#4976996
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 12:14 am
jonogunn wrote: January 13th, 2023, 10:25 am

Not officially but a lot of custom lights do the drop down effect
https://youtu.be/oG4SH_9k9uw

Just a suggestion though. It does feel overkill when I look at it sometimes.

When you say wand sounds do you simply mean having the sounds play out of a speaker in the pack or something else?
I have been thinking about about this some more, with the cyclotron mod, I am tapped into almost everything but the powercell and the red switch. Maybe at this point I should just rip the entire Haslab board out and replicate everything and not have to deal with voltage fluctuation draws at all to keep the pack alive. Then more features could be added by code. The only drawback is the original sound effects would be lost and the community sound effects that people use in their custom builds would have to be used.

The same thing could be done with the wand as well.
Hmmm…
It is a cool idea but I remember when you mentioned to me about my custom set up with my Spengler wand that I also should just replace all the internal of the wand to achiever what I want. But to me that would defeat the purpose of the using the wand and at that point I might as well 3D print the whole thing instead.

I think the appeal of your amazing work is that you were able to enhance what is already there and if too much is replaced then you have a Ship of Theseus situation. Is it still the Haslab pack if it’s innards are completely replaced?
#4977004
jonogunn wrote: January 16th, 2023, 3:48 am
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 12:14 am

I have been thinking about about this some more, with the cyclotron mod, I am tapped into almost everything but the powercell and the red switch. Maybe at this point I should just rip the entire Haslab board out and replicate everything and not have to deal with voltage fluctuation draws at all to keep the pack alive. Then more features could be added by code. The only drawback is the original sound effects would be lost and the community sound effects that people use in their custom builds would have to be used.

The same thing could be done with the wand as well.
Hmmm…
It is a cool idea but I remember when you mentioned to me about my custom set up with my Spengler wand that I also should just replace all the internal of the wand to achiever what I want. But to me that would defeat the purpose of the using the wand and at that point I might as well 3D print the whole thing instead.

I think the appeal of your amazing work is that you were able to enhance what is already there and if too much is replaced then you have a Ship of Theseus situation. Is it still the Haslab pack if it’s innards are completely replaced?
True but I was thinking you wanted to replace all internals (lights, etc). I can just replace the boards only, and keep all the existing lights and switches, basically just swap out the microcontroller boards only, and replicate what the wand and pack does already but then build onto it even more. No tricky voltage controls to keep the pack from shutting down, same with the wand, etc. Then I can put tx/rx communication between the wand and pack and make it do even more.

I just removed the wand board already, am I going to replace it a metro mini and write the entire wand code over the next few days.

The haslab hose has got to go. I want the tx/rx communication between the pack/wand. I just need a new pack connector that I can 3d print that I mentioned a few posts back, get 4 pins going through it. power/ground/tx/rx. Then connect it to the standard 3/4" 6ft loom hose, run the 4 wires in it up to the wand, and we are in business.

Image
rolandblais, Peeno liked this
#4977005
First comment on this amazing thread, so let me say thanks for all the research and efforts posted! One thing I’m curious about is whether the voltage drop alone is what triggers the pack behavior. Are there any measurements on the current (milliamp) draw when the wand is attached and minimally powered up? More precisely, could it be possible to use a very low-powered microcontroller like an Adafruit TrinketM0 to do the keep alive, allowing that to tap into the 4.5V input to the wand without triggering the pack’s power-up sequence?
#4977006
If it’s just the board that needs to be changed then that doesn’t sound too bad. I supposed I envision a lot of hardware changes. If anything that seems less complicated than the current setup if it’s just redirecting the wires to the new boards.

Also if it’s just the boards then would it be possible to just leave the existing boards in the pack and wand themselves rather than take them out?

Whatever it is you decide to do I’m 100% on board
#4977010
jonogunn wrote: January 16th, 2023, 5:20 am If it’s just the board that needs to be changed then that doesn’t sound too bad. I supposed I envision a lot of hardware changes. If anything that seems less complicated than the current setup if it’s just redirecting the wires to the new boards.

Also if it’s just the boards then would it be possible to just leave the existing boards in the pack and wand themselves rather than take them out?

Whatever it is you decide to do I’m 100% on board
Just replacing the boards only.

There is not much space in the wand, so taking the old board out is easier.

