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Author Topic: Power switch - physical or two-position?  (Read 1089 times)
CaptObvious
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« on: April 14, 2018, 09:57:56 AM »

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a couple of UltraSabers as wall decorations, but I'd like to hook them up so I can turn them on and off with the lights and with smart home equipment.  I'd like to have them do their power up/power down animations and this would be much easier to do if the power button on them is a momentary switch rather than a physical switch.

Please could someone who owns one let me know?

Thanks!
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Racona Nova
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« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2018, 08:08:38 PM »

Before planning this, you need to know that - due to the way an Ultrasaber works - you will never get the extention/retreat effect when powering on/off the saber. It will just switch on and off. The LED sits in the hilt, and for the scrolling effect you'd need an LED string inside the blade like the Hasbro sabers. Which would contradict Ultrasabers' philosophy of making combat-ready lightsabers.

Regarding the switch, someone from our DIY experts may help you with this Smiley
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Rapine
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« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2018, 08:13:48 PM »

Any saber equipped with sound will have a momentary switch.  The sound boards require it.

Stunts (no sound) have latching (two position) switches.

I'm not even sure where I'd start in order for it to get onto my WiFi network so "home control" could do it though...
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CaptObvious
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« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2018, 08:18:29 PM »

Sounds like I need to get one with sound then - is it possible to disable the blade "hum" while it's powered on and only have the power on/off noises?

I could hook up the momentary switch to a Raspberry Pi and have it emulate a Philips Hue bulb.
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Rapine
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« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2018, 08:30:31 PM »

Yep - that's totally possible.  You could add or remove sounds at will with the launcher.  Heck, you could make it play the Rainbow Brite theme, if you really wanted. Tongue

Raspberry Pi?
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CaptObvious
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« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2018, 08:32:47 PM »

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-zero/
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Rapine
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« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2018, 08:35:36 PM »

Ahhh cool!

So, a second set of leads from the switch?  Sorry, still not seeing it.
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CaptObvious
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« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2018, 08:37:48 PM »

Yeah, pass a second set of wires from behind the momentary switch to a relay, then control the relay with the GPIO pins on the Pi via software.
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Rapine
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« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2018, 08:47:44 PM »

Very cool. Smiley

I'd like to see that operational CaptObvious.  Sounds awesome!

+1
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Racona Nova
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« Reply #9 on: April 14, 2018, 09:16:48 PM »

Sounds like a lot of work for you. But if it works...why not Cheesy Definitely want to see that, since it's a completely new way of showing your sabers!
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VaporTrail_000
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« Reply #10 on: April 22, 2018, 12:15:03 AM »

TBH I'm seeing this as a total custom job, and not something you can easily do with stock US boards.

The smart-home bit alone is going to take quite a bit of finagling. At $50 for a bulb, plus whatever accessories (bridge, power supply, etc), plus saber hilt, blade, LED cluster, and mounting it's going to be an expensive experiment.

I'm picturing an RGBW LED unit like what is used in a standard Diamond or Emerald Saber, hooked to a HUE bulb controller, probably external to the hilt. This depends on the actual power and current requirements of the HUE LEDs and if the blade LED cluster can be powered direct from said controller. If not, going complete DIY might be the only way to get what you want out of it. Anyway, the actual hardware for the control of said saber is probably going to be external to the hilt. Run it through a connection cable in the pommel (custom work) and hooked to the LED cluster it would probably work.

I built a wall display for my Diamond sabers. It doesn't have the on-demand color change, or remote on/off, but it is capable of displaying the saber with the blade ignited 24/7 while maintaining battery charge. All you really need for that is a Diamond saber with a recharge port, a 1.2a fast charger, and a way to mount the saber to hide at least most of the wire.

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