What ships do people really want to light?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:22 pm

OK,

Now that I'm bored again I'm taking a straw poll:

What ships/kits do people really want to light? So far I think we're doing pretty good with the kits I've got but I need some more input.

Here's what we got so far:
Delux-8: General purpose LED lighting/fiber optic kit, 8 to 12 LEDs
Starfury Kit: A tweaked Delux-8 with extra power plugs for Starfury.
Starship Lighting Kit: A strobing, flashing Delux 8 with more LEDs and power plugs.

(anyone see a theme here?)

Here's what I'm thinking about:

Emergency Flasher: Light your Police, Ambulance or Fire Engine. Same hardware as Starship Lighting kit, different blinking and LEDs. About $78 each.

Star Destroyer Add-on for Delux-8: Extra LEDs, wire, and whatnot to light most Star Destroyers. Buy a Delux-8 and this add-on and away you go. About $10 each.

Big Starship Kit: Light your 1/350 size monsters with this one! Three or four boards to drive 36 to 48 LEDs. One board is all strobes and marker lights so you would get six strobes, three green markers, three red markers and all the rest are constant-on. About $199 - $229, depending.

I'm open to suggestions too guys. The Flasher kits is programmable so it can literally do just about any kind of pattern you can think of with four outputs. They can blink, fade, strobe, sequence, etc.

Thanks!!

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:32 am

How about a sequencer circuit with more than four outputs (say, 6 or 8) for TOS bussard collectors, Cylon eyes or landing bay lights?

Also, if you're thinking about a "mega-deluxe" kit, what about a controller with a power supply to manage all the circuits from a central point?

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 11:29 am

How about an expandable controller board with a plug-on bus so you can design any add-ons you like but still start with a simple unit to keep costs down?

A power supply? You mean like a control panel so you can turn circuits on and off by remote? Or just a central on-off switch for the whole thing? I'm not sure what you mean Pat...

-John

jwrjr · Post by **jwrjr** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 10:39 pm

VoodooFX has all of the above either available or in development. How do I know this? I designed/am designing the parts.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:56 am

Madman Lighting wrote:How about an expandable controller board with a plug-on bus so you can design any add-ons you like but still start with a simple unit to keep costs down?

A power supply? You mean like a control panel so you can turn circuits on and off by remote? Or just a central on-off switch for the whole thing? I'm not sure what you mean Pat...

-John

I think you have the basic idea of what I'm getting at. I'm thinking along the lines of a controller like you described but with a power distribution system built into it so all you have to do is plug in a wall wart (included perhaps?) to juice up the whole thing.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:14 am

Pat Amaral wrote:
Madman Lighting wrote:How about an expandable controller board with a plug-on bus so you can design any add-ons you like but still start with a simple unit to keep costs down?

A power supply? You mean like a control panel so you can turn circuits on and off by remote? Or just a central on-off switch for the whole thing? I'm not sure what you mean Pat...

-John
I think you have the basic idea of what I'm getting at. I'm thinking along the lines of a controller like you described but with a power distribution system built into it so all you have to do is plug in a wall wart (included perhaps?) to juice up the whole thing.

OK, so this sounds like people are a little unhappy having to choose their own power source (battery, wall wort, etc) and want a complete system in a box, or a "main" system with accessories.

Thats tough.... wall worts are a high volume consumer grade item and margins are real thin, even buying surplus.

I did attempt to address the wall-wort issue by supplying DC power plugs on the Starfury and Starship kits. Buy a wall-wort cheap, clip off its plug and solder on my plug and you're good to go. Pretty easy actually.

Maybe the instructions need to be tweaked to show how to hook up a 9V clip, a 4 cell AA pack or more detailed wall-wort instructions....?

I have some other ideas I wont discuss here until they're ready that should be pretty nifty. STay tuned!

-John C.

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:16 pm

I agree that it shouldn't be a problem picking up a cheap AC adaptor but the trick, I think, is selecting the right one. I seem to remember you mentioning in your instructions the voltage but I don't remember seeing anything about the max current draw. Obviously, the wrong wall wart may not drive everything sufficiently but I've also seen things get a little warm if the wrong one is used.

It's just a suggestion but I think it might be a good idea to discuss this topic more completely in your instructions. Your kits are well suited for the novice level model "lighter" so I would think the more info the better (at least in a case like this).

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:32 pm

Hi Pat,

Yup, there's no mention of current draw in the instructions.

Thats because it draws so little current, just 90mA, that nearly every wall wort on the planet can drive it.

I think the flasher draws a little more, maybe 100mA, but thats still nuthin.

Sounds like something for the FAQ on my website.

Cheers!

-John

YT · Post by YT » Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:49 pm

I like the idea of a big 1/350 Starship kit, sounds very good!

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:30 pm

I guess what I'm considering is when someone wants to use multiple boards in an application. There's nothing that tells you what you need if you use, say, three deluxe8's and a flasher unit. By your estimation, one would need a wall wart that can draw at least 400 mA because a lower rated one might not work.

Now I know there are ways of getting by with just one of each type of board (in which case you would only need a 200 mA supply) but not in all cases. In particular, I'm thinking of the big Enterprise kits where the port holes are too large for the practical use of fiber. I think you need more LEDs than a single D8 can handle in those rigs.

I'm just thinking of different ways to apply your kits.

Madman Lighting · Post by **Madman Lighting** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:00 pm

Hi Pat,

I'm trying to think of neat ways to use my product too!

So far it seems the "Big Starship" idea has merit and might even be cost effective.

I read Simon Merc's Refit article in IPMS journal and he used over 260 LEDs to light that monster but then again, most of us cant spend 8 months on one model!

Sounds like I need to dust off my 1/350 Refit kit and the scotch tape and see just what it will take to get it done. I did the 1/350 NX-01 a while back and it took 3 D-8s to do that and around 30 LEDs. None blinked but I did do some neat beveling tricks with fiber to get light to shine down onto cargo bay doors.

Thanks for the input!

-John C