@SgtWookie:
Sorry for my confusion earlier, I had pictured the circuit you have designed was going to be just for the marquees, and that there was going to be another similar circuit for the other LEDs (so my shopping list has double the requirement). Should I get the extra parts in case the other LEDs don't look right?
@Craig
Is this OK for the switch?
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Switches/Slide-Switches/Standard-slide-switch/30267
Or you can choose your own (but assuming you are going to put it in a box it needs to fit from the inside so that you don't have to desolder and then resolder the wires).
Also would you like an external knob to vary the speed in the final soldered version or would you just set it to the correct speed and leave it?

 

Mark,
I'd originally thought to use a different circuit to flash some of the stuff, but then I realized that would just make the circuit unnecessarily complex. I think what I've drawn out will work OK.

I guess that I need to post a sequence for Craig to test with his 3v supply before you connect up the D-sub 15 connector.

 

@sgtwookie,
I will measure the r's when i get home. however wont i get a dud reading as they are all wired in, so my multimeter will give the entire circuit resistance?

@mark

yes, that switch is fine. as for the knob for speed, if its easy enoigh to do, that would be great to have on the final version. on that point, if i set a budget of 100 quid for compoents that should help you re buying parts, just dont want you worrying aboit this aspect. if its needed, or a nice to have, buy it

 

Craig,
I want you to run a few tests by supplying power and ground to the LEDs via the D-sub 15-pin connector. This is to verify what I have attempted to document in the schematic that I called "ST_GEN - DATA'S ARM V2.

Testing circuit 1:
A) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 14 of the D-sub 15 connector.

B) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 9. The single orange LED (LED1-5) in the middle of the arm surround should light up. If something else lights up instead, or nothing lights up, let me know.

C) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 10. You should see the 1st red LED (LED1-1), the 2nd green LED (LED1-4), the last yellow LED (LED1-7) and the last green LED (LED1-8) light up. If not, let me know.

D) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 11. You should see the 1st green LED (LED1-2), 1st yellow LED (LED1-3), 3rd green LED (LED1-6), and the last red LED (LED1-9) light up. If not, let me know.

E) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 15 of the D-sub 15 connector.

F) Repeat at least one of the tests B) through D) that worked when the permanent was on pin 14. If it doesn't light, let me know.

Testing circuits 3/4:

A) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 8 of the D-sub 15 connector.

B) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 6. You should see:

1. 5 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. The single LED highest on the "flap"; the one you discovered is red.
3. 1/4 of the green marquee.
4. 1/4 of the red marquee.
5. 1/4 of the yellow marquee.

C) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 5. You should see:

1. 5 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. The two yellow LEDs on the "flap".
3. 1/4 of the green marquee, next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the red marquee, next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
5. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is.

D) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 4. You should see:

1. 4 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. 1/4 of the green marquee,3rd next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
3. 1/4 of the red marquee,3rd next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is

E) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 3. You should see:

1. 1 red "field" LED light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. 1/4 of the green marquee, 4rd next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
3. 1/4 of the red marquee, 4rd next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is.

F) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 7 of the D-sub 15 connector.
G) Repeat at least one of the above tests B) thru E) that worked.

End of verification tests.

If anything is not what I expected in these tests/sequences, you need to tell me about it. If you don't, then the board that Markd has volunteered to make for you will not work properly.

 

@sgtwookie,
I will measure the r's when i get home. however wont i get a dud reading as they are all wired in, so my multimeter will give the entire circuit resistance?

Yes, many of the resistors have one end connected together. However, the LEDs will block the path of current for the meter, so you will only be measuring one resistor at a time.

As for the knob for speed, if its easy enough to do, that would be great to have on the final version.

Actually, Mark has on his list a "trim pot", which is quite small; perhaps 8mm x 8mm square - looks like a little blue cube with a round white plastic screw head on top. You can adjust it using a small screwdriver. Mark will probably set up the pot during his tests so that the outputs will change at a bit over a 1/2 second interval (2 Hz), which should be roughly 2/3 of the way from the fastest setting, or 1/3 from the slowest setting.

Once the proper speed has been set, there really shouldn't be a need to change it.

 

OK, there is ONE thing left - the bluelights/blacklights.

If you'd care to risk a few quid, I could see about throwing together a high voltage circuit to supply the tubes with.

Basically, it would need a small transformer that could be made from a toroid, and putting on three windings. A transistor, a HV diode, cap and a few resistors would finish it out.

