I absolutely love playing Portal 2. So I decided to build a working 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button to switch the lights that shine on my movie collection.
My first version used a barebones Arduino Uno on a proto-board, but the Trinket is much easier.. Just a bit fidely to get working if you have not used one before.. worth it as they cost so little. Have a look on Adafruit's website for instructions on programming a trinket with Arduino.
If you want to switch lights on and off, I have used a transmitter unit that works with Klikaan Klikuit units.. they are similar to many other wireless light switches so should be adaptable to other countries. I ended up modeling it myself, using some 3D files that I found online someplace, that were unprintable.. The 4 STL files print well.. of course they look better with finer layers.The Portal cube is one that I downloaded from here or thingiverse... it's a hollow one, and I filled it with lead, then glued it shut.A quick video of it working can be found here:https://youtu.be/wa52foDR5GATo get the lights looking awesome, I painted some silver (just as opaque as black, but more reflective) paint in strategic places inside the white cover. Otherwise the light leaks out the side.Be sure to ream out and tap the holes for the button straight, or it won't look nice.There are instructions for using NeoPixels on Adafruit's website. They want the resistor and capacitor there to protect the NeoPixels. To get enough current to run the NeoPixels, I am using the USB pin on the Trinket, If you wire everything up to the 5V , you could overload the converter, which only gives 150mA
Technical
Adafruit Smart neopixels
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1312
Adafruit Trinket
https://www.adafruit.com/products/1501
Optional 434MHz Transmitter
https://iprototype.nl/products/components/communications/rf-transmitter-434mhz
MicroSwitch
2x M4 bolt cut down
Spring
awesome!!! i wonder if I could redesign this to house a wireless charger... :)
SavageRodent
almost 9 years
i was thinking u might start off with a tilt panel and progress from there, but far be it from me to discourage u from jumping in the deep end :)
Regarding the LED circuit, i would have used spdt switch to alternate the power between a wire for orange modes and a wire for blue modes.
The colures themselves could b achieved by using regular tricolored LEDs with the correct value resister/resisters going to each leg in order to get the colure u want.
You could save yourself time by using a potentiometer on each leg initially to find the required resistance.
hope that makes sense without a diagram.
i will concede my solution will require rather more soldering.
best off luck.
araspitfire
almost 9 years
I'm thinking a turret detects movement, talks, opens and maybe shines a laser pointer would be cool...
I'd also like to add the button change sounds if I have enough room on the trinket. They supposedly excel at sound generation..
I started with just white LED's... then decided I wanted the color change.
I'm curious how someone else would get the blue and orange light effects without a microcontroller and RGB lights. Separate LED's with gels covering them?... much more work than this. (and I switch my lighting on and off wirelessly)
SavageRodent
almost 9 years
Awesome! you'll have to do all the other test chamber complainants now and make a working chamber :)
If you'll forgive the criticism, i thought the arduino and neopixels where perhaps a bit overkill for a binary lighting effect. That said the arduino would come into its own if you were to make a working chamber.
anyway nice job.
araspitfire
almost 9 years
A quick Video of this working is here:
https://youtu.be/wa52foDR5GA