My first Arduino prototype!

[NCC1966]

Thanks to our mate Julien I got aware of a simple, smart and cheap thing called "Arduino" that now I can say is a MUST if you are thinking about to play with starships lighting!

After a few minutes browsing web I already was ordering one of those cards plus a few extra components (a breadboard and some wiring) that didn't cost me more than $10...

Today I picked it in my PO Box, ran for home, plugged it to my computer and in about 15 minutes (no kidding!) I had running what should be the first prototype of my 1/600 TOS Enterprise nacelles rotating effect!



My plan is to use 6 or 8 LEDs (depending on the diameter of the nacelle tip) mounted in a circular array.

[NCC1966]

Today I worked on a second prototype, this time trying to simulate navigation lights:

From the left to right:

1) Short pulse
2) Quick regular flash
3) Slow regular flash
4) Fading — very useful for deflectors, warp nacelles and charging photon torpedoes (no TOS)!



Of course the heart of this project is the program. All the parameters such as flash speed, duration of pulses, etc, can be easily adjusted by changing simple parameters and re-uploading the program to the card.

[Cubey Terra]

Hey, maybe you can put an MP3 decoder module and amplifier on that and have your ship play Star Trek them music!

[NCC1966]

Hey, maybe you can put an MP3 decoder module and amplifier on that and have your ship play Star Trek them music!

This is a hell of a good idea! It would be nice if I could find a controllable module to play some effects too, such as phasers and photon torpedoes!

[MEATLOAFr]

Hey, maybe you can put an MP3 decoder module and amplifier on that and have your ship play Star Trek them music!

This is a hell of a good idea! It would be nice if I could find a controllable module to play some effects too, such as phasers and photon torpedoes!

That would make it so cool I'd wet my pants in pleasure

[NCC1966]

[Julien]

That's great ! It really took you no time at all to learn how to use that thing !

[MEATLOAFr]

[NCC1966]

That's great ! It really took you no time at all to learn how to use that thing !

Yah, Julien, it was surprisingly more cool and easier than I supposed!



I confess that when I opened up the package and looked at that small board I thought: "Yah, sure, another electronic funky stuff that I won't be able to put to work..."

I thought that it wouldn't even be recognized by USB (then you can see as I am incredulous these days). But then things started to happen one after other. When I ran the first "Hello world" small code that makes an onboard SMD LED flash I literally say a light by the end of the tunnel. From there it was just a few minutes until I hook a few LEDs in the breadboard and type in the code!

It never was so gratifying!

[NCC1966]

To whose has interest, here it goes the code to make the rotating brussards:

/*
Sequential flash
Hook leds at the pins 6-9-10-11
each one in series with a 330R resistor
if you want more leds, just hook them
*/

int tleds = 4; // the quantity of leds you are using
int pointer = 0;
int zz = 0;
int MyLed[] = {6,9,10,11}; // the output ports (pins) where your leds are hooked

// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// initialize ports
for (zz=0;zz<=tleds-1;zz++)
pinMode(MyLed[zz], OUTPUT);
}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
for (zz=0;zz<=tleds-1;zz++)
digitalWrite(MyLed[zz], LOW);
digitalWrite(MyLed[pointer], HIGH);
pointer++;
if (pointer > tleds-1)
pointer = 0;

// change the delay value in ms to adjust speed;
// the bigger the number the slower the speed
delay(120);
}