Need a little help with a blaster core project.

[morpheus1977]

So I am finally am upgrading my GOW replica lancer with a blaster core. I figured since a lot of people here use Crystal Focus boards, and they are the same concept. I was hoping somebody would be able to help me.

Ok lets see if I can explain this without my head exploding. LOL

1.The first picture shows two switches inside the clip receiver those are the two switches that currently powering the two sound cards I currently have in the lancer. I plan on using only one of those for the clip sound effects.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/IMG_1040_zpse32501c1.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/IMG_1040_zpse32501c1.jpg.html)
2. Trigger (not pictured) Kinda self speaks for it's self LOL

3.Toggle switch (currently used to go from auto to silenced mode) Will be used to go from auto to single shot.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/th_IMG_1039_zps110a529c.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/IMG_1039_zps110a529c.jpg.html)
4. Momentary button. This will be my Aux button.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/IMG_1038_zpse9930d7b.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/IMG_1038_zpse9930d7b.jpg.html)
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/th_IMG_1037_zps87bba248.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/IMG_1037_zps87bba248.jpg.html)
To wire this thing up (if I am reading the manual correctly. For each "switch" the positive will be soldered to the respective spot on the board. Then all of the negatives will be brought together and soldered to the ground terminal.

I don't plan on adding a recharging port. This will simply use rechargeable batteries (will have access to the compartment) Will be powered with a micro on and off switch. The Blue Led's will be set up between the switch and the board so when I turn it on, the lights come on and the Blaster Core receives power.
I think for wiring I am good to go. For the sound fonts do I simply have to drag and drop them to the SD card.
I have been thinking about this all day. I hope I am right.

comments and constructive crit are always welcome.

[madmaxx]

ok firstly i know nothing that can help you out...secondly THATS A SWEETASS GUN!

[morpheus1977]

Firstly no worries, secondly thanks. I have had it for a while I do have some lighting and sound effects. I have been wanting to upgrade to a blaster core for a while. I just ordered it now I just have to wait for it to get here.

[Silver Serpent]

Sounds like you have it correct. Keep in mind that switches don't have polarity, so you don't have to figure out which end is positive or negative.

Your micro on/off switch that kills power to the whole assembly will need to be a latching switch. Feel free to put together a wiring diagram if you'd like us to doublecheck it for you.

[morpheus1977]

Sounds like you have it correct. Keep in mind that switches don't have polarity, so you don't have to figure out which end is positive or negative.

Your micro on/off switch that kills power to the whole assembly will need to be a latching switch. Feel free to put together a wiring diagram if you'd like us to doublecheck it for you.

actually since you mentioned it. I do have one I threw together. Its very crude mind you. The only thing I wasnt sure about was wiring up the bank of blue LED's
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/null_zps84d5cd1d.jpg

[Silver Serpent]

Looks like you're wiring up all those blue LEDs in parallel. You're going to need a resistor on each one. The resistor calculator in my sig has a version that works with multiple LEDs and will help you figure out appropriate resistors for each of them. I don't see anything wrong with the diagram.

[morpheus1977]

Looks like you're wiring up all those blue LEDs in parallel. You're going to need a resistor on each one. The resistor calculator in my sig has a version that works with multiple LEDs and will help you figure out appropriate resistors for each of them. I don't see anything wrong with the diagram.

With the electronics I have in it right now I do not have any resistors and I have not had any issues at all and I think I have it wired up the same way. Now when you say I have it wired up in Parallel that was not a Consensus decision.( I didnt say to my self i am going to wireup the blue LED's in Parallel) Could there be a better way to wire them up?

[Silver Serpent]

Parallel is fine. You could wire them up in series instead, but the voltage required to light them up will increase.

You say you have 3 AA sized rechargeable batteries in your pack. What type of batteries? NiMH, Li-ion, rechargeable alkalines? And do you know the specs on your LEDs? Forward voltage and current are needed to get the proper calculations.

