Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

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joshuakane
 
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Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by joshuakane »

Hello,

I was looking into putting together a prop for yet another costume. I promise I will get my stuff together and have some images for a "Wearable Wednesday" in the next few weeks :-)

The idea here is a Halo energy sword. I wanted to be able to power it on an have it play a sound on power-on, and then have another sound played when motion is detected.

There would, of course, be LED lights, that pulse from Blue to Red and back, but those are easy enough to wire up, or even use the WS2801 type that I can purchase here.

What board and shields would be recommended for such a project?

Arduino Uno:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/50

Wave Shield Kit
http://www.adafruit.com/products/94


For reference, here is one similar to what I would like to accomplish
http://www.westaby.net/2009/11/presenti ... rgy-sword/

Thanks,

Joshua

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The Uno and Wave shield would be a good start. An accelerometer such as the ADXL345 would be the best way to detect motion and impact: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1231

vmax77
 
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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by vmax77 »

I would also use a couple of proximity detection sensors, so the sword only works when someone actually holds it ;)

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I would also use a couple of proximity detection sensors, so the sword only works when someone actually holds it
Our new capacitive touch sensors would work well for that: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_ ... tive+touch

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joshuakane
 
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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by joshuakane »

Thanks for the suggestions!

I was also thinking that I could use 2 of the addressable LCD Strips to do the lights in the sword. I would need to use this at conventions were the sword would be "on" for 5 or 6 hours. What would you recommend for a power source for something like that?

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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

the sword would be "on" for 5 or 6 hours
"On" as in ready for action, or as in continuously illuminated? What kind of light scheme and/or patterns will you be running?
Standby current should be < 50mA. With 2 meters of led strip burning at full intensity white, you could be looking at 4A. Full intensity on one of the primary colors would be about 1/3 of full white. Flickering and flashing would be some fraction of that.

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joshuakane
 
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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by joshuakane »

The idea is that the sword powers on illuminating both meter long strips with red LEDs. Those LED's then pulse down, and switch to blue and power backup. The cycle repeats itself so the color cycles between red and blue.

There will also be an Adafruit, sound and wave board and Accelerometer to have a sound play when the sword is first powered on, and when it it is swung.

I am also toying with the idea of a Piezo buzzer being installed to give an electrical "Hum" to the sword when it is not moving.

Thanks again,

Joshua

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Re: Building a Arduino controlled "Halo Energy Sword"

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

That's going to be better than 1A at full intensity red or blue. A couple of 6600 mAh LiPo cells in series should get you 6+ hours if you can keep the average draw to 1A. http://www.adafruit.com/products/353

You can run the 7.4v directly into the Arduino DC input. Two of these http://www.adafruit.com/products/1065 (One for each strip) will give you the regulated 5v you need for the strip.

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