The Nightsword project

[The_Driver]

Thats looks very good, but do really think that blue is a good color at night? Wouldn't a red/orange color scheme make more sense, because it doesn't blind so much when the eyes are (somewhat) night adapted? How bright will the display be?

Also concerning the touch screen: have conidered the repairability of the light in thise case? What will happen in 10 years when these modules will probably not be in production any more?

 

[BVH]

The display layout looks fantastic!! Could there be multiple color schemes available from which to choose? I like the blue myself and would probably choose it if multiple schemes were available despite blue being one of the colors that the human eye has the most difficulty focusing on. It's very difficult to contain my excitement about having one of these gems!

 

[get-lit]

The models are removable from the housing. This particular display line is the most likely to be around longer than any other because it's an actual company, not a hobby project. I trust this company to remain successful because they by far have the best solutions. It's carried by Mouser, who tends to carry long term products intended for manufacturers.

There are three things going for this approach in the event the line is dropped. First is the mold will be made with a large enough display area to accommodate a range of sizes that would be large enough to use and small enough to fit. Second is that there are more sizes available as time passes. The third is that display technology improves as time passes. A particular benefit is less space needed around the display, making it easier to fit displays within the working space.

To adapt to a new display line, the light would have to be sent to me, or whomever takes over responsibilities in the event of mad cow, to modify the display mounting provision and to update the control board firmware.

Even in the worst case scenario, a new mold could be made. Other than the mold itself, the cost of the housing parts is relatively small to the cost of the ballast, ignitor, and the rest of the components, so a housing update would be practical.

Actually, a new mold wouldn't have to be made. In the future I could make a cutout in the mold, to insert dedicated interchangeable display molds. There's a name for this practice, which eludes me at the moment.

Eventually, there would be no cutout for the display, as displays will eventually be just a thin surface-mounted film.

I agree with the night color setting. I'll also make a high contrast color setting of red outline on black and limited use of other colors. I can make this a user setting. I'll work on this so we can review it next to see if it can be improved before I go with it.

 

[HKJ]

I agree with the night color setting. I'll also make a high contrast color setting of red outline on black and limited use of other colors. I can make this a user setting. I'll work on this so we can review it next to see if it can be improved before I go with it.

I was thinking about automatic brightness adjustment, when the light is on it uses a high brightness setting, when the light is turned off the brightness will automatically reduced over a period of some minutes.

 

[get-lit]

Excellent idea. I've simply added a new setting to the functional outline in the post above... [Set Lamp On Screen Contrast] and [Set Lamp Off Screen Contrast]

This way it doesn't have to dim with lamp off if the user doesn't want it to.

Here's a proposed display color scheme to preserve eye sensitivity in low light...

EDIT: I've added a new setting to enabling red to preserve low light sensitivity when the lamp is off and auto switch to blue when the lamp is on.
Added to functional outline -> [Enable Screen Color Auto Switch]/[Disable Screen Color Auto Switch]

This way the user can designate a combination of both auto-switching brightnesses and color.

 

[Ceya!]

Will there be a lock out to prevent accidental changes?

Get Lit, It good to see this moving forward.

S/F,
CEYA!

 

[get-lit]

There's not really anything to mess up, it's all simple enable/disable settings, and the system is password protected.

Auto-switching color function...

With auto dimming...

EDIT: I removed the button shading for more contrast...

 

[Ceya!]

I was talking about the above. This way you don't accidentally press the wrong button once you have your setting(s).

If I choose a setting and want to stay there and not worrying if I touch the pad by mistake something will change.

S/F,
CEYA!

 

[get-lit]

You would have to inadvertently press the settings button first, then press another entry in the settings screen, and then change the setting on that particular setting screen. I could make the setting button a double tap, or a press and hold for a few seconds...

I will move the settings button to the top where it's naturally further from the thumb.

 

[Ceya!]

Double tap or hold would work better than moving it.

S/F,
CEYA!

 

[get-lit]

I played around with LCD displays in the dark and realized I much prefer warmer colors, even if there is a bright light on.

After looking at various LCD displays, I also realized I much prefer the most minimalist displays, with the least lines and gradients, with illuminating just what you need to see.

Finally, the buttons on the primary display should be narrowed, to be further from the center vertical beam spread slider, so that when using the slider, those buttons are less likely to be incidentally touched.

And, also considering Ceya's concern about accidental button presses, I've included horizontal sliders for the [SETTINGS] button and [IGNITE] button. Instead of pressing the buttons, they are slid horizontally from the inside to the outside. Here's what I arrived at with these four concerns in mind...