[morpheus1977]

Now that I am looking at the max voltage of some of these. If I were actually using 3AA I am sure I would be burning out my LED's I might be just using 2AA. I have to open up the lancer when I get home (Hate doing that LOL)
The Blaster Core can take up to 11 volts max so I think I still will use the 3 AA rechargable batteries and just use resistors. (That is a pain in the @$$ and alot of soldering LOL) let me ask this instead of soldering a resistor to each led could I do it after the switch right before it splits off to each LED?
Ok I plan on using Energizer Rechargeable (pictured) The three types of LEDs I use

RadioShack® 4-Pin High-Brightness Power LED (Blue)
FW current (IF) (mA): 20mA
FW Supply (V)(typ.) (max.): 3.5V (typ)/4.0V(max)

Rectangular High-Brightness Blue LED Lamp
FW current (IF) (mA): 20 mA
FW Supply (V)(typical) 3.1V; maximum 3.5V

NTE30043 Blue Super-bright LED Indicator
Reverse voltage: 5V
Continuous forward current: 30mA
Peak forward current: 100mA
Power dissipation: 120mW
Operating temperature range: -25°C to 85°C
Storage temperature range: -25°C to 100°C
Lead temperature: 260°C
Forward voltage: 3.5V
Reverse current: 60 μA
Luminous intensity: 3500 mcd
Peak emission wavelength: 465 nm
Spectral line half width: 35 nm
Viewing angle: 12°

[Silver Serpent]

Ok, I'm finally able to check out the BC manual. Plecterlabs is blocked at work for some reason.

It looks like the board is designed to run on a pair of li-ions. Power range is from 5.5v to 11v. Using 1.2v NiMH cells like the ones in your pic, you'd need a minimum of 5 to run the board properly. 6 would be better. Or a 7.4v li-ion pack. I'm not sure how much room is in your weapon, so you'll have to take that into consideration. The board will run on less than 5.5 volts, but the audio amplifier won't be as happy.

Personally, I'd connect all those little LEDs onto the accent LED pads on the Blaster Core itself, and then you could have them do animated sequences. It's a little more work, but you'll have a much more impressive result when you're done.

If you'd prefer to wire them all up as they are in your diagram, you may certainly use a single resistor for all of them. Provided that all the LEDs are identical, you will calculate the resistor based off your battery pack voltage, the forward voltage of a single LED, and the combined current of all your LEDs. So if you have a 3.6v pack, 3.1v Vf, and 240mA (12 LEDs @ 20mA), you'd need a single 2.2 ohm, 1/4 watt resistor.

With parallel wiring you add current, but voltage remains the same. With series wiring you add voltages, but current remains the same.

[morpheus1977]

So let me ask this. Wod it be better if I just use a battery pack? I didn't want to have to deal with a recharging port or anything like that but I could get two different packs that way I can have one in reserve and one one the prop. Would any of the packs that are sold here work?

[Silver Serpent]

Any of the 7.4v li-ion packs would be ideal. You can certainly have multiple battery packs and swap them out. Most of the prebuilt packs sold here have JST connectors on them, so it's quick and easy to swap them out.

As an FYI, you'll need to get a li-ion charger if you decide to use li-ions. They are not compatible with NiMH chargers, and may go *boom* if you try.

[morpheus1977]

LoL yea that much I know LoL. I was thinking about putting them on the board but two things, there are not enough pads for 12Leds and I am not doing anything with them special just off and on. So I should prob just go with the li-ion packs with a quick disconnect. A charger for them and then the appropriate resistors for the different types of Led's. But I only have to use one resistor per bundle as long as they are the same type LED. (Man my head hurts lol)
Now IF (and that's a big IF ) I wanted to add in a recharge port. How would I go about doing that? Also if you have a recharge port do you have to have a kill switch or can I still use my master switch?

[Silver Serpent]

One resistor per bundle if they're all the same type LED. That's just to make the calculations easier. It can still be done with mix n' match LEDs, but it gets more complicated if they have different Vf and current.

