Author Topic: Building a Pulsevu 2x (Read 11995 times)

Phantom · « **on:** April 05, 2011, 10:18:50 PM »

Ive decided to try and build one of these since I cant find anywhere that sells them

http://diy.sickmods.net/Our_Products/PulseVU/Build_It/

before i start ordering parts i need to know what these things are...

ill try find some pics of their board and see if i can see some part numbers.

edit

so i figure Q1 is the big mosfet looking thing and QA1 and QA2 are the two little 6 pin things?

edit2

I looked absolutley everywhere trying to find a closeup pic of the board and it let me straight back to acidmods

from alman101 2009 modoff

Q1 on the schematic is a mosfet of some kind, i still have no idea what the two 6pin things are...

any help is appreciated!

Phantom · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2011, 05:10:38 AM »

i managed to find what i was looking for in a post on the sickmods forums, not very detailed though

"Q1 is an N-channel MOSFET that can handle the amperage of all of your LEDs.
QA is a general purpose N-channel MOSFET."

what is considered 'general purpose'?

heres what im looking at getting to try out

Q1: link

QA: link

to me it looks like im in way over my head lol.

hyper999 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:09:18 AM »

how many LEDs are you planning to use ?

do you want SMD or through hole?

Phantom · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:29:39 AM »

maybe 20 - 30 LED's

I dont really mind using thruhole/smd parts, but i guess through hole would make it a bit easier for me.

also im thinking about getting this programmer: http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=46

then making a 'target board' to program: http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/avrtargetboards

am i missing anything or will i be sweet to program avrs with that setup?

Phantom · « **Reply #4 on:** May 02, 2011, 10:29:22 PM »

I got the avrs and all the other parts i need, im still waiting on the programmer then I can get started.

these things are tiny...

wetfusion · « **Reply #5 on:** May 02, 2011, 10:34:18 PM »

NICE project dude!

Phantom · « **Reply #6 on:** May 09, 2011, 02:59:34 AM »

thanks, its coming together slowly. I finally got some spare time this afternoon to build the programmer.

once i have the software setup il start designing a circuit.

Phantom · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2011, 08:18:09 AM »

I drew my version of the schematic in eagle cad, first time using it and all i can say is that program is a

.

Phantom · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2011, 05:45:01 AM »

I really have no clue if this is going to work, im fairly sure there is problems with my schematic (or the sickmods one?). the one above is missing a bunch of stuff so ive redrawn it about a thousand times in eagle

heres where its at so far...

for size comparison, nothing soldered in this pic

going to try finish this and test it tomorow.

im still wondering why i decided to try this out using SMD parts...

Phantom · « **Reply #9 on:** May 22, 2011, 07:24:45 PM »

ill just keep bumping this for anyone interested

heres the little board i made to program the avrs, im using a bobby pin to hold the chip in place

theres a 6 pin header on the other side of the board

hyper999 · « **Reply #10 on:** May 23, 2011, 01:37:09 AM »

looking good

Nam3o · « **Reply #11 on:** May 23, 2011, 08:01:08 PM »

I might be slow but what dose it do?

1TONpete · « **Reply #12 on:** May 23, 2011, 08:30:35 PM »

this takes an audio signal and "pulses" leds to the audio. the x2 is 2 channel I assume .

Nam3o · « **Reply #13 on:** May 23, 2011, 09:02:05 PM »

thank you.

Phantom · « **Reply #14 on:** May 23, 2011, 10:07:25 PM »

yep, it has other fading/breathing modes aswell, look it up on youtube and you will get the idea. there are a few versions of it, the 2x is designed for 360.

ive just tried programming the attiny and all i get is errors. it says double check connections so its probably the target board i made, it is pretty dodgey.

ill try again when i can be bothered with it.

hyper999 · « **Reply #15 on:** May 24, 2011, 02:52:43 AM »

what errors are you getting?

i hate working with AVRs, PICs are soooo much better IMO

Phantom · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2011, 08:19:19 PM »

i made another target board so i know the connections are ok,

heres what i get in avrdude

i have it wired according to this, i assume the pins are correct?

1TONpete · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2011, 09:03:57 PM »

Im no expert in avr's but i was looking at your pic of your programmer and it looks like you have a bad trace on the top right pin : the one by the "0" in phantomz0. it looks like it runs under the chip.

hyper999 · « **Reply #18 on:** May 25, 2011, 12:48:26 AM »

i believe all the connections on your programming header are backwards....

if you solder the header so the pins are on the copper side i think it should work nope :P

does your programmer supply 5v to the AVR?

Phantom · « **Reply #19 on:** May 25, 2011, 03:51:43 AM »

yeah in that picture above, i have the chip upside down. but i still got errors with it the right way up.

i made another board today on prefboard with a DIP package attiny and i still get that same error...

and yes my programmer supplys the 5v.

so i figure its something wrong with my programmer (it was made from a kit so i wouldn't be surprised), ill try figure it out tomorow.

crashmasher · « **Reply #20 on:** May 30, 2011, 04:27:48 PM »

Keep updating, was looking to do this myself

Phantom · « **Reply #21 on:** May 31, 2011, 05:41:54 AM »

yeah ive been pretty slack with updates i havnt really had any time to work on it, i had a good look around online and found i had the programming header wired backwards. lol.

it all works fine now, i just need to etch another pcb so i can program the SOIC avr

Epic Lavalamp · « **Reply #22 on:** June 13, 2011, 07:09:53 PM »

Please finish this, I need hope that the Pulse Vu 2x is still alive...

Phantom · « **Reply #23 on:** June 13, 2011, 10:44:08 PM »

last time i worked on this i etched another target board for the SOIC avr and it still didnt work. i kept getting the errors like the first one, even though im positive the connections are ok. i might try figure it out when i have some time.

but, even if i do get the soic avr programmed, the schematic i drew to make the pcb might be wrong, and i dont even know if im using the right mosfets, so id be pretty surprised if it worked first time.

hyper999 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 14, 2011, 08:04:43 AM »

Quote from: phantomz0 on June 13, 2011, 10:44:08 PM

last time i worked on this i etched another target board for the SOIC avr and it still didnt work. i kept getting the errors like the first one, even though im positive the connections are ok. i might try figure it out when i have some time.

but, even if i do get the soic avr programmed, the schematic i drew to make the pcb might be wrong, and i dont even know if im using the right mosfets, so id be pretty surprised if it worked first time.

Ok well here's what I would do...

- Make a SOIC to DIP breakout board so I can program the SOIC chip with jumper wires from the programmer to my breadboard, this means you can easily change the connections without having to keep etching PCBs.

- Build the circuit on my breadboard (with breakout boards for the SMD, or equivilent through-hole parts) to make sure it works.

- Then do the final etched PCB.

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Author Topic: Building a Pulsevu 2x (Read 11995 times)