True, the nickel gold immersion is really bling bling. and it’s a little tougher to solder. Especially when you are using 63/37 Sn/Pb.
- it’s the solder only one i have at home
- it is the only solder available in such a small guage
wired up arceyes and board. just need to clean up the wiring. since this was a test, the wiring job is not clean. pics or rather video of her in action soon
Quick Updates and good news.
The first batch of Sparky Jr (short run of 50) is now sold out. I only have 2 left and they are earmarked already.
The good news is that another batch of Sparky Jr PCBs have been ordered. Should be in a few weeks.
If you are looking to fill a need before then and can’t wait for the new batch of Sparky Jr, i have about a dozen of the first run of Sparky Jr’s. These are the ones with the LED’s on the PCB for power, rx, tx and common anode jumper.
these guys
http://www.fakesite.com/UPLOADS/SparkyV3002.png
they work exactly the same as the official release. and i will be selling them at a discount. PM me if interested.
like i said, good success on the first run, next run expected soon.
I dunno how you guys do it, but you manage to ignite the little curious monkey in me.
Not more than a few months ago I was browsing around at all the light mods and dual mods thinking “man I wish I could do something like that”. So eventually, with gallons of trepidation I took a plunge and grabbed an arduino board, some leds, and clear buttons and went to work. Granted I had no experience, space, or tools (we’re talking stripping wire with x-acto knives here) but I managed to get an FGwidget hooked up and eventually working properly and I can’t explain how much of an accomplishment it was considering I soldered pretty much zero before then. With leftover parts I was even able to get a pretty ghetto dual-modded stick working as well. I think I only blew up one LED and even that was on purpose so that I could tell what it would look like.
Admittedly, I’ve been slacking since then instead of learning, but reading the last few pages in this thread has got me excited again! I can’t wait to get hold of a sparky jr. to experiment around with.
I still get lost with a lot of the talk about ways to connect the boards to reprogram them but I’ll learn it, I’m sure. Even while typing this now I realize I have 7 tabs open just from different links to the stuff you guys use!
Regarding the conversation a page or two back, I’ve noticed that many of the casual players I used to play with are now starting to jump to using arcade sticks (especially this time of year with all the sales and deals) and now they’re starting to ask questions about dual-mods and lighting just like I was not too long ago. I find the three biggest reasons people don’t dive in are usually:
- Soldering/Wiring sounds too hard.
- Buying tools/parts is too expensive, especially for casual players.
- Time. We frequently have to shift into 10 to 12 hour work days which just plain doesn’t leave much time for anything else.
Like already mentioned, many people lack that real dedication and drive to figure it out. They want it, they want it cheap/free, they want it now, and they want it to be AWESOME! lol
Anyways I just wanted to tip my hat(if I wore one) to you gentlemen for making so much hard work look so easy and doing it in an inspiring way.
Thanks.
thanks for the kind words
are you working with the Arduino Uno?
anyway, to give you some insight into how Sparky Jr came along…
here is the first iteration prototype, it was using 2x 74hc595 shift registers
the code now has a setting for inactive mode. meaning light up by default.
the video does a better explanation than i do.
this was a request by an SRK member wanting to see a different configuration than the current light up pattern and console mode pattern.
introducing Sparky Jr - Inactive Mode
[media=youtube]1x2K76XeVSs[/media]
enjoy
-applauds- great work 32teeth…this is great because i am trying out the toodles led board and the masterstrike…can i add this one to my testing for sticks? where and how can i get one sir?
@ Baiko. we all gotta start somewhere homie, i was in the same boat back in september, fresh to all this modding and fun stuff. i often would post arrays of questions. luckily i was in good hands between purps, 32teeth, gumm, jdm and others that i forget. quick to answer my questions and not make me feel like an idiot at the same time. def eased the stress of the learning curve and made me eager to learn more and experiment with other concepts. i find that the barrier to entry is not so much time or money, is that people are babies and want everything done for them and plug and play and well that just frankly defeats the purpose of modding.
@32teeth and everyone else, sorry ive been neglecting to post in here, ive just been feeling slightly stupid that after all my own hype and wait for my sparky (thx 32teeth) i havent been able to do shit with it because of financial difficulties ive been having 
but finally i have some expendible cash coming in next week and then ill be able to order my damn special leds and resisitors, as well as my buttons and sanwa. also i teeth i will be hitting you up next week to find out if you have anything available still or when a new batch will be arriving, still gonna need another sparky 
also special blue run of sparkies looks banging. hoping for a red or white run in the future 
also holy shit congrats on selling out, i was going to ask you on how those were doing, because i kno you dropped a shitload of time into refining the design, the documentation, and the site, so i am glad those are selling like hotcakes. i curious tho, because all those boards are sold, but what are people doing with them, because so far ive only seen spenz and few other people working on projects with these. i wanna see more setups of these in action!