 

Ugh - Rapidonline doesn't stock toroids. Mark, do you happen to have any ferrite toroids lying about? You could scrounge some from scrap PC power supplies, electronics like CD/DVD players frequently have a toroid on the power cord where it comes into the unit.

Also, you'd need several yards/meters of some fairly fine magnet wire (AWG-28 to AWG-32), and a few feet of some that's a bit larger, like AWG-24.

 

I don't think I've got any.
How about one of these rewired?
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electron...tial-mode-suppression-chokes/64522/kw/ferrite

 

Gee, those have far too much inductance; even with the few turns they have on them.

I was looking at around 10-20uH and 1-3uH for the primary side, and ~400uH for the secondary. Those are in the milliHenries.

Do you happen to have any kaput screw-in CCFL bulbs? They usually have a small toroid or two in the base.

 

Craig,
I want you to run a few tests by supplying power and ground to the LEDs via the D-sub 15-pin connector. This is to verify what I have attempted to document in the schematic that I called "ST_GEN - DATA'S ARM V2.

Testing circuit 1:
A) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 14 of the D-sub 15 connector.

B) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 9. The single orange LED (LED1-5) in the middle of the arm surround should light up. If something else lights up instead, or nothing lights up, let me know.

C) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 10. You should see the 1st red LED (LED1-1), the 2nd green LED (LED1-4), the last yellow LED (LED1-7) and the last green LED (LED1-8) light up. If not, let me know.

D) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 11. You should see the 1st green LED (LED1-2), 1st yellow LED (LED1-3), 3rd green LED (LED1-6), and the last red LED (LED1-9) light up. If not, let me know.

E) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 15 of the D-sub 15 connector.

F) Repeat at least one of the tests B) through D) that worked when the permanent was on pin 14. If it doesn't light, let me know.

Testing circuits 3/4:

A) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 8 of the D-sub 15 connector.



B) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 6. You should see:

1. 5 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing). I GET 6
2. The single LED highest on the "flap"; the one you discovered is red.
3. 1/4 of the green marquee.
4. 1/4 of the red marquee.
5. 1/4 of the yellow marquee.

C) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 5. You should see:

1. 5 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. The two yellow LEDs on the "flap".
3. 1/4 of the green marquee, next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the red marquee, next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
5. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is.

D) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 4. You should see:

1. 4 red "field" LEDs light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing).
2. 1/4 of the green marquee,3rd next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
3. 1/4 of the red marquee,3rd next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is

E) Touch the positive lead of the 3v supply to pin 3. You should see:

1. 1 red "field" LED light up (those you marked with a [1] on your drawing). I GET 4
2. 1/4 of the green marquee, 4rd next in sequence going towards the flap & wrist.
3. 1/4 of the red marquee, 4rd next in sequence going away from the flap & wrist.
4. 1/4 of the yellow marquee; I don't know what that sequence is.

F) Connect the 3v supply negative lead (what you've been calling "permanent") to pin 7 of the D-sub 15 connector.
G) Repeat at least one of the above tests B) thru E) that worked.

End of verification tests.

If anything is not what I expected in these tests/sequences, you need to tell me about it. If you don't, then the board that Markd has volunteered to make for you will not work properly.

my tests are exactly has above, bar two minor changes as you will see.

@mark, dont worry too much about the speed if its a big hassle!!!!!

 

Actually, I wanted you to measure them with your meter on Ohms!

I'm thinking that a few of those resistors may have gotten pretty warm, and the bands changed colors - that would usually happen to all of the colors at once, though.

R1, R2, R6, R7
1k? 30? 30? 30?
On the schematic I posted of the arm yesterday, the resistors are R3-1, R3-2, etc.

My lead resistance is 2.5 ohms

R1 = 1K OHM
R2 = 32.6 OHM
R3= 12.6 OHMS
R4= 12.4 OHMS
R5= 13 OHMS
R6 = 33.1 OHMS
R7 = 33.6 OHMS

 

Do you happen to have any kaput screw-in CCFL bulbs? They usually have a small toroid or two in the base.

Yes, I've got a couple of different ones.
I can have a go at cracking them open later.

 

Craig,
OK, there is a missing ground wire then - or maybe it's not exactly missing, but there is a group of field [1] LEDs that is getting power from what I've labeled VIO-3-3-4.

