Newb needs help (with Madman's Lighting Kit)

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:01 pm

So, Madman's Lighting kit just arrived yesterday but I'm a complete newbie and I need help already. Looking at the instructions, it looks like I need:

- Wire-wrap tool
- More wire (wanting to light the ERTL Enterprise-D)
- 3 more blue LEDs (2 per nacelle and 1 for the deflector)
- 3 more red LEDs (1 per bussard, 1 per impulse drive)
- 1 (or 2) more white LEDs, at least 1 per section of the ship (Secondary Hull, Neck and Saucer)

Now for my questions:
- The instructions to attach the power supply suggest that I need pins....what kind/where do I find such pins? And which hole(s) do I use on the chip?
- I'm probably going to want 12 LEDs....which the instructions say I can, but the diagram provided maxes out at 6.

Sorry for the newb questions, but can anyone help me?

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:49 pm

Shouldn't be a problem. Madman is always around. I haven't gotten a kit so I can't tell you for sure how the extra LEDs should be added. If its a current drive system, and I believe it is since that is most efficiently and safe way to drive LEDs, and I remember Madman confirmed that he used current drive for one of his kits. Then they can be put in series with each other (like colors and same part in one chain only). Basically all LEDs that want the same current drive could be put in a daisy chain up-to the limit of the power supply and driver chip.

For pins is this for the main connection to the ship/model? Probably a 1/4 phono-jack or smaller depending if it is meant to handle the weight and torque of the mount point.

For general connection to help wire up each LED, could be he is suggestion some SILs, or DILs. A DIL is the type of pin used on older hard drives, the female is known as and IDC. The SIL is just half the DIL, Dual In Line, Single In Line. Either one can be trimmed carefully with a hobby knife or nippers.

http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_11_10_06.html

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:08 am

And how does the power supply work into all of this?

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:37 pm

Does the kit say what size power supply you need? It should tell you the max number of LEDs it can drive and what power supply you will need to drive that many.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:41 am

Reading this article might answer some of those questions.

Hope it helps,

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:48 pm

Sparky wrote:Does the kit say what size power supply you need? It should tell you the max number of LEDs it can drive and what power supply you will need to drive that many.

It does, a 9V battery but it doesn't say how that gets connected and where.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:32 pm

You will want to use a bigger battery pack, wall-wort, or parallel 9 volts, as you drive more LEDs. Can it use higher voltage? this will help as you daisy chain more LEDs, 3 whites will want 9.9 volts at xmA. The current driver will work to up convert the battery voltage to reach the set current, to a point of coarse.

Based on the picture of the main board Pat has in his article, I'm guessing the upper left pins are the battery connections. Can't tell which is the positive connection and which is the ground (with the board set so that the LED connections are on the bottom, it looks like the bottom pin of the battery connection is the positive line).

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:18 pm

Captn: Up Periscope!

Ensgn: User in Trouble Capn! What should we do?

Captn: We're all out of torpedoes and our insurance wont pay if we ram him. Man the lifeboats, send out a squad to help this guy. Send him a copy of our newly revised instructions and consider sending out a copy of the Starfury kit instructions too. I had an English major read those and lived to tell the tale. Now dont bother me a while, I've got a bubble bath to finish.

Ensgn: Yes Capn!

EEEK! A newbie with lots of questions. OK, first I have to get everyone up to speed on whats going on with my product:

1) Theres a new revision since Pat A wrote his review. The new rev is smaller, much flatter, and all the connector pins are along the side now as a dual row of pins. There's also larger mounting holes that take standard #2 size machine screws.

2) Electrically, its the same as before. Four constant current regulators provide 18mA of current each to LEDs. The "pins" are the square posts on the connector sticking out the side of the board. If using 8 LEDs, connect one LED to each pair of posts. If using more than 8 LEDs, connect up to 3 LEDs in series (one after the other, positive to negative) for each regulator.

3) Theres now traces and pads on both sides of the board. Dont worry about the pads on the back with no parts, you dont need them yet. There's a new blinking version in the works that will use them.

On to the Newbies questions:

Yes, you need all that stuff you mentioned. You can get a wire wrap tool and more wire at Radio Shack or from Jameco Electronics You want 30AWG wire wrap wire. Radio Shack sells spools of red, blue and white. Its OK to subsitute colors (blue instead of black) as long as you keep it all the same.

You asked about more LEDs too, send me a private message with your home email address and I'll send you a quote. I'll even toss in the newly revised instruction sheet. There's a BIG graphic in there now that shows exactly how to hook it all up, in detail.

If you want to try buying your own LEDs, the only real constraint is that they have a nominal running current of 20mA, which is very common. Getting the ones that are very bright at that current rating is more difficult.

If you want to use 12LEDs, I recommend using a 12VDC wall wort, rated at 100mA or better. You can also use 8 batteries in series to get 12V, any size is OK except 9V. Also available at Radio Shack or Jameco.

Power is hooked to the board using two of the pins on the one big connector now, instead of lots of little connectors. Hold the board parts side up, connector pins towards you. The power ground pin is the top, left most pin and the power positive is the bottom left most pin.

When power is hooked up right, a tiny LED on the board will light up. Its near the power pins. You should hook up power first and get this one LED to light before hooking anything else up. You wont hurt anything, its just easier this way.

There's a wire wrap tutorial on my web site. (www.madmanlighting.com) The pics are a little fuzzy but readable.

I hope that answers your questons, ask some more if still stuck. Theres a neat article on how I lit up NX-01 in Sci-Fi Fantasy #4 that's pretty detailed too.

Captn: Down Periscope! Get me some more bubbles for my bubble bath Ensign!

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:37 am

I created a permanent thread for the Madman lighting kits, and pasted in a quote of your info above. It really answers all the questions and since another kit is coming we should leave a thread permanent for those who dive in to projects at 1:00 am Saturday night, like me;)

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:43 pm

I created a permanent thread for the Madman lighting kits...

Wow, I'm honored. Thanks.

The new kit thats comming is the same board as is shipping now, and will be forever more. It will just be able to do more. One of these days I'll finish writing the C program to control it and then it will do lots of nifty stuff.

Now back to my bubble bath.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 11:28 am

Wow, that's what I call product support!

I have been considering getting a Madman Lighting kit, and the response to Nightshade's questions raises the comfort level considerably.