Re: 1?? Mcd Xenon Flashlight Project - BFF
First, sorry for keeping everyone waiting, again! But In addition to working on two other light projects, plus a lot of other stuff, I had more problems on this one. First the small problem. So I made the control circuit and it consist of the microcontroller, Arduino Nano, a step down converter and the volt and temp reading components.
This board is then connected to the Nextion touch screen and the relay board. I can apply almost 50V to the input, as it go to the step down converter that supplies 5V to the Nano and screen. So during the test I started with about 10V and slowly cranked up the input voltage to check the voltmeter readings, and everything seemed fine. But when I reached about 28V, the magic smoke was released and everything went dead. For anyone that has worked with strip board, you probably already know what I did wrong. I had forgot to cut a strip! In my case, of all 23 possibilities, it was of course that one strip from the input that ended up in VIN pin on the Nano. How it even survived 28V is beyond me, but I guess I found the limit
The overvoltage also took out the temp sensor and it somehow managed to fry the screen too. I couldn't care less about the $3 Nano and temp sensor, but the $45 screen was not that fun. I guess the good thing about this, beside not making that mistake again, was that the extra effort by adding sockets and plugs on all the major parts, paid off big time. Only takes minutes to swap out the components! :thumbsup: Anyhow, I finally received a new screen last week and everything is up and running again. And luckily, the screen and microcontroller is seemingly not affected by the ignition circuit at all. My precaution with the alu box was probably smart though. I was also able to locate the dead part on the old screen, by the smell and the visible blob on a tiny chip, so I ordered a new one that I just received. I installed it and lo and behold, it worked! So now I have a spare screen too.
To fix the EMI issue with the BMS, I wrapped the battery pack in copper tape, made sure all the tape had continuity and soldered on a ground wire that I connected to the backplate. Twisted some wires, extended the Bluetooth unit outside the tube and installed a few ferrites, aaaand, it doesn't work :mecry: My last attempt was wrapping all the cables in more copper tape, but no luck. Starting to get more than average frustrated with this, but I guess I'll just have to throw money at this contraption til it eventually work. Considering changing the name to BFMP - Big F... Money Pit. For the record, as already seen in the beamshot post, I can "fix" it by simply making a small box on the outside of the tube for the battery, but this is not an option for me. I'm not an extreme perfectionist by any means, but I simply refuse to ruin the sleek look of the carbon tube by bolting on a cheap looking plastic box! I can of course also thether it, which would work perfectly fine, but that wasn't part of the original concept here. Fortunately, I'm not out of ideas, and the one I'm planning now is pretty radical, but I believe it will overall improve the light a lot. However, it will take a few week to get the parts, so sorry for more delays, but it will be finished.
PS: I also changed out the Xenon lamp. I guess that's pretty radical too! Long story that I will write more about another day.
A closeup of the stripboard layout, that ended up killing the board and screen. The 2 pin input socket (marked with a small red dot for positive) was accidentally placed on the same strip that went to VIN on the Nano.
Normally not a problem - if you actually remember to cut it...
First floor. You also get a good look at the aluminium box I made that hold everything in place.
Second floor.
Atleast something works.
The fried LED driver to the screen.
New one installed
:thumbsdow
Took this a few weeks ago when I tested the new lamp. Pretty long exposure, but I deserve to have some fun :santa:
First, sorry for keeping everyone waiting, again! But In addition to working on two other light projects, plus a lot of other stuff, I had more problems on this one. First the small problem. So I made the control circuit and it consist of the microcontroller, Arduino Nano, a step down converter and the volt and temp reading components.
This board is then connected to the Nextion touch screen and the relay board. I can apply almost 50V to the input, as it go to the step down converter that supplies 5V to the Nano and screen. So during the test I started with about 10V and slowly cranked up the input voltage to check the voltmeter readings, and everything seemed fine. But when I reached about 28V, the magic smoke was released and everything went dead. For anyone that has worked with strip board, you probably already know what I did wrong. I had forgot to cut a strip! In my case, of all 23 possibilities, it was of course that one strip from the input that ended up in VIN pin on the Nano. How it even survived 28V is beyond me, but I guess I found the limit
The overvoltage also took out the temp sensor and it somehow managed to fry the screen too. I couldn't care less about the $3 Nano and temp sensor, but the $45 screen was not that fun. I guess the good thing about this, beside not making that mistake again, was that the extra effort by adding sockets and plugs on all the major parts, paid off big time. Only takes minutes to swap out the components! :thumbsup: Anyhow, I finally received a new screen last week and everything is up and running again. And luckily, the screen and microcontroller is seemingly not affected by the ignition circuit at all. My precaution with the alu box was probably smart though. I was also able to locate the dead part on the old screen, by the smell and the visible blob on a tiny chip, so I ordered a new one that I just received. I installed it and lo and behold, it worked! So now I have a spare screen too.To fix the EMI issue with the BMS, I wrapped the battery pack in copper tape, made sure all the tape had continuity and soldered on a ground wire that I connected to the backplate. Twisted some wires, extended the Bluetooth unit outside the tube and installed a few ferrites, aaaand, it doesn't work :mecry: My last attempt was wrapping all the cables in more copper tape, but no luck. Starting to get more than average frustrated with this, but I guess I'll just have to throw money at this contraption til it eventually work. Considering changing the name to BFMP - Big F... Money Pit. For the record, as already seen in the beamshot post, I can "fix" it by simply making a small box on the outside of the tube for the battery, but this is not an option for me. I'm not an extreme perfectionist by any means, but I simply refuse to ruin the sleek look of the carbon tube by bolting on a cheap looking plastic box! I can of course also thether it, which would work perfectly fine, but that wasn't part of the original concept here. Fortunately, I'm not out of ideas, and the one I'm planning now is pretty radical, but I believe it will overall improve the light a lot. However, it will take a few week to get the parts, so sorry for more delays, but it will be finished.
PS: I also changed out the Xenon lamp. I guess that's pretty radical too! Long story that I will write more about another day.
A closeup of the stripboard layout, that ended up killing the board and screen. The 2 pin input socket (marked with a small red dot for positive) was accidentally placed on the same strip that went to VIN on the Nano.
Normally not a problem - if you actually remember to cut it...
First floor. You also get a good look at the aluminium box I made that hold everything in place.
Second floor.
Atleast something works.
The fried LED driver to the screen.
New one installed
:thumbsdow
Took this a few weeks ago when I tested the new lamp. Pretty long exposure, but I deserve to have some fun :santa:
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