brightness no matter what the input voltage is, as long as the input voltage is enough to drive the entire string.

This is also why you can have different special FX on each LED string.

Hope that helps.

blakeh1 · Post by **blakeh1** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 3:21 pm

yes it does, thanks!

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sun May 19, 2013 11:14 am

Hi all,

Well little by little I'm catching up with the 21st century.

My online store now has proper "add to cart" buttons so when you buy multiple items from me, Paypal figures out the shipping for the whole lot instead of you guys having to pay shipping for each item again.

This also works for all my International customers too. Yes! Madman Lighting's online store now correctly calculates proper shipping for all International customers.

We now have Four retailers! Listed at the top of the products page. Our first and best retailer: the SSM Store, then Megahobby, FreeTimeHobbies and our new member: CultTVMan.

Thanks!

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:25 pm

Well I finally got my "JJ-Prise" project lit up. Thanks to a client for loaning me his model as a prototype, here's the test-fit video:

http://youtu.be/e4PIUUHRgs0

Constructive criticism is very welcome, I'm trying to make sure this one is really good.

Thanks!

-John

Hermes Trismegistus · Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:57 pm

Hello!

I have a spare "Starship Lighting Kit" that I would like to use for a project that does NOT require the special effects. I would like to have all the channels provide constant lighting. Is there anyway to modify the card to make it do that, or would I need to buy the basic "Delux 24" to achieve this?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:18 pm

I'm very sorry, no.

Any card of mine with special FX has extra parts to make the special FX happen, where a plain Delux-24 card has only the parts to regulate LED current.

Hermes Trismegistus · Post by **Hermes Trismegistus** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 4:44 pm

Not a problem. There are always other starships to stick this board into, so I'll just save it for later.

Slarti · Post by **Slarti** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:10 pm

Hey Madman....
Couple of questions.
1. How can I get more wire from you. The smallest I can find is around 28 from Radio Shack, and I have to order that online.
2. I have the starship lighting kit. Is it possible to run more that 3 LEDs off of the strobe channel and more that 3 off of the running lights channel?

Thx

Mark

Slarti · Post by **Slarti** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 12:16 am

Hey Madman...where are you? I sent you an e-mail with a question as well as posting this here....

You still around?

thx

Mark

brt · Post by **brt** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 1:15 pm

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 6:45 pm

*Up Periscope*

Hi Mark...

Sorry I didn't get those emails... dunno why.

Yes, I will sell you more wire if you want.

Twisted pair red/black wire wrap wire is $0.25 per foot.

Yes, you can put more than 3 LEDs on those outputs (for any kit!). You can put up to 6 LEDs on any output of my controller cards but you have to have enough voltage to make em all light up. 12V will get about 3 LEDs. For six LEDs, you need 18V which is two 9V batteries in series or one of my power supply kits.

*Sir! Customers are coming for the Holiday Season! And they are waving Credit Cards! *

*Down Periscope!! Dive! Dive! Dive!!! *

Slarti · Post by **Slarti** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:21 pm

Hey BTR...what' happened to the links you had out?

Madman...thanks for the info.