Revell - Maquis Fighter

[fumblethumbs]

Very frustrating! Igard, if you haven't already done so, check the connection inside the battery box where the lead wires are connected to the little tabs. Sometimes these joints are very weak.

 

[Igard]

Sorry to hear about the problem.
Hopefully, sopme time away and a fresh perspective can help you find the source of the problem

It seems like the best course of action right now. I'm not throwing the towel in just yet. I'll play around some more and perhaps someone has a solution for me.

But considering the length of time I've put into this, it doesn't feel worth it. Moving on feels like the wise thing to do.

Hey Isgard,

you've done a fantastic job thus far, so imagine...........

It's 40 minutes into the episode, the unnamed red shirts on your crew have all been killed. The vulcan (I can't remember his name, is it Tuvok?) has a head injury and has regressed to a child like state skipping around the bridge singing bedtime songs.

The ship has suffered major damage but you are the captain and you will get through this. There is no way your going to transfer to voyager unless someone does something dramatic with the Captain Janeway's voice.

What you do in the last 15 minutes of the episode will decide the fate of your crew...............

Don't give up.

Regards,

Craig.

LOL! ;D. Thanks Craig that was great.

What are you using for the flashing circuit? Is it a kit, or something you and a friend came up with?

I know a little bit about a couple of timing chips, and might be able to help out with debugging.

Built it myself with the help of youtube! Took me a while, but this is part of the hobby. As you can see from the video, it worked perfectly. I used an N555 timer chip, a 10 microfarad capacitor, a 10K resistor and I'm not sure the resistance of the potentiometer, I just bought a big bag and tried different sizes until I found one that gave the correct result.

It seems like I'm either missing something fundamental, or I've just made a hash of the wiring. Any help is always appreciated Grendels. I probably should've asked you before doing anything, but you know me, impetuous as ever.

oh noooooooooooooOOOO!!!

My thoughts exactly, Punk! ;D

Such a horrible feeling.

Very frustrating! Igard, if you haven't already done so, check the connection inside the battery box where the lead wires are connected to the little tabs. Sometimes these joints are very weak. Very frustrating! Igard, if you haven't already done so, check the connection inside the battery box where the lead wires are connected to the little tabs. Sometimes these joints are very weak.

Hey that's good point. Didn't think of that!

 

[Grendels]

I am familiar with timing circuits using that chip.

First it is a voltage in = voltage out chip. So did you put resistors on your LED's for 6 volts?

Second it is a power hungry chip. Are the batteries fresh?

Third, it is a dirty circuit, it will leak it's signal out into the other circuits. So be careful, you might get some flickering in the other LED's.

6V is enough to power this chip, its input voltage is between 5V and 15V. But if your batteries get weak, they stop outputting that 6V and the voltage will drop below 5V, then it loses enough juice to power the circuit.

Next question: How many LED's are you using?

What kind of batteries?

I am almost willing to bet you have too many LED's in there for the batteries to last very long.

 

[Quaralane]

In reading through your post again, Igard, I'm thinking that Grendels may be on to something with your problem.

I know that my last lit build drank batteries,which is why I went external on the power supply

 

[Igard]

Well. Colour me embarrassed :-[. Yes, that's the problem. Thank you Grendels you saved the day yet again.

Had no idea this would use so much juice, but man, am I an idiot! I should've checked the batteries before getting all angry and frustrated.

It makes sense, because these are all really bright LEDs. 14 quite powerful around 10 candela, 4 regular LEDs and the 4 flashers which were also pretty powerful. Connected the flashers with 2, 100 ohm resistors.

I think these batteries lasted a couple of hours maybe. It's hard to tell with all the switching on and off.

So, anyway. Crisis averted!

Thank you Grendels. I really appreciate your help on this one.

My way of thanking you. Hope you like :-

 

[Grendels]

LOL, thank you for the pic!

To allow you to understand this:

A super bright LED will consume 40mA, regular LED's consume 24mA, and that flasher circuit will consume about 200mA

So you have 200mA + 14*40mA +8*24mA=952mA being consumed. (I just assumed that you had the four flashers on regular LED's.)

Now each AAA battery can supply 1200 mA and each AA battery can supply 2700mA

I am assuming you used AAA, so 4*1200 is 4800mAh of current supply. mA is mili amps, and the h is hours. So you take the 4800/952 = 5.04 hours of battery life. Of course this is assuming that you drain the batteries completely. With that timing chip, you won't get near that life, it requires too much juice to run. A better alternative is the 4060 cmos chip. I will post a video about these two soon, sometime in the next two weeks.