The pack, the board comes out easily so no point in leaving it behind. The pack will be the easiest as it is all JST connectors. The wand you will need to either cut or de-solder some wires out of the board to get it out.
#4977014
jonogunn wrote: January 16th, 2023, 6:08 am The hose connector needs more than just what you mentioned. Aesthetically/practically the oxygen hose connector needs to go and maybe be replaced by a real one. From what I’ve seen on people it sticks out waaaay too much
I am not concerned aesthetically on things at the moment as that can be taken care of later.

I just need 4 pins to replace the 2 on the connector that comes out of the pack, and a new stl to 3d print one to go on a 3/4" splitless loom hose on both ends.
#4977022
Couple of questions regarding your teardown pics on the 1st page. How difficult would it be to remove and replace the corrugated hose in the pic below? I plan on converting to an 84 style pack and want it to be more new-ish looking. And, can you simply un coil the ribbon cable, remove most of the weathering, and coil it back up without having to remove it from the connectors at each end? Thanks

Image
#4977024
trekgod3 wrote: January 16th, 2023, 7:50 am Couple of questions regarding your teardown pics on the 1st page. How difficult would it be to remove and replace the corrugated hose in the pic below? I plan on converting to an 84 style pack and want it to be more new-ish looking. And, can you simply un coil the ribbon cable, remove most of the weathering, and coil it back up without having to remove it from the connectors at each end? Thanks

Image
Regarding the ribbon cable if you look at the the official haslabs pack thread a few people did exactly that.
#4977038
Hi all, I'm new and I need a little help to mod the Hasbro wand.
I'm trying to use an external battery to power the wand but I don't understand why it's not working good.
I have used a voltage regulator to reach 4.5V then I wired the cables directly on the pcb.
The problem is that when I move the ACTIVATE switch the wand turns off, I really don't understand why.
I have wired correctly, I have soldered my cables in the same place of its battery pack... any ideas?
Thanks
#4977044
JustinDustin wrote: January 16th, 2023, 5:01 am First comment on this amazing thread, so let me say thanks for all the research and efforts posted! One thing I’m curious about is whether the voltage drop alone is what triggers the pack behavior. Are there any measurements on the current (milliamp) draw when the wand is attached and minimally powered up? More precisely, could it be possible to use a very low-powered microcontroller like an Adafruit TrinketM0 to do the keep alive, allowing that to tap into the 4.5V input to the wand without triggering the pack’s power-up sequence?
Possibly, it all depends how much the trinket draws. If it drops the level below 4.30V, it will trigger the pack to turn on. Then next magic level is 4.16/4.17 which the pack thinks you hit the activate switch on the wand. There is a 3rd reading that the pack does which I haven't measured exactly, but when firing the wand, it will drop the voltage even lower on the U7 pin, which the pack detects this even lower level and makes the vibration motor in the pack spin faster.

I am however in the process of ditching the voltage hack system and instead just replacing the entire boards in both the wand and pack (they will use the existing lighting in the wand and pack), and to come up with a new hose connection with 4 pins, to have some proper interactivity between the wand and the pack.

I just finished prototyping out all my connections to the existing lighting in the wand and test fitted everything into the wand body. I test fitted a wav trigger into the wand it clears the barrel. I might switch it out to a simpler audio board that is smaller, however I prefer the wav trigger for it's polyphonic sound capabilities. Metro mini is 2 pins short for what I am doing so I have some Arduino Nanos coming in a few days which have the 2 extra pins needed. 18 for the existing lighting, controls and switches in the wand. Then saving 4 more for tx/rx communication.

I am starting my coding now. Hopefully I should have the wand coded in a few days and the pack by the weekend.

Then I will go back to the metro mini in the pack and code in the powercell lighting and control to the rotary encoder for the volume adjustment and stick a wav trigger sound board in the pack.

On that note, does anybody have the sound files for the Afterlife wand powerup?
Image
Peeno, kahuna900 liked this
#4977053
amon wrote: January 16th, 2023, 9:31 am Hi all, I'm new and I need a little help to mod the Hasbro wand.
I'm trying to use an external battery to power the wand but I don't understand why it's not working good.
I have used a voltage regulator to reach 4.5V then I wired the cables directly on the pcb.
The problem is that when I move the ACTIVATE switch the wand turns off, I really don't understand why.
I have wired correctly, I have soldered my cables in the same place of its battery pack... any ideas?
Thanks
In my testing experience, I found the wand shuts off when it does not get enough voltage. Turning on activate mode requires more power as it is powering up the vibration motor and more lights.
#4977097
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 11:03 am

On that note, does anybody have the sound files for the Afterlife wand powerup?
Image
You probably found it by now but taken from another user rolandblais’ thread on this forum:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing


In regards to the audio microcontroller have you considered the Adafruit Fx Sound Board? It’s definitely much smaller than the wav trigger and less costly. It does have limited storage capacity though.
#4977109
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 12:14 am
jonogunn wrote: January 13th, 2023, 10:25 am

Not officially but a lot of custom lights do the drop down effect
https://youtu.be/oG4SH_9k9uw

Just a suggestion though. It does feel overkill when I look at it sometimes.

