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Author Topic: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board  (Read 7341 times)

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Offline Obi_1

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Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« on: July 19, 2017, 12:59:43 PM »
I'm happy to present a new member of the growing DIYino family of fully integrated Arduino compatible prop boards:

Stardust V2

New Features:

[USB system board]: one interface to interact with the board, the integrated micro-USB port is used to
1. upload code
2. charge a single Li-Ion or LiPo battery
3. upload sound files to the MP3 player/SPI flash 4. see below  :)

[USB charging]: the V2 can be used to charge a single Li-Ion or LiPo battery cell with 250mA according to the standard CCCV charging profile, thanks to the integrated USB charger circuit. The board will come with an on-board micro-USB connector as well as an extrenal, small size micro-USB breakout board to be able to place a port to anywhere in your prop design.

[K3 technology]: the v2 does not need a kill key, with its current consumption of 0.3mA in sleep mode it retains shelf life for a long period of time. With a 3000mAh 18650 battery it discharges the battery in (3000/0.3=10000h=416 days, which equals to over a year!!!

[USB kill key]: the v2 can be wired to enable a so called USB kill key feature, which allows a complete shut-down of the board in case USB is connected

[single battery cell supply]: the V2 runs off a single 3.7V Li-Ion/LiPo battery without the need to boost the voltage. You can use a voltage source up to 5V or a DC-DC booster still if you so choose. Thanks to the powerful 3W audio amp the v2 still retains superb sound quality and volume when running of a single cell.

[breadboard friendly design]: the v2 is fully breadboard friendly

[High Integration]: based on extensive experimenting with various Arduino boards and shields, the Stardust V2 condenses all learning from the Prime V1 and implements many interconnects commonly used in saber and prop builds on board. The high level of integration makes wiring up the Stardust V2 extremely easy.

[eGesture Engine]: stays for easy Gesture recognition, it is a feature of the system code introduced in FX-SaberOS (to be released soon). Stardust based lightsabers do not have to be configured to distinguish clash and swing motions. Thanks to the advanced impact detection of the accelero- and gyro-sensor on-board the Stardust can detect clashes. Period. Not threshold, no config needed. Thanks to the quaternion based swing detection algorithm, the same aplies to swings: no need to tediously experiment with thresholds, swings are determined based on the spatial flow of the movement.

I created a video with a double feature: it shows my very first Tri-Cree in-hilt LED module based saber, all my previous DIYino sabers being either neopixel or segmented LED types.
The secound featurette is a full neopixel blaster I recently built for the birthday of my nephew.


 
Legacy features:


[proven technology]: based on the successful DIYino Prime v1 design for lightsaber props

[Arduino Compatible board]: configured as Arduino Uno to leverage the additional code space of the Uno bootloader

[Extremely small size]: to fit into any lightsaber and blaster prop (W x L x H = 21mm x 51mm x 5mm or 0.82" x 2" x 0.2"), it is only slightly larger than a simple Nano, but with a whole system integrated around the Nano design.

[Broad blade type support]: supports in-hilt High-Power LED or neopixel style saber builds (i.e. you can build every kind of saber with it bar a segmented LED string, which is the domain of the Primes).
 
« Last Edit: July 19, 2017, 01:33:11 PM by Obi_1 »

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2017, 05:50:37 PM »
Very exciting! So... where's the sale thread?!

Offline Thexter

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2017, 08:59:32 PM »
Awesome, dude!

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #3 on: July 20, 2017, 11:39:52 AM »
Thanks guys! It was a lot of fun and a rewardig professional experience to design this board. I learned a lot and ut the learning to good use when going from V1 to V2, capitalizing on the proven features of the Prime.

Sales will open up in September. I will get the first run in a week, after which I will take a longer vacation. Once back extensive testing of the boards will start, followed by the official run announcement.

I owe you still with a picture of the board:


A very detailed User Manual is in preparation, including working instructions how to upload sketch and configure FX-SaberOS. I strive to finish it before my vacation.

I especially love now how I can charge my saber and blaster anywhere without having to carry a bulky charger around, simly finish charging the cell phone and start charging the saber  :azn:
The micro USB takes up such a negligible space, here for the blaster prop, including the charge indication LED.



Offline jbkuma

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2017, 08:10:22 AM »
Can't wait to fire one up!

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2017, 09:50:39 AM »

Now the full User Manual with all you need to know about a programmable saber board can be found on-line. This time I included some extra material for those who would like to start with Arduino but never dared to ask how to start:
https://github.com/Protonerd/DIYino/blob/master/DIYino_Stardust_v2_User_Manual_v1.pdf

Feedbacks are welcome how I can improve it, so if anyting is unclear, let me know!

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2017, 06:40:18 PM »
I am really looking forward to putting the USB port wherever I want on the hilt. It will be very freeing to not have to design around SD card and USB port access on the board itself.

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2017, 12:33:15 AM »
I am really looking forward to putting the USB port wherever I want on the hilt. It will be very freeing to not have to design around SD card and USB port access on the board itself.

Yeah, not to mention that a uUSB port takes up less space than a recharge port. One can even try to accommodate it between grooves on the hilt. It is interesting if you are going to use the USB kill key feature.

I will first experiment with chassis design with easy access to the USB slot, not in-hilt, but with the power saving options available to the Stardust it is not a must to have the port outside as you will not have to charge it so often.

Offline Azsde

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2017, 10:40:58 AM »
I think I'll buy one from you haha. My whole homemade arduino system is driving me mad!

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2017, 06:49:08 PM »
I read the manual and there is something I'm still not clear on. If the board is powered in the recommended way with a 3.7V source (such as an 18650 battery), is it OK to still plug in USB and do debug cycles by uploading and running your sketch with the USB still plugged into the saber? What if the blade is turned on while in this state? Will the current draw from the LEDs cause damage to the board, or to the PC? Or will the battery kick in to supply the extra current, since USB 2.0 is limited to ~500ma maximum current?

I think this is an important question since it is an Arduino compatible board after all, and people are gonna play around with it, you know? Probably I will upload and test several sketches as I have done with my DIYino Prime V1. I'm wondering if I can still do things like serial debugging while the board is in-system.

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2017, 01:25:21 PM »
Wow, all these questions while I'm enjoying my vacation in the USA :) Sorry if my respsonses are delayed, there is blessfully a low WiFi coverage in Yosemite, Yellowstone will probably be the same. This country is fantastic, I'm sooo glad we jumped over for a visit.

As to the technical questions, you can suply the board over USB or a LiPo/Li-Ion or both, all different combination will work fine as long as you do the wiring right. In that sense I still retained full compatibility to Arduino.

With the notable exception of USB kill key wire-up, which I included to let guys make an install and "close" the board to programming while enabling a cool new feature. But even this can be rewired to allow code upload again.

It's good to see all these questions, I will collect them and use them to improve the User Manual. Actually all this info is in there, but I need to highlight crucial info better.

Cheers and pray the bears will not get me!

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2017, 06:39:51 PM »
Thanks for taking time out from your vacation to answer my question. Glad you are enjoying yourself!

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #12 on: September 08, 2017, 05:17:53 PM »
If I had a Stardust board, I would put it in a saber and it would be awesome. But, I don't have a Stardust board so awesomeness eludes me.

Offline Obi_1

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2017, 01:34:32 PM »
If I had a Stardust board, I would put it in a saber and it would be awesome. But, I don't have a Stardust board so awesomeness eludes me.

It does not have to elude you for much longer. Good news, I have been working on a small jig over the weekend to semi-automize testing the Stardust boards and if everything goes as planned I will start testing my 1st Run tomorrow.

Offline JakeSoft

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Re: Please welcome the Stardust V2 - an USB system prop board
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2017, 08:00:50 PM »
It does not have to elude you for much longer. Good news, I have been working on a small jig over the weekend to semi-automize testing the Stardust boards and if everything goes as planned I will start testing my 1st Run tomorrow.

Excellent! I'll need one to finish the firmware companion to S.T.R.E.A.M. and verify that it's compatible with the hardware.

I'll need beta testers. I hope some folks on this forum will be up for it.
« Last Edit: September 13, 2017, 09:54:08 AM by JakeSoft »

 

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