I won't use batteries unless I have less than five regular LED's in the circuit. After that, I find a wall wort and plug it into the wall.

Glad I could help!!

 

[Igard]

Thanks for the explanation. That helps alot. And just to compound things, the 4 flashers are super bright.

I think I'll just go ahead with this anyway. Bare in mind this build was supposed to be an exercise in painting and weathering. I'll just have to keep the 'pew pewing' to a minimum.

A little over a month now I've been working on this, but it's starting to feel alot longer than that. That's not a good thing. So, I'm going to seal this up as soon as I'm happy that there no problems.

Updates forthcoming! Yay!

 

[fumblethumbs]

Hey, that's great news Igard! Glad to hear she was a simple fix.

 

[punkpigpen]

WOOT WOOT!!!
;D

 

[Bouryaki]

Yeah Yeah Yeah........

Down to the last minutes of the episode and Captain Chokatay, after consulting the Galactic Library (Read : SMA Forum), makes some quick repairs. Running lights come on and the reassuring hum of the engines is heard across the ship. There is a collective sigh across the forum.

WOW saved in the brink of time.

.......... or was it ........... I've got a feeling this will be a double episode.

Stay tuned to this channel for the continuing saga of a 'Maquis Fighter'.......



Igard,

I could almost hear the enjoyment/relief in your post when the Galactic Library as a whole and Grendels in particular came through.

Great News......


Regards,

Craig.

 

[Igard]

Hey, thanks for all the encouraging posts guys. Was having a really bad time there.

Craig, the crew must now traverse a sector of Borg space in order to find a power source strong enough to maintain warp speed and keep Nelix's stew from getting cold! Not to mention the blinking running lights!

Stay tuned....

 

[Bouryaki]

LOL

 

[Quaralane]

Glad to hear you found the problem

 

[Igard]

Thanks Q. Of course, the problem of the battery life is still there, but I'm just going with it. Only switching it on for special occasions. ;D

 

[Quaralane]

--nods--
Makes sense

 

[Grendels]

I don't have my lighted models on all the time anyway. So good plan.

 

[Solander]

Great work with all the lights here, Igard! Very inspiring
On the topic of keeping the model's lights running for a long time: even if You don't use any big chemical (I mean neon, xenon and such kind of stuff) lamps inside it, and even if You had an unlimited extensional supply of power I wouldn't recommend You using the ship's lights all the night through as a night flasher. The reason is that even while the LEDs themselves usually stay cold if their parameters were found correctly, You would always get heat on the resisting elements (mostly resistors themselves, some bad wiring spots if the wires are thin e.t.c.) due to energy conversion. So, as the models usually don't have much ventilation in their hulls and the only way of getting read of heat is through plastic, You need to switch it off regularly if You don't want to crush the model apart to change dead resistors. My recommendation for the models with circuits of only Rs, Cs, and LEDs is 30 minutes maximum, than wait till they get rid of all heat.

 

[Igard]

Great advice, Sol. I think for this model, I'll only switch it on for a minute or two.

I don't really have my model's lights on very much. For testing, I left the Spitfire's lights on for about 3 hours. For the Ferengi Marauder (which only has 4 LEDs) I had it on for about 8 hours.

The Spitfire has 32 LEDs. Only about 8 of those are ultras. It's powered by 4 AA batteries and is still going strong after many hours of use. Must be nearing a battery change by now, but I'd say that's adequate life span after about 3 or 4 months.

I'll need to start thinking a bit more about my setup in the future. I wasn't really wanting to plug my models into the wall, but if it means better results, then I'll have to go for it.

 

[Solander]

Oh, I think I have a solution for You, Igard

I recommend You to try a 3,5 mm jack for your next lighted model.

They look like these:

http://www.chipdip.ru/product/ey-502c.aspx

http://www.chipdip.ru/product/np-114.aspx

as you can see the "mother"-part holds in place with a fixing screw-nut, so it is a strong conection.
and You can trust me, the connection between the plug and socket is really strong to, just take the ones from metal, not the plastic ones like in an MP3-player for ex. Among many models that received this socket is my contest's Tydirium, and it is a heavy ship I must admit, due to all it's control circuits, voltage transformers and a lamp in the engines, but even after a whole painting session and a "photosession" it stays on it's mounting steady as if they were one piece.

 

[the Baron]

Wow, this is a fantastic thread, Igard! Nice recovery on each problem as it confronted you; I think this is very educational for the rest of us. I've never tried lighting anything, but I've always had it in the back of my mind, to do a lighted instrument panel, it's nice to have another SBS on how to do it.

And maybe Grendels should get a new ID: "Scotty"