Novus Animus

[Weaver]

You've got my vote! I am definitely working toward a financial goal which would allow me to pick up the necessary gear for experimentation. Arduino seems to be incredibly useful for just about everything; it was only a matter of time before somebody thought to use them in sabers.

In particular, I am interested in the usage of MOSFETs. I'd seen them mentioned a few times, but never got that deep into studying them. It seems to me that this configuration may make it possible to use brighter LEDs than standard soundboards can handle. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

[hedgehog1]

I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. It was my pleasure. I wish a Commodore 128 would fit in a saber... just think about that!

I tried find a way to stiff a Raspberry Pi in a hilt. Just isn't happening (until Tim offers a 'Tardis' MHS system that is bigger on the inside than the outside).

[Crystal Chambers]

I can't say i'm a fan of the hilt but nice work on the rest! Very impressed. Scrap the cheapy boards and step it up to at least an NB for sure.

[Weaver]

Curious about the sound side: Is the Arduino capable of handling sound, or was the external soundboard setup necessary?

[JakeSoft]

Curious about the sound side: Is the Arduino capable of handling sound, or was the external soundboard setup necessary?

As far as I know, Arduino can do simple sounds like tones and beeps, but doing anything more complicated than that seems to require additional hardware. Even if it could handle playback of a prerecorded audio file on it's own, you'd be limited by the small amount of flash memory available to store the sound files. With that said, I have seen sound boards out there that are small enough to fit in a saber and are advertized as being "Arduino compatible" but I found the documentation lacking and performance seems iffy as well.

In theory, you could slave any commercial sound board to an Arduino the same way I did with the Ultimate FX board. I simply chose the easiest, cheapest way I could think of to put sound into my saber. If I ever tire of the Hasbro sound font, it's upgradable.

[Weaver]

As I become more curious about electronics, I find myself pursuing more than just lightsaber replicas. I'm been studying the function and theory behind MOSFETs and transistors in general, but can't quite grasp the finer points. Would you be opposed to a conversation in PMs? I would welcome a few tips.

[ntmcguff]

You can add an external sound board to an arduino to get sounds. The one I used uses a microSD memory card to store the sound files. Here is a link to the arduino forum about the sound card. http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,117009.0.html

I am working on a Star Wars E-11 Blaster with lights and sound. My post is on page 7 ( http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/to...tml#msg1132728). It includes a video of it operating.

I am also working on a couple of light sabers that I may incorporate an arduino and sound.

[JakeSoft]

You can add an external sound board to an arduino to get sounds. The one I used uses a microSD memory card to store the sound files. Here is a link to the arduino forum about the sound card. http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,117009.0.html

I am working on a Star Wars E-11 Blaster with lights and sound. My post is on page 7 ( http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/to...tml#msg1132728). It includes a video of it operating.

I am also working on a couple of light sabers that I may incorporate an arduino and sound.

You know, I looked at this exact same board when doing research for my project. I looked at this exact same thread. I found it really interesting and really wanted to experiment with the arduino library for this board. Maybe you can answer a question for me: Where the heck is the download link for the library?!

[JakeSoft]

As I become more curious about electronics, I find myself pursuing more than just lightsaber replicas. I'm been studying the function and theory behind MOSFETs and transistors in general, but can't quite grasp the finer points.

There are lots of tips on using power transistors on these forums. Look at the cheapie sound board wiring schematics. MOSFETs are a little different, but not terribly. They rename things for some reason when you make the switch from transistor to MOSFET that I'm sure is all very scientific and means something to physicists, but for the rest of us it's just confusing.

Transistor names the pins Collector, Base, and Emitter.
When voltage is applied to the Base, current will flow from the Collector to the Emitter.

MOSFET names the pins Drain, Gate, and Source.
When voltage is applied to Gate, current will flow from Drain to Source. (n-channel MOSFET)

I always add a pull-down resistor (100K ohms) between Gate and ground, otherwise some MOSFETs seem to latch in the on state even if voltage is no longer being applied to the Gate pin. If you look closely at the picture of the MOSFETs in my first post, you can see the resistor I soldered between the Gate and Source pins. That's the pull-down resistor since the Source pin was eventually wired to ground in the final assembly. I hope this helps.

[ntmcguff]

Jakesoft - The library is in the first post on the arduino thread. You have to be logged in to the arduino forum to see the download. I did not use the library in my code.