This part of the build was definitely the most time consuming. I went into this with zero knowledge of soldering or wiring PCB's, so I will assume you have no experience with them either. For this step you will need the following tools.
- Soldering Gun + Extra soldering gun tips
- Solder (I used .022" Diameter Rosin Core Solder from Radio Shack)
- Solder remover (Mistakes will happen)
- Printed Circuit Boards and Components...
I found these circuit boards specifically designed for this helmet for around 100$ http://plasmado.com/pro2.index.php. This site has literally everything you need for this step. I definitely recommend reading through and becoming familiar with this site before you buy anything.
Lucky for you, I've compiled a confusing list of the components you will need. However, you will want to buy extra of each just in case.
Component List
5mm White LED 20000 mcd FLAT HEAD WIDE ANGLE 180 deg
Light Bar= 64
Chin Bar= 28 Total= 94
Ear board= 2
Red led=2
Green led=2
(A) ¼ Watt - 220 Ohm resistor
Light bar= 64
Chin Bar= 28 Total= 94
Ear board= 2
(B) ¼ Watt - 1K Ohm resistor
Light bar= 16
Chin Bar= 8
Transistor board= 8 Total= 36
Ear board= 4
2N3904 NPN Transistors
Light bar= 16
Chin Bar= 8 Total= 32
Transistor board= 8
Male header pins
Light bar= 3x16
Chin Bar= (6)x 2 & (8)x 2 Total=BUY EXTRA Transistor board= (8)x 2
Ear Board= (6) x 2
Female header pins
Light bar= (3) x 16boards
Chin bar= (6) x 2boards & (8) x 2boards Total=BUY EXTRA
Transistor board= (8) x 2
Ear board= (6) x 2
Housings
Light bar= (3 housing) x 16
Chin bar= (6 housing) x 2 & (8 housing) x 2 Total=BUY EXTRA
Transistor board= (8 housing) x 2
Ear board= (6 housing) x 2
The chaser boards are the brains of the operation. They come programmed with set patterns to control when the LED's light up. These can be bought from Donnie James through his email Donniedj@anothercoilgunsite.com. Each board is 15$ so try not fry these. These are the patterns I chose.
Chaser #1: 5,6,10,13,18,24,28,29,30,32,34,36,41,42,44,46,51,54
Chaser #2 & #3: 4,5,6,7,8,10
SOLDERING/ COMPONENT PLACEMENT
The chasers do not come with the header pins soldered. Above is an example of how to place the headers.
Think of the circuit boards as 3 different sections connected by a 9V battery. The following pictures and diagrams reference the placement of each component within the PCB boards.
HELPFUL HINTS:
Once all the components are in place, solder them to the boards. This process is not hard, but it is time consuming. Also if you have never soldered before I recommend searching Youtube for How To and Technique videos. The purpose of the solder is to provide a good connection; NOT TO HOLD THE COMPONENTS ON THE BOARD. Also make sure to not to apply too much heat when working with the transistors. They have a tendency to overheat. Note: Resistors have no polarity, therefore they can be placed in any orientation. LED's have +/- ends and must be placed accordingly. Look for the flat side of the LED and line this up with the flat LED drawing on the board. Transistors have 3 connections (NPN). The 2 N connections are behind the P forming a triangle. It's placement should be pretty self explanatory.
After all the boards are soldered, examine the back of the board for bridges (areas where two soldered joints are connected) and cold joints (ares where the solder did not flow properly) as these can cause problems. Clip off the extra wires from the components if you haven't already. Note: Some people say clipping the connections after can disturb the joints and lead to a bad connection. I didn't have any problems with this, however it should be considered.
Now that your ready for wiring you'll need a few more things.
- Wire Stripper
- Rainbow Wire (approx. 20 feet)
- Wire Headers
- Header Crimpers
CONNECTION DIAGRAMS
Follow these wiring diagrams.
This picture shows a simple jig I made to hold the PCB's in place.
1 connection down, 15 more to go... Keep these connections color coordinated.
Pattern Test Run #1. Notice that the first set of LED's are not working on both sides. This is a common problem that usually has to do with the wire connection for those circuit boards. If certain LED's on the circuit board are not lighting up this can indicate a problem with either the LED or solder joint. In this case the whole board was not receiving power. I reconnected the wires to the board and it worked fine.
Do the same with the chins boards using connection diagrams.
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