colour modded V4A

I got this idea to mod a light with a neopixel ring. I bought an Adafruit 3.3v trinket. I really only attempted this because it has a mini usb plug for programming, I wouldn’t have bothered otherwise. I thought it would be easy enough for me to learn something but honestly I’m not bright enough to go through the long process of learning, I just wanna jump to the good stuff (relevant to my build).

I went through the process on Adafruit and got blink mode working and also switch for the onboard led, I even got the code for the goggles working. The problem is that’s all cut and paste so I wasn’t really learning anything.

The code I wanted to use for my light was this but it didn’t work. I went back and halved the clock speed and tried to alter the code here or there but no dice, I simply haven’t learnt enough to make it work :cry:

… soo I’d really like to get that last code working, any help from you guys that know code would be appreciated :slight_smile:

EDIT: code is working. continuing with build 5/11/17

I wish I could help but you have achieved more than I could have. Good luck.

Could you show how you wired it up and what code/errors you are getting? That might help debug.

It’s a bit finicky programming the trinket. It only stays in bootloader for several seconds but the Arduino IDE takes longer to compile and upload the code. So I have to try and guess the best time to enter the trinket into bootloader mode. When I get it right, no errors show up, it says ‘Upload finished’. Wiring is, of course, as per the wiring diagram, though I have noticed the photograph shows a different wiring setup. I have not tried the alternate wiring setup since I figured that was his prototype build and no longer relevant.

When I connect a battery the onboard leds come on indicating power on but the pixel ring is off and stays off when the buttons are pressed. I checked the buttons with DMM and even removed them to eliminate that possibility.

Bump

I got help at the adafruit forum so this project is back on track. I need to make up some extra switches on the body and then stuff it full of electronics :sunglasses:

Good luck.

Getting back on track with this project. The host is a crelant v4a

I removed everything inside the head. I will be replacing the pill, driver, contact board, switch (3 stage), reflector, adding trinket driver, adding pixel ring, adding switches.

I haven’t documented with lotsa pics but I’ve made the pill, modified a P60 reflector (which I may do again since this one is getting dirty/scratched), cut a copper washer to help retain the contact board, programmed the trinket driver and done lotsa head scratching in the process not to mention it went on the backburner for a while.

At this point I was wondering if all the electronics are going to fit. Fitting will be a challenge in itself because there’ll need to be a specific sequence to get it all in, for example the trinket will need to be fed in from the front to get into the position I want.

Hopefully I won’t drag my feet too long and get this done soon.

I found some pics of cutting up the head to fit the extra switches.

Pill in place

I found some pics of the original pill also

And some pics of the pixel ring in action

Last night I tried to fit all the electronics but the stiff wire I used cracked off at 1-2 solder joints. I’ll need to order up some thin noodle so it’ll be a few weeks :weary:

No worries, BLF will still be here when you restart your project. Great Mod.

I got around to finishing this light.

UI is main switch for on. Half press to change modes on the main led (high/medium/strobe). Another full press to switch to colour mode then use the other buttons to change colour mode. Change colour by holding one and pressing the other, change mode by vice versa. One thing when changing mode is I need to wait for the ‘cycle’ of some modes to finish before I changing to the next.

P.S. my phone didn’t pick up the colours very well :blush:

Great mod!
I like the Neopixels, have done some interesting stuff with them by myself. After watching your video I’m also tempted to do something flashlight related with them.

Edit:
Btw, the Neopixels only need 2 wires for programming (beside Vcc and Gnd) so it should be possible to control them with the same Attiny board we could use for the main LED. A similar LED, the WS2812 even needs only 1 wire.

Thanks Flashy :beer: Be interested to see if you do come up with something :slight_smile: