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Author Topic: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2  (Read 12648 times)

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Offline erv

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Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« on: November 13, 2017, 11:16:43 AM »
Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) V2

It was time for an update, this has been in dev for some months as we phased in the new motion sensing / motion fusion to the other boards, it appeared logical to do the same to the pico crumble to bring the Crystal Focus grade motion sensing and robustness even to this entry-level sound board. And for the same price !

In addition, it gets 4 swing and 4 clash sounds to improve the sound diversity, and gets 15 color profiles.

Boards already got manufactured and will hit the retailers this week. The manual will follow but it's really similar to the existing pico v1 for the wiring and should be configuration-less. The Pico V2.1 RICE app is ready for PC and Mac and I'll put a link on the website asap.



SPECS
- [NEW] Sound fonts updated with more fx sounds (4+4) played randomly with avoided repeats (aka our "RandomX" system)
- [NEW] 15 color profiles (see further for details)
- [NEW] Improved Service menu to select the color profile with PureHue(tm)
- [NEW] Dual motion sensor and motion fusion (same motion detection grade as Crystal Focus, Nano Biscotte, Prizm) and same super low motion to sound latency (6ms)
- [NEW] Omnisaber-Ready (but this actually got implemented in version 1.06).


[Legacy features, copy / paste from older releases]

- *No* SD card, and no changeable font. Simplification went with this option to allows a zero setup but more importantly no mobile parts so that the saber blades can be really smacked with no consequences on the HW.
- 2 font flavors, light side or dark side, 2 AWESOME sound fonts by our very own LORD BLAKO
- The fonts contain : boot, power on, power off, hum, 4 swings, 4 clashes
- Dimensions : 24x18mm, 4mm thick only
- Designed for Single Cell only (3.7V) like the Nano Biscotte
- 3 channels to be used with a 9W, multi-die, common anode LED, also like the NB, CS and Prizm (works with individual-die LEDs too obviously)
- White Flash on Clash(tm)
- Single switch (momentary only)
- Mute-On-The-Go to help with teaching or when you can't help yourself, turning your glorified illuminated stick on in the middle of the night.
- RICE-Edge(tm) to adjust settings when getting an "off-spec" LED or to tune the max drive to get the desired hue.
- same 2W amp as my other boards
- Header friendly (speaker connections at the rear, the rest on the other side)
- 10 bit audio
- clash and swing motion flow limiters
- off delay APOP
- progressive ignition / retraction (of course)
- flicker / shimmer
- adjustable drive to remove the resistor in some cases
- enhanced deep sleep with 11nA consumption (I know you'd expect *PICO* Amp there if you're familiar with the metric system, don't you?). On a 2.6Ah battery, that's 27356 years of shelf time. For some reason, I'm betting the self discharge or natural dusting factor of the cell will make it last less than this...
- Service menu to allow the color (re)configuration of the saber


Color Profiles

Here they are, broken into RGB settings, in the actual order they are browsed / cycled in the service menu.

Code: [Select]
0 RED 1023 0 0
1 Orange 1023    255 0
2 Amber 1023 660 0
3 Yellow 1023 1023 0
4 Lime 340 1023 0
5 Lime2 145 1023 0
6 GREEN 0 1023 0
7 Cyan 0 1023 340
8 Light Blue 0 1023 635
9 Ice blue 0 1023 1023
10 BLUE 0 0 1023
11 Mauve 115 0 1023
12 Purple 355 0 1023
13 Pink 1023 0 1023
14 Crimson 1023 0 50


Service Menu
The service menu isn't really designed for the user but can be. There's no on the fly color changing with switch combos (well there's only one switch) and there shouldn't be any specialties like that provided to a young kid who ends with a color changing saber without understanding why his anakin saber is now purple  :huh:
Same for a teacher. It has to be robust.
Therefore, the access to the service menu is a long press (5-6 seconds) on the activator switch when applying power. If the saber was asleep, just press on the switch, otherwise, you need to either use the kill key (if any) or remove the cell.
You get a 3 medium tone beeps => color profile browsing with a beep each time you select. Allows quick reconfiguration of a saber that is red into blue. Not exactly a config menu for the user due to the fact power must be CUT then re applied to allows reconfiguration, however, remains simple enough so that it's a feature, not just a factory / manufacturing thing.
This was motivated by the situation of selling a saber at a booth in a convention and running out of blue saber but still having some red and green in stock. Factory menu allow to change this in a minute with neither soldering nor disassembling available. No quick connector swapping involved neither.

After selecting the color / profile, press for 2-3 seconds to validate, saber will reboot.


PureHue(tm)
While reconfiguring the color of a saber, adding more color profiles makes it eventually more difficult to know which one is selected just by the eye. As a result, we integrated PureHue(tm) which emits a higher beep each time you select a color that is made of a single channel (Red or Green or Blue). This helps selecting the color knowing exactly where you are in the list. The former deeper beep is played between each of the combined (or "non-pure") color profiles to differentiate from the single die ones.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2017, 11:21:23 AM by erv »

Offline QUI-GON JINN

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2017, 02:06:18 PM »
Very cool,  erv,  I always thought that board would be a bit better with more swings/clashes,  now it's just about perfect for entry level sabers!


Offline jeremy.g

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2017, 03:37:59 PM »
Nice!  Totally agree.  The only thing I didn't like about the first version was the repetitive nature of the swings/clashes.  This looks like the perfect upgrade.

Offline BEN KENOBI

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2017, 04:02:19 PM »
Cool stuff.

Offline erv

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2017, 09:40:22 PM »
Nice!  Totally agree.  The only thing I didn't like about the first version was the repetitive nature of the swings/clashes.  This looks like the perfect upgrade.

thanks guys, I had to look into real-time lossless decompression of the audio data to make it fit, that's why it took extra work and extra time

Offline KeeperoftheRancor

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2017, 10:45:58 PM »
Looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! When can a manual be expected?

Offline erv

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2017, 10:54:45 PM »
Looking forward to getting my hands on one of these! When can a manual be expected?
probably this week

Offline richmbailey

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #7 on: July 09, 2020, 11:28:09 AM »
I am new at doing my own installs (successfully installed a NB3.5 with kill key/recharge port). However, I have Pico Crumble board and couldn't find any diagrams how to setup a kill key/recharge connection. Any help would be appreciated.

Offline K-2SO

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2020, 12:12:39 PM »
It would be the same as any other PL board.



I find your arguments vague and unconvincing.

Quiet! *Slap* And there’s a fresh one if you mouth off again.

Offline jbkuma

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #9 on: July 09, 2020, 12:40:57 PM »
I am new at doing my own installs (successfully installed a NB3.5 with kill key/recharge port). However, I have Pico Crumble board and couldn't find any diagrams how to setup a kill key/recharge connection. Any help would be appreciated.
It would be the same as any other PL board.
More generally the kill key concept isn't a specific concept to saber electronics.  It's just a power port with a built in switch used to disconnect the electronics during charging.  The saber community has taken advantage of that switching action by inserting non-conducting objects to power off the saber even when it isn't being charged.

Offline etcstevebruce

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2020, 11:18:22 PM »
I do not remember where I got this picture, but here is a diagram I have used.  Click on the image to see the whole thing.
I have wired up 2 Pico Crumble lightsabers this way, and they work amazing!  It really is a fantastic little sound-board.
A U.S. Navy submarine Electronics Technician turned lightsaber enthusiast!

Offline erv

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2020, 11:28:39 PM »
cheers

Offline richmbailey

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #12 on: July 18, 2020, 06:20:12 PM »
I do not remember where I got this picture, but here is a diagram I have used.  Click on the image to see the whole thing.
I have wired up 2 Pico Crumble lightsabers this way, and they work amazing!  It really is a fantastic little sound-board.


Diagram worked perfectly. I was able to install the Pico with a recharge port into my empty Parks Obi Wan TPM. Massive cramfu but got it working.

Thanks for the assist.

Offline etcstevebruce

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2020, 07:14:29 PM »
Great news!  I'm glad I was able to contribute.
A U.S. Navy submarine Electronics Technician turned lightsaber enthusiast!

Offline richmbailey

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Re: Please Welcome the PICO CRUMBLE(tm) v2
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2020, 08:55:28 PM »
Great news!  I'm glad I was able to contribute.

BTW. Go Navy. Former RM2 served from 1990-1997. :)

 

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