Recharge port: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?2235-Recharge-port-hookup and look at the second post. The recharge port can act as a kill switch all by itself. You can still use an additional switch as well, which is nice if you don't want to keep track of a kill key while you're out shooting aliens. The best place to put the recharge port is directly next to the batteries. You can put the manual kill switch between the recharge port and your electronic components. That way, you can cut power by pressing your manual kill switch, and it will also automatically cut off during the charging process.

You want power cut to the board while the batteries are charging. Bad things can happen to your expensive electronics otherwise.

[morpheus1977]

One resistor per bundle if they're all the same type LED. That's just to make the calculations easier. It can still be done with mix n' match LEDs, but it gets more complicated if they have different Vf and current.

Recharge port: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?2235-Recharge-port-hookup and look at the second post. The recharge port can act as a kill switch all by itself. You can still use an additional switch as well, which is nice if you don't want to keep track of a kill key while you're out shooting aliens. The best place to put the recharge port is directly next to the batteries. You can put the manual kill switch between the recharge port and your electronic components. That way, you can cut power by pressing your manual kill switch, and it will also automatically cut off during the charging process.

You want power cut to the board while the batteries are charging. Bad things can happen to your expensive electronics otherwise.
So if u are going to have a recharge port then you should have a kill port. I think I am just gonna buy everything at once that way if I want to add a charge port later I can. But for now I think I will just stick to swapping out packs LoL

[Silver Serpent]

Correction: if you have a recharge port then you might as well wire it up as a kill port. When you insert your recharge plug, or a dummy plug, kill key, etc., then the recharge port cuts power to your electronics.

But yeah, you can always add the recharge port in later if you're not comfortable doing it now. Swapping packs is perfectly fine. You should get some great runtimes if you don't have any high-powered LEDs (700mA or more) in your weapon.

[morpheus1977]

Correction: if you have a recharge port then you might as well wire it up as a kill port. When you insert your recharge plug, or a dummy plug, kill key, etc., then the recharge port cuts power to your electronics.

But yeah, you can always add the recharge port in later if you're not comfortable doing it now. Swapping packs is perfectly fine. You should get some great runtimes if you don't have any high-powered LEDs (700mA or more) in your weapon.

I wanted to thank you for all of your help. I went ahead and ordered the battery packs charger and a few odds and ends..If I get stuck I know where to go ;)

[morpheus1977]

I wanted to thank you for all of your help. I went ahead and ordered the battery packs charger and a few odds and ends..If I get stuck I know where to go ;)

Ok so I am picking up my resistors today and will start taking the lancer apart and cleaning up the inside. Now when I attach these resistors I am gussing I hook them up on the Positive side of the resistor?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Ok so I am picking up my resistors today and will start taking the lancer apart and cleaning up the inside. Now when I attach these resistors I am gussing I hook them up on the Positive side of the resistor?

You connect them to the positive side of the LED.

[morpheus1977]

So I figured I would turn this into a progress thread LoL
This is what I pulled out (what I was using to make it work in the current version)
3 battery packs 2 toy sound boards and 4 switches.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/null_zps2f8a4788.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/null_zps2f8a4788.jpg.html)
This is what it looks like now.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/morpheus1977/null_zpsf876aed7.jpg (http://s17.photobucket.com/user/morpheus1977/media/null_zpsf876aed7.jpg.html)
I left three switches (including the trigger)I know it looks like a mess right now (you should have seen it before I ripped it's guts out) Once I have all of the pieces it will look a lot better.

[morpheus1977]

ugghhhhhh well fried my first LED last night (by accident.) I wired up one half of the Lancer with no problems. The other half well.... I did my first LED no problem. The second nothing happened no light. I couldnt figure out what I did wrong. I cut off the heat shrink and then I figured it out. I forgot to cut off the extra length of wire off of the resistor so with the way I had them bent the two sides touched :( Since electricity takes the path of least resistance. It skipped over the resistor and fried my LED.s ARGHHHH So I had to order ANOTHER one LOL. Well I can work on everything else while I wait for it to get here.