When you say wand sounds do you simply mean having the sounds play out of a speaker in the pack or something else?
I have been thinking about about this some more, with the cyclotron mod, I am tapped into almost everything but the powercell and the red switch. Maybe at this point I should just rip the entire Haslab board out and replicate everything and not have to deal with voltage fluctuation draws at all to keep the pack alive. Then more features could be added by code. The only drawback is the original sound effects would be lost and the community sound effects that people use in their custom builds would have to be used.

The same thing could be done with the wand as well.
Hmmm…
If the major concern is keeping the sourced sounds (are they the best we’ve gotten?), tapping in an Aux Out, even if just temporarily would allow for the audio to be ripped.

I’m ages away from being able to bring myself to the skillset level to do your mod, or this one to my pack…

… BUT!

If we can get good rips from the wand and the pack, my best friend is an audio engineer, a fan, and owes me a favor.

He can clean them up, and even possibly clean up any bad loops that we don’t notice through the stock speakers.
jonogunn liked this
#4977113
jonogunn wrote: January 16th, 2023, 10:00 pm
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 11:03 am

On that note, does anybody have the sound files for the Afterlife wand powerup?
Image
You probably found it by now but taken from another user rolandblais’ thread on this forum:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing


In regards to the audio microcontroller have you considered the Adafruit Fx Sound Board? It’s definitely much smaller than the wav trigger and less costly. It does have limited storage capacity though.
Thanks for the link for the sounds. He doesn’t have the wand sounds though, not the firing but the high pitched beep loop that it does in Afterlife when we see the pack booted up for the first time.

Yes I know about the fx board from adafruit, but it is not polyphonic. I know the wavtrigger is a bit pricey, but Polyphonic is so much better and I think this pack deserves it.
#4977114
DevGameDev wrote: January 16th, 2023, 11:15 pm
gpstar wrote: January 16th, 2023, 12:14 am

I have been thinking about about this some more, with the cyclotron mod, I am tapped into almost everything but the powercell and the red switch. Maybe at this point I should just rip the entire Haslab board out and replicate everything and not have to deal with voltage fluctuation draws at all to keep the pack alive. Then more features could be added by code. The only drawback is the original sound effects would be lost and the community sound effects that people use in their custom builds would have to be used.

The same thing could be done with the wand as well.
Hmmm…
If the major concern is keeping the sourced sounds (are they the best we’ve gotten?), tapping in an Aux Out, even if just temporarily would allow for the audio to be ripped.

I’m ages away from being able to bring myself to the skillset level to do your mod, or this one to my pack…

… BUT!

If we can get good rips from the wand and the pack, my best friend is an audio engineer, a fan, and owes me a favor.

He can clean them up, and even possibly clean up any bad loops that we don’t notice through the stock speakers.
Good idea on the aux port idea. I guess i could wire one in the pack and record it. Though the community sounds out there seem to be the same or even better.

Just that wand high pitch noise we see in Afterlife during the pack testing scene that needs to be sourced, which neither the Hasbro wand or pack has.
#4977122
jonogunn wrote: January 17th, 2023, 3:22 am Ah sorry I misread it.

Here’s the link to the wand sound effects
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gcc6zpgyuk9ml ... X.zip?dl=0
hmm thanks. Though what I am looking for is the sounds without the pack sound.

In the link you provided, the last 2 files, Startup GUN01 012022.mp3, and StartupGUN02 012022.mp3, those are the sounds, but I am searching for them without the pack background sounds. In the #2 file, the beeping can be replicated easily, but the electronic whirring sound and the increased whirring sound isolated would be great. It sounds similar to a electronic wav sound ascending.

