[TimDRX]

Hey all, I'm working on my very first pack, doing the Q-Pack MK 4. Decided I want a mostly Frozen Empire build since I'm a newcomer and those are the newer semi-mass produced packs. Plus I like the folded over Ion Arm and the extra cable greeblies, though I'm doing the classic bumper rather than the yellow tri-arm one.

Anyway! While I'm very experienced with 3D printing and prop making in general, I have almost no electronics experience. I got on the wait-list for the Ninjatunes kit, assume that'll be a long while before I get my hands on it. I was currently looking at the hose part of the build, and thinking about getting some of the screen accurate components listed here;

viewtopic.php?t=51273

My question is; once I have electronics in my pack and in my wand, can I have them connect via a hose using the ITT Cannon and Neutrik connectors, AND have those connectors still function, able to be unplugged without breaking anything? Is it possible to wire up the whole pack and wand build using those connectors, or are they purely decorative and need to be drilled through and glued together to hide a single hard wiring solution inside?

Cheers!

[Nomake Wan]

It is 100% possible, it just depends on what electronics kit you go with as far as what is necessary for pin count. In fact, GPStar already uses Neutrik connectors for all of its kits. That being said it uses the 4-pin versions, whereas the part numbers for the wand side connector listed in that post are 3-pin (hilariously the packside is 4-pin already). The exterior of the connectors is identical between them so while it's plugged in, the 3-pin and 4-pin are indistinguishable. Unplugged obviously they'll be different because one has 4 pins and the other has 3. But I would argue that for doing a full electronics build you should prioritize the functionality for something this minor and use the 4-pin versions of the exact same parts.

Reason being you'll have Power, Ground, Serial Transmit, and Serial Receive. Since these connectors are plastic instead of metal you can't really do the hacky thing of using the connector body as a 4th conductor, so yeah, best to use the 4-pin versions.

Best of luck with your build!

[TimDRX]

ay that actually looks like a great option for me! Doesn't look like they have a kit for DIY Pack + DIY Wand at the moment though - might grab the one for DIY Pack + Haslab Wand.

Also, any idea what the difference is between the 1984 and Standard Power Cell options are?

[Nomake Wan]

ay that actually looks like a great option for me! Doesn't look like they have a kit for DIY Pack + DIY Wand at the moment though - might grab the one for DIY Pack + Haslab Wand.

Also, any idea what the difference is between the 1984 and Standard Power Cell options are?

Correct; within the next week or so there will be support for the Mack's Factory wand, however. The board itself will work with any wand (we even had a user put one in a ThrowingChicken) but you would need to come up with your own mounting solution and rotary encoder solution in that case.

The Standard power cell is a 15-LED unit based on the appearance in Afterlife and Frozen Empire (all 15 LEDs visible in the lens). The 1984 power cell uses 0.1" spacing between LEDs to mimic the light board on the original 84 packs, which in a standard length lens means that the top and bottom LEDs are cut off. So if you're going for a Frozen Empire build, the Standard is the way to go.

[TimDRX]

Noice! So I wanna get this one;

https://gpstartechnologies.com/products ... 9871471947

It says it includes;

Cyclotron 9-LEDs Kit
GPStar Cyclotron Bypass + Wiring

the exposed Cyclotron is something I'm interested in doing - is that what these two items are? So it has a layer displaying the "ring" of lights under the lenses and you can remove that whole section to see the cake inside, which also lights up?

[Nomake Wan]

Noice! So I wanna get this one;

https://gpstartechnologies.com/products ... 9871471947

It says it includes;

Cyclotron 9-LEDs Kit
GPStar Cyclotron Bypass + Wiring

the exposed Cyclotron is something I'm interested in doing - is that what these two items are? So it has a layer displaying the "ring" of lights under the lenses and you can remove that whole section to see the cake inside, which also lights up?

The 9-LED (Outer) Cyclotron kit is four pucks, each with high-density 9-LED arrays on board. These are then mounted to your outer cyclotron lenses. This provides significantly higher density pixels for the Afterlife/Frozen Empire ring simulation than using an actual 40-LED NeoPixel ring does (in which only about 3 LEDs are actually visible in a lens due to the much larger LED sizes).

The GPStar Cyclotron Bypass + Wiring is how we offer DIY builders a plug-and-play way of wiring up the outer cyclotron as if it were a HasLab pack. On the HasLab, the outer cyclotron is a 4-pin connector that has Lid Signal, GND, 5V, and LED Data. Our board uses this layout. With the bypass board you get a long 4-pin harness to connect the GPStar mainboard to the bypass (somewhere near your cyclotron), and the bypass has a jumper connection on it that will default to "lid installed always". If you want to add a switch for lid detection (to simulate the workshop pack or brass pack), you can connect it to these jumper pins (use a normally open switch). The wires from the outer cyclotron and N-Filter LEDs go to the bypass's screw terminals.

The inner cyclotron cake is not included by default with DIY kits because a lot of the DIY shells don't have removable lids. If you want to do the inner details, you'll want a few more components. First, you will want two SPDT toggle switches. You can get these just about anywhere, they're generic; then wire then up with a JST-XH 2.54mm female connector. These switches are seen in the workshop pack interior panel, and on the GPStar setup control vibration on/off and quick year select (both functions can also be controlled via the wand or via the web interface, if you use the wifi board).

Then you just need the inner cyclotron kit, which is here: https://gpstartechnologies.com/products ... on-led-kit

The standard LED version is individual single-color LEDs behind colored lenses. The LED Panel version is a single board with multicolor LEDs, is much easier to wire up, and offers a better way of wiring the inner cyclotron cake LED ring (since that ring can connect directly to the panel). For the wiring alone I'd recommend the LED Panel version since there's no price difference.

[TimDRX]

Ordered! ;D

Any recommendations for the acrylic lenses? I see most people go for red on the Cyclotron but since the kit can do a buncha different colors should I go for a smoky gray / black? Or more of a frosted clear? Same on the power cell lens?

[Nomake Wan]

Ordered! ;D

Any recommendations for the acrylic lenses? I see most people go for red on the Cyclotron but since the kit can do a buncha different colors should I go for a smoky gray / black? Or more of a frosted clear? Same on the power cell lens?

Right on both counts! I would go with a smoked lens on both the outer cyclotron and powercell lens due to the RGB LEDs. It is possible however to configure the pack to just not use the RGB functions and stick to normal pack colors if you so desire (for example, if you were building an '84 pack and wanted maximum accuracy). So it's not like you'll just be hosed if you decided to go with blue for the powercell and red for the outer cyclotron lenses.

[DemianNL]

Actually I am also making a pack (using arduino and neopixel) and I was planning on simply using a usb c connection so I can run the cable trough the hose usb has 4 cables if you need more you can put 2 in it it does require some soldering tough you can buy connectors on something like aliexpress