VIO-3-3-4 is connected to SP-3-3-4, back to the brn/orn wire. Its' source is pin 5 on the D-sub 15 connector (P15-0). If you connect your supply ground (permanent) wire to pin 7 or 8 and the positive to pin 5, you'll see that "[1]" field group light up.

What I'm missing is; where do the other side of those "[1] field LEDs" attach to a resistor? Is the resistor the same as one of the other LEDs use? This isn't documented in your reply#37 drawing. I only see three resistors that have connections going to the [1] LEDs; the grn, red and wht wires. The grn has two wires attached at the same resistor; I show that on my schematic right above R3-4.

 

My lead resistance is 2.5 ohms

R1 = 1K OHM
R2 = 32.6 OHM
R3= 12.6 OHMS
R4= 12.4 OHMS
R5= 13 OHMS
R6 = 33.1 OHMS
R7 = 33.6 OHMS

Very well, thanks.
If you replace the 1k Ohm resistor with one about 39 to 43 Ohms, the red "flap" LED will be much brighter.

 

Craig,
OK, there is a missing ground wire then - or maybe it's not exactly missing, but there is a group of field [1] LEDs that is getting power from what I've labeled VIO-3-3-4.

VIO-3-3-4 is connected to SP-3-3-4, back to the brn/orn wire. Its' source is pin 5 on the D-sub 15 connector (P15-0). If you connect your supply ground (permanent) wire to pin 7 or 8 and the positive to pin 5, you'll see that "[1]" field group light up.

What I'm missing is; where do the other side of those "[1] field LEDs" attach to a resistor? Is the resistor the same as one of the other LEDs use? This isn't documented in your reply#37 drawing. I only see three resistors that have connections going to the [1] LEDs; the grn, red and wht wires. The grn has two wires attached at the same resistor; I show that on my schematic right above R3-4.

Its really too hard to tell as i cant see the connections due to it being sandwiched between two pieces of plastic, which itself is textured to give a nice effect, but which makes it impossible to see!

 

Mark,
Add a couple of UF4007 diodes:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electron...1A-Ultrafast-rectifier-diodes/31603/kw/UF4007
and a few of these 10nF hv caps:
http://www.rapidonline.com/sku/Elec...voltage-ceramic-disc-capacitors/66219/08-1512
a few of these 33k resistors:
http://www.rapidonline.com/sku/Elec...istors/3W-Metal-oxide-resistors/66471/62-7178

Oh, but wait a minute - Rapidonline has these CCFL drivers:
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electric...ld-cathode-fluorescent-lamps-(CCFL)/78612/kw/
At £2.96 each+VAT, might not be worth trying to make it yourself...

 

Well, the pre-made CCFL supply might not operate on 3v. I was sort of trying to keep everything on the 3v level.

Anyway, I threw together a PNP single-transistor flyback converter; attached; basic idea for the inverter came from here:
http://www.capturedlightning.org/hot-streamer/kv2/kv2/hv/t_fbt/
BL1 and BL2 are the bluelights/blacklights. The 33k resistors are an attempt to make sure that they both light from one supply. Without the resistors, the one that turned on would act to clamp the output voltage of the inverter.

 

Its really too hard to tell as i cant see the connections due to it being sandwiched between two pieces of plastic, which itself is textured to give a nice effect, but which makes it impossible to see!

Hmm - Oh, well! I guess that will just have to be a mystery then.

I've updated the schematic as far as I can go; it's attached as both a .png and the Cadsoft Eagle .sch file.

 

Amazing to think that almost a week today, this prop was nothing but some foam, plastic and electronics, which in mymind had no chance of working. Now, thanks to the help on here, we have a almost complete schematic, and someone willing to build it. Just amazing!!!

@sgtwookie. Does you design make the cascading LEDS cascade in groups of two like the movie?

 

@sgtwookie. Does you design make the cascading LEDS cascade in groups of two like the movie?

Yes, it does! That's taken care of by those eight diodes I put in the sequencer schematic. The 4017 has only 1 output at a time go high. The LEDs make it so that two transistors are turned on at any given point in time, which will light up two of the "marquee" LEDs.

See the attached schematic and simulation. The plots on the bottom correspond to the "A", "B","C" and "D" outputs; you can see that they overlap each other. I didn't bother to put in a startup routine, as you won't really care which LEDs turn on first.

Are you going to make a video of the arm working so that we can see it?