HARDWIRE Force FX lightsaabers

[RM SAMURAI]

Hey guys,
I have been looking for weeks for a solution to meet my needs. I have been researching all the forums and I am hoping you guys can help.
I know there is a thread about using FX Sabers for home theater sconces. I want to do the same thing but I do not want to loose the start up sequence. I know there is a way to wire a 555 timer into the circuit but I am not sure just how to do it. I will also hardwire them to a controlled switch.

Thanks for the help.

[RM SAMURAI]

You telling me that no one has done this.

[Kyaryo Ysoyav]

I was going to reference you to the only person I've seen who has, but it looks like you found it since you posted in that thread

[RM SAMURAI]

Thanks buddy,
I have looked every where and people say they have done it but not how they have done it.

[hedgehog1]

Do you have a FX saber hilt to test with?

[RM SAMURAI]

I have 8 force fx sabers

[hedgehog1]

OK, so I am assuming you want them to all 'power up together' when you flip a single switch (with the power-up sound)? Once they are on, do you want the sound to stop or keep going and fill the room? When you turn them off, do you want the shutdown sequence to run, or just 'go off'?

Knowing the desired behavior will guide the changes to the saber you have to make.

I am thinking the sound running forever would make everyone in the room nuts after a while; which means you need to modify the behavior of the sabers sound system as well.

Please think about and tell us how you want the 'power on' cycle, the 'staying on' cycle and the 'power off' cycles to look and sound. Then, the design will appear from that.

[RM SAMURAI]

OK, so I am assuming you want them to all 'power up together' when you flip a single switch (with the power-up sound)? Once they are on, do you want the sound to stop or keep going and fill the room? When you turn them off, do you want the shutdown sequence to run, or just 'go off'?

Knowing the desired behavior will guide the changes to the saber you have to make.

I am thinking the sound running forever would make everyone in the room nuts after a while; which means you need to modify the behavior of the sabers sound system as well.

Please think about and tell us how you want the 'power on' cycle, the 'staying on' cycle and the 'power off' cycles to look and sound. Then, the design will appear from that.

Hedgehog1,
You are exactly right.
1. I want to control them all with a switch.
2. I want to keep the start up and shut down sequence.
3. I would like to have the sound on start up and shut down and off the rest of the time. If this can be accomplished that would be great. If this proves to be to difficult I could live without the sound.
These are sabers that I have.
Yoda, Mace, Darth Maul, Luke (Green), Vader, Anikin and Obi-Wan

Thanks again for all the help.

[hedgehog1]

Hedgehog1,
You are exactly right.
1. I want to control them all with a switch.
2. I want to keep the start up and shut down sequence.
3. I would like to have the sound on start up and shut down and off the rest of the time. If this can be accomplished that would be great. If this proves to be to difficult I could live without the sound.
These are sabers that I have.
Yoda, Mace, Darth Maul, Luke (Green), Vader, Anikin and Obi-Wan

Thanks again for all the help.

OK - now that we know what you want them to do, we can talk modifications and plans.

To make the sound do only power up and power down (this is the hardest part), we need to think out of the box. The built in board is pretty much hard-coded with sounds and behaviors (which is fine for normal use). But you need custom behaviors, and that means customization to the sabers.

White board time (without the white board ):

ONE POSSIBLE IDEA: Is that the speakers in the sabers be disconnected, and a small (hidden) speaker in the sconce be the actual sound source. This will allow you to separate the power-up/power-down sequence on the LEDs (which will still use the built in boards) and use something small but very capable for just the sound - think Nano Biscotti (NB). The NB would have a sound font package with Power-up and power-down sounds to match each saber, and all other sounds would be 100 ms of silence WAV files. This way, you only hear the two sounds you want. So the work is divided: the saber does the lights, the NB does the custom sound.

Wiring to the sconces uses the readily-available 8 conductor 10BASET network cable. We are working at low voltages and amperage's, so this cable is adequate.

* 2 conductors give power to the built-in saber board
* 2 conductors replace the built-in power-on switch (thick of the button just being moved 50 or 100 feet away)
* 2 conductors power the NB sound board
* 2 conductors at attached to the momentary switch connection for the NB

Each sconce's cable run separately (home run) to your control area. Now, you can turn them on and off from a single location. Proper DC power to the sabers and NB can be left on all the time, or you can turn them off when the room is not being used, your choice. The NB do make a boot up boot-up noise when DC power is applied after being disconnected.

You can use a bank of eight double-pole buttons and 'light up' the sabers in a manual sequence, or automate the sequence So they light up in a visible pattern.

BETTER IDEA: The NBs can be mounted in the single control box, and their speakers are wired through the long cables (this would mean you could use a 6 conductor cable to each sconce). I think I would do it this way so it is easier to change sound fonts and make other adjustments to the NBs in a single location.

Anyway, that is my first pass with ideas on making this work.

[RM SAMURAI]

OK - now that we know what you want them to do, we can talk modifications and plans.

To make the sound do only power up and power down (this is the hardest part), we need to think out of the box. The built in board is pretty much hard-coded with sounds and behaviors (which is fine for normal use). But you need custom behaviors, and that means customization to the sabers.

White board time (without the white board ):

ONE POSSIBLE IDEA: Is that the speakers in the sabers be disconnected, and a small (hidden) speaker in the sconce be the actual sound source. This will allow you to separate the power-up/power-down sequence on the LEDs (which will still use the built in boards) and use something small but very capable for just the sound - think Nano Biscotti (NB). The NB would have a sound font package with Power-up and power-down sounds to match each saber, and all other sounds would be 100 ms of silence WAV files. This way, you only hear the two sounds you want. So the work is divided: the saber does the lights, the NB does the custom sound.

Wiring to the sconces uses the readily-available 8 conductor 10BASET network cable. We are working at low voltages and amperage's, so this cable is adequate.

* 2 conductors give power to the built-in saber board
* 2 conductors replace the built-in power-on switch (thick of the button just being moved 50 or 100 feet away)
* 2 conductors power the NB sound board
* 2 conductors at attached to the momentary switch connection for the NB

Each sconce's cable run separately (home run) to your control area. Now, you can turn them on and off from a single location. Proper DC power to the sabers and NB can be left on all the time, or you can turn them off when the room is not being used, your choice. The NB do make a boot up boot-up noise when DC power is applied after being disconnected.

You can use a bank of eight double-pole buttons and 'light up' the sabers in a manual sequence, or automate the sequence So they light up in a visible pattern.

BETTER IDEA: The NBs can be mounted in the single control box, and their speakers are wired through the long cables (this would mean you could use a 6 conductor cable to each sconce). I think I would do it this way so it is easier to change sound fonts and make other adjustments to the NBs in a single location.

Anyway, that is my first pass with ideas on making this work.

Now we are cracking,

You gave me a very good ideah. I will have a control system so I could pump the sound through the A/V System. It will be a timing thing but that would eliminate the small speakers all together.
1. Nano Biscotti (Is this a custom board or something) I am googling now to see what it is.
2. The 8 conductor cable you are talking about. Do you mean cat 6 or something like that. Or do you think we will need bigger gauge wire. I know cat6 is 23awg.