The off-green time display is the run-time of the current power cycle. Underneath it is a horizontal slider for adjusting the display brightness so that it can be quickly adjusted without entering the settings screen.


With the housing (top view)...

Thanks 'Driver' for the Red/Orange suggestion, thanks HKJ for the auto brightness suggestion, and thanks Ceya! for the suggestion to address inadvertent button presses!!!
All of these suggestions helped make this much better in one swoop.

I'm leaning away from making a separate color selection. The display module's development suite is not made to accommodate that sort of function, and I would have to double the programming and communication resources from the display module to the controller board, and I prefer to keep the resources for the user interface to a minimal so that there's enough remaining for any possible future upgrades in other areas. I'd also prefer to develope a single display that would become recognizable as the Nightsword user interface.

 

[ez78]

Very cool things happening here! :) I was thinking if it would be worth considering having a real button or switch just for the ignition? Just an idea. I think I would kind of prefer something mechanical and more robust for unleashing such power.

 

[get-lit]

If you're wanting a physical rather than electronic switch for the sake of knowing it's impossible to turn on without being physically activated, it would have to be a high-voltage / high-current switch. A physical but still low-powered switch to signal the ballast to turn on still would rely on an electronic switch within the ballast.

The reason I've shied away from that is because a physical high-voltage / high-current switches are large and somewhat heavy, and expensive. I also wanted to preserve ambidexterity, and the switch would have to be located on either one side or the other of the housing, not that it's a huge deal. I also wanted to be able to turn on the light with one hand.

Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, electronic switches are not full proof, and I've seen all sorts of electronics devices turn on on their own all at once is an intense lightning storm. I think a physical switch is required for military applications as well. It would be helpful to have some more input regarding these trade-offs.

 

[BVH]

The colors look nice. Not excited about the sliders to ignite. Not bad for the "settings" activation. I first think of my phones' touchscreen. It gets dirty or there is moisture present and sometimes the first swipe doesn't work so it takes two swipes, and occasionally 3. How about a 1 to 1.5 second push and hold?

 

[ez78]

Thanks for the reply get-lit. I was just mainly wanting the button for the feeling I quess. Something moving and clicking maybe. I am old fashioned that way. :) If given the choice between double tap or slide to ignite, I think I would take double tap or maybe 1.5 second hold like BVH mentiod. A well defined action that is easy to repeat anyways.

 

[get-lit]

Ok I'll revert to the buttons and use the hold method.

BVH, what do you think about a physical switch for ignition?

Forgot to mention it also has to be waterproof.

Here's how I envision it to work with a physical switch while still retaining password protected turn on... The physical switch turns on the ballast, and sends a signal to the controller. The controller then automatically prompts for password if it's more than 0 characters. The controller then sends the signal to the ballast instructing it to ignite the lamp. This would be done automatically if no password is set by the user, so the user can still have a one-step turn on if desired.

What I liked about the current setup is its simplicity, but I agree that there's much benefit to a physical switch. There's just the issue of where to put it, and the extra wiring of the switch and some sort of component that can convert the universal AC/DC power source into a low voltage signal to the control board so the control board knows when the power to the ballast is switched on and then perform the password prompt. I'm hoping this doesn't mean another large DC converter is needed just for this. Hopefully HKJ can chime in.

The ballast can also be configured to simply ignite the lamp when the power is switch on, but then there would be no provision for password protection.

 

[BVH]

I prefer the simplicity in operation and good looks of the touchscreen (only) controlled ignition, no physical button.

 

[get-lit]

Ok looks to be a tie so far. I'm still undecided and torn between the benefits of both.

There is an additional benefit to the toggle switch I hadn't mentioned. The ballast consumes 2 to 3 watts in standby, so it will drain a battery pack when left plugged in. A large 500Wh battery pack would drain in about a week.

I just realized a method with the toggle switch... Use a waterproof low-voltage toggle switch (which are easy to find) fed 12VDC from the universal DC converter already in the system, which switches a relay to power the ballast while at the same time signalling the control board. Since a relay is still a physical switch, it wouldn't be subject to EMI issues that electronic switching mechanisms have.

 

[BVH]

Still not a fan of cluttering up the clean, smooth looks of the screen and just seems to be an additional step in lighting up the light. It's simple enough to just unplug the light from the battery.

 

[get-lit]

I understand. Keep in mind, there would be no additional steps. If the switch is turned on, one of the two scenarios would happen:

1. The lamp would ignite immediately if there is no password set.

2. If there is a password set, the touch screen will prompt, and immediately ignite the lamp when the password is entered. There would be no lamp ignite button on the display.