…so the inactive mode…is that setup common ground or power? for my setup (well least the main 8 buttons) i want to have it constantly on and it switch a color on button press. i kno the regular way to do this is common power, but it can be done in code?, then i can soldier my arcs all the same or at least avoid having to desolder then resolder the leds if i change my mind about the setup…any insight?
believe it or not, most have been sold to artists and other arduino enthusiasts (though the arduino.cc boards), Sparky Jr is great for fightsticks, but not just for fightsticks… …which reminds me, i need to take some photos of my coat hanger arc eye sparky lamp
no, don’t desolder anything, the code has never been written for common cathode or common anode, but rather has always been abstract enough to compensate for both. that’s what the little jumper is there for.
Jumper ON = Common Anode,
NO Jumper = Common Cathode
Now, should you be in Common Anode Arc Eye setup, but never but the Jumper ON, you will be running the Sparky in Common Cathode mode, and you will produce some cool stuff. in fact, you will get the opposite of what you intended.
Example:
Say you wanted Red to be on when you press a single punch.
With the wrong setting (see above) you will get Green and Blue lighting up and Red turning off - giving you Purple on press. And the rest of the lights will be White. Since white (rgb on) is the opposite of off (rgb off)
Last point to reitereate
Don’t change your setup. Common Cathode or Common Anode are fine.
I am runnning three seperate setups.
1 Common Cathode (which is the stick in all the videos)(it’s my dev box if you will)
1 Common Cathode but with solid color 5050 PLCC-6 LED Chips (that’s right, you can find single color chips on ebay)
The one i have built is all pink. how it works is bright, brighter, brightest LOL
1 Common Anode this is the tri mod TVC stick.
point of the list above is that the core code is the same on all MCU’s
PM me, or contact me through the email on http://sparky.32teeth.org/contact.php… …this goes for you to Shin, send me a message
video will be up soon. i have to just upload it. I have now issues with mine yet. I have yet to pick around in the code. I only hooked it up and made ur it worked. Sadly i have to step out because of work next week. Unless i can piggy on someones connection, i will try my best. i will email u 32teeth about some of my plans and what not sir. my install sucked since my stock of wire was slim/ or i forgot to pack it XP
no worries. let me know where you need help.
and just as time filler, based on yesterday’s light up inactive button challenge. feast your eyes on some more multiplexing madness. introducing inactive light up + pattern on press.
[media=youtube]keCFy_VxFOo[/media]
just kinda goes to show you the possibilities are endless. i am attempting to provide as many options possible to the end user. and all settings are currently simple variable definitions. but if you want to go crazy programming some experimentational thing and it works out, let me know, we’ll try to promote it into the controller and ensure you get some credit.
everything has been updated in the SVN… …and speaking of SVN, great traffic. seems like loads of peeps are on it!
Hmm… like that. I may have to grab the new setup and merge it with the setup I have now… I’ll look into it after I get this 4066N problem sorted
awesome shit! that vid you just posted, is almost exactly the type of set up i am looking for! thank you for clarifing the common power/ground deal. that explanation makes much sense, and good to kno that i will only need to solder my arcs once.
lol i was the on svn last night grabbing some stuff. funny thing is that at first it was asking me for a login, then clicking cancel a couple times got me in, not sure whats up with that but i thought i should let you kno. got your pm, i will email you shortly
Very nice! I get comments from my friends that want the masterstrike color switching style and ability to switch off… so heres a feature request where everyone can have everything in one implementation: Ability to hold a certain button combo for 5 seconds to switch to a particular mode (ppp+kkk + one of the 6 buttons to select a mode for example):
- Mode 1 would be original sparky (all butons off, button press lightup)
- Mode 2 would be inactive button setup as described here
- Mode 3 would be inactive button setup with no button press lightup
- Mode 4 would be alternate inactive button setup with no button press lightup
- mode 5 all LEDs off!!!
and
6) ‘Simon’ screen saver mode FTW!!! (one of mine actually has it running) the code is from one of these Simon - Surface Mount Soldering Kit - SparkFun Electronics
Sounds like someone has some coding to do. The only problem I see with that is you couldn’t activate the modes with a 6 button layout…
Nice PDF. May want to show the option of making an RGB chain in case they didn’t want to run 6-8 wires together at Sparky. That said, it is a little more challenging to get the chain neat (pin headers and shrink wrap are definitely my friends now!) and if someone is doing a mod this technical they probably can figure it out themselves
@spenzalii - yep, just wanted to get it out the door for now.
i actually went through the exercise of building both. the daisy chain method, and the easier 8-1 wire style
For those needing a side by side. here it is.
Daisy Chained RGB wires
8-1 style of twisting and ‘tinning’ into the screw terminals
Nice.
i bet those screw terminals in the lower pic ^^^ are feeling a lil violated lol