Quote:
Originally Posted by Zabco
Good idea, I think I will have to give that a try. Had kicked around the idea of just milling some out of aluminum but your way would be easier. The tail lights are just stickers. I did make the amber beacon on top of the ROPs a flasher but that is all as it didn't need any kind of controller. Would really be nice to have working lights but I don't know how.
|
Yeah, love me those beacons as they're so simple.
And
M3.5? Who thought of that? Sheesh.
I bow to your successful use of the N20's. I've only recently looked at them as I've previously used the 9gs, but the gearing coupled with the even smaller size is attractive.
Wrt lighting, one word: Arduino. Yes, you gotta learn a bit of "programming", but there are a bazillion tutorials on the web so it's not a word to be afraid of. Also, they are just MADE for this sort of thing; they drive LED's almost directly (fine, you need a resistor), and can come in fairly tiny form factors. I don't know your TX setup well, but mine sends out all of its channels on essentially an RS232 serial bus, ie like those on a computer, so it's easy to make work with the Arduino. Then you just read the channels, and say something like
if (channel[1] < 1450) {turnonLED(left);} // left turn
else if (channel[1] > 1550) {turnonLED(right);} // right turn
else {turnoffLED(left); turnoffLED(right);}
total psuedocode, not exactly how it's written, but you get the idea. The deadband of 1450...1550 in the middle lets the stick float a little before doing the lights. If your stick is hyperaccurate you can turn it down to 1495...1505 or whatever (see below about making changes via pushing buttons!
)
If instead it's auxiliary lights on a switch, you just do
if (channel[6] > 1750) {turnonLED(aux);} // switch on
else {turnoffLED(aux);} // switch off
Blinking is a bit more complicated, but you start simple and work your way up. The key thing in my mind is that once you get the 'dweeno and the LED's set up, the rest is done in software, so if you want to add new features or blink patterns or whatever, you don't have to swap out the board, just USB it to your computer and upload the new code.
I tend to use these guys
https://www.arduino.cc/en/pmwiki.php...noBoardProMini
They're about 0.7" x 1.3" (err, 18x33mm), and the generic ones are a coupla bucks per, especially if you get a multipack. They'll run right off a 2S LiPo, or the RX BEC if you're using 3S+. They can drive servos directly, easy peasy, and like I said LED's just need one resistor, so the basic RC stuff is a breeze.
There are smaller boards if you're that tight for space, but you tend to lose functionality as they don't have room for connections for the fun stuff.
Anyway, I'll stop proselytizing now =)) but feel free to inquire if you're interested. (Also I think some of my build threads have more detail as they use one or multiple Arduinos.)
-- A