This is kinda close. Maybe this can be edited to replicate the Afterlife one.
Last edited by gpstar on January 17th, 2023, 6:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
rolandblais liked this
#4977123
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

I've been considering the same as an eventual solution, replacing the stock controllers with Arduino Nano or similar and either the DFPlayer or other audio playback chip. I was also considering how to connect the wand and pack and I have this item on the way. The hope is to rebuild the connecting hose to use CAT5 cable and the connector below, which would allow for 8 connections rather than just 4, as I'd like to have the audio come from both the wand AND the pack (ie. maybe pack sounds on the L channel from the amp while the R channel carries the wand effects). That means 4 wires just for power to the wand and audio return, and 4 more for triggering behavior back within the pack based on wand actions.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09 ... =UTF8&th=1
gpstar liked this
#4977124
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

JustinDustin wrote: January 17th, 2023, 5:30 am I've been considering the same as an eventual solution, replacing the stock controllers with Arduino Nano or similar and either the DFPlayer or other audio playback chip. I was also considering how to connect the wand and pack and I have this item on the way. The hope is to rebuild the connecting hose to use CAT5 cable and the connector below, which would allow for 8 connections rather than just 4, as I'd like to have the audio come from both the wand AND the pack (ie. maybe pack sounds on the L channel from the amp while the R channel carries the wand effects). That means 4 wires just for power to the wand and audio return, and 4 more for triggering behavior back within the pack based on wand actions.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09 ... =UTF8&th=1
I am putting it together with 2 sound boards, one in the pack and one in the wand. Only need 4 wires in the hose, because 2 will be for Power / Ground. The other 2 will be for TX/RX, so the wand board (Arduino nano) can communicate back and forth to the Pack board (Arduino nano or equivalent). Sounds and other things can be synchronised between the pack and wand that way. I am building it so the pack and wand will be outputting polyphonic audio (imagine music playing and sound/pack sounds working at the same time, fade into tracks and sound effects, overlapping etc). I am also building a configuration/setting mode on the wand that can be accessed from the fire mode selector switch then using the rotary knob on the top to cycle through to different settings with the 5 bargraph led's on the wand to indicate which setting you are adjusting.

Such settings will be: (*subject to change as I am still coding them*)

(1) Play music / stop music
(2) Next music track / prev music track
(3) Music volume only adjustment (pack/wand)
(4) Overall volume adjustment (pack/wand)
(5) Exit configuration / Repeat track
#4977125
I have a suggestion for the firing sound effects. Since there are 3 different types, fire, fire long tail, and fire short tail, what if you made it play a different sound effect either at random or depending on how long fire has been held down for?
If you fire for less than 5 seconds = fire
If between 5-10 seconds = fire short tail
If between 10-15 seconds = fire long tail

Just a thought
#4977126
jonogunn wrote: January 17th, 2023, 6:02 am I have a suggestion for the firing sound effects. Since there are 3 different types, fire, fire long tail, and fire short tail, what if you made it play a different sound effect either at random or depending on how long fire has been held down for?
If you fire for less than 5 seconds = fire
If between 5-10 seconds = fire short tail
If between 10-15 seconds = fire long tail

Just a thought
Yup no problem. Noted. I am also setting it up so overheat only happens when on full power (adjusted by the rotary knob control on the top of the wand, aka: all 5 bargraph leds are lit up). Power modes less than that I will let it fire as long as you hold the intensify button down.
Peeno liked this
#4977143
Early stages, but it is coming along. The sound effects are temporary 2021 until proper ones can be found or created for the wand. I am going to implement 1984 wand sounds when the pack is in 1984 mode, and then 2021 wand sounds when in 2021 mode.

A little demo of some polyphonic sounds mixing together (note the beep when the vent light is turned on).
#4977160
jonogunn wrote: January 17th, 2023, 2:46 pm With your new mod are all the wires and microcontrollers coming out?

If say I did your old mod in full in both the pack and wand, I wouldn't have to revert everything back to original and remember how it all originally looked would I? I'd just gut it all out?
Just the microcontrollers are removed. Reusing the wires already in the wand and pack that are already connected to the stock switches and lights.

I have a schematic I drew and labeled where all the old wand wires go if you wanted to re-solder them back on to the hasbro controller.

For the pack it is much simpler, all the original wiring has colour coded JST connectors except the volume rotary switch and the original speaker.
#4977201
This is fantastic work gpstar! The more I tinker with my pack the more I'm realizing that the keepalive is just a band-aid to the real changes I'd like to make. Replacing the stock controllers is the natural evolution of that. One item that really has me irked is that you can't keep the pack running without the wand's rumble feature active all the time. Yes, the pack can turn off the rumble motor but only when in a "powered down" state. I'd prefer to have switches or options to let me turn on the rumble only for certain actions (controlled by the software) or at least work in a switch to turn it on/off at will for both the pack and the wand. If you can work in some kind of option for that in your grand plans that would be amazing.
gpstar liked this
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