AstroPixels R2-D2 Dome Lights - Great Bang For The Buck!
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- Looking for a great looking, pre-built, simple set of R2-D2 dome lights but don't want to spend too much? So was I and I've found them - AstroPixels! This set provides all the standard lighting in R2-D2's dome which includes three HPs (holoprojectors), two PSIs (process status indicators), front & rear Logics (you know, the blinky panel lights).
We have Darren Poulson to thank for this all inclusive R2D2 dome light kit, which in my opinion is currently the best ready made, pre-programmed R2D2 dome lighting kit you can get for the dollar. At around $100 USD (+shipping), Darren's light kit is less than half the cost of the more popular Teeces or RSeries R2-D2 dome light kits; and emulates the fluid analog look of a color wheel that many R2 builders are after without the build complications or tedious fiber optic installs.
AstroPixels R2 light kits use red/green/blue addressable LEDs (just like the RSeries) controlled by an ESP32 microcontroller running the Reeltwo Astromech RSeries library. Basic 3-conductor (power/ground/signal) RC servo wiring/connectors are used to connect the light panels to the control board making it a very simple lighting kit to connect and set up. The control board also has extra headers incase you want to add other lights such as a magic panel.
The ESP32 micro controller board is powered by 5 VDC, and recommended power connectivity is through the green screw terminal block on the board (OBSERVE POLARITY)! As shown in the video, nominal current load running the included lights ONLY is around 500mA and peaks around 700mA. A stable, 1 Amp power source (buck converter or regulator) is recommended.
Darren has pre-soldered all the headers on the light boards and control board, installed the R2 ReelTwo dome light script and tested each light set before shipping, making this R2 dome light kit a true plug and play install as demonstrated in the video.
Video Time Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:56 RSeries Dome Lights
1:30 AstroPixels Overview
2:54 Unboxing
3:59 Addressable LED's
5:29 Connectivity
6:54 AstroPixels Working Demo
Purchase Darren's AstroPixels At We Make Things UK:
we-make-things.co.uk/product/...
NOTE: AstroPixels are purely for Droid Builders and members of the R2 Builders Club, following the rules set out there of non profit. These are not to be used in droids being built for profit.
UK Droid Builders Club:
droidbuilders.uk/
Learn All About Darren's AstroPixels:
r2djp.co.uk/category/electron...
Customizing AstroPixels (including colors & brightness):
r2djp.co.uk/2022/06/05/custom...
Reeltwo RSeries Astromech Firmware Main Page:
reeltwo.github.io/Reeltwo/htm...
My Teeces's R2-D2 Dome Light Overview:
• R2-D2 Dome Lights - Te...
My Full R2-D2 CZcams Build Series:
• DIY R2-D2 Build Series...
Adam Savage's R2-D2 Fiber Optic Color Wheel Build:
• Adam Savage Upgrades H...
Thank you for supporting RC Helicopter Fun.com & my channel which helps me keep creating content & fun projects like this. Please consider giving a thumbs up & subscribe - thank you & thanks for watching :) - Věda a technologie
Part 2 - AstroPixels Installation: czcams.com/video/VMXZgwI3n34/video.htmlsi=fnCju-ZRwQG9O1Fh
Making R2-D2 Video Series:
- Introduction to a DIY R2-D2 Build: czcams.com/video/hkkSagTsLXY/video.html
- Part 1 Making the dome: czcams.com/video/HaZ7ABkhwn8/video.html
- Part 2 Painting the dome: czcams.com/video/inoqE19ODUQ/video.html
- Part 3 Dome lights & holoprojectors: czcams.com/video/hDR9z1PAJSA/video.html
- Part 4 Dome Completion: czcams.com/video/PnjCrLlJtig/video.html
- Part 5 Mark 3 Body Assembly: czcams.com/video/m6VXt6VGZ3c/video.html
- Part 6 R2 Sound System Basics: czcams.com/video/cZ3sVYs7T9I/video.html
- Part 7 R2 Electronic Basics: czcams.com/video/AmUuZH3UHXg/video.html
- Part 8 R2 Legs & Foot Drives: czcams.com/video/PLyOKD5oAyM/video.html
- Part 9 Painting R2-D2: czcams.com/video/E8h0l4rHvC4/video.html
- Part 10 Installing Electronics: czcams.com/video/bg_tN6HCYN4/video.html
- Conclusion to a DIY R2-D2 Build: czcams.com/video/sIpBA6UigTQ/video.html
My #1 concern with the other lights is how lightning fast the blue and white lights were chasing. I clearly remembered a much slower/softer chasing in the movies ( i realize it was color wheels action). But the other led setups are just too fast. These are supremely better in every way! THANK YOU DARREN! And THANK YOU JOHN for showing us!
There are also instructions on my website for altering the code so you can not only change the speed, but also the colour if you're building a none R2D2.
Hah, was wondering why so many orders were coming in today! :P Thanks for the kind words!
Oh, tho I wouldn't recommend running servos off the board. Too noisy and power consuming. The AUX are there for maybe a ring of lights round the radar eye, a magic panel, etc.
@DarrenPoulson - Great to hear a few orders are being generated 🙂 Thanks again for making this awesome light set available and as you can see, it arrived safe and sound to Canada, pretty fast too. Also understood NOT to power servos with it! Thanks for clarifying that.
I love my astropixels. Thanks Darren!
@@Rchelicopterfun Yeah, at least a dozen sets sold from people watching this video. :) Nearly sold out again, already ordered the next batch of boards!
Oh yeah, the brightness can also be tweaked on the logics if you so desire, tho its done in code. Just means higher current draw. As can the random times for the HPs, and pretty much all other aspects. And of course the colours can be changed. All open source from the reeltwo library. (Just about to put some updates in to it actually to make things easier)
@DarrenPoulson - Good to know. Any idea if running them (the logics specifically) brighter will negatively impact LED chip life? Replacing several burned out 3mm LED's in the teeces was fairly easy, tiny SMD neopixels however... I'm not overly comfortable with 🙂
I just got my Astropixels from Darren earlier this week. They are awesome!
Nice 🙂 👍
Great overview! I just ordered a set of these based on your excellent comparison. Thanks for sharing. Here's hoping I can get them installed properly!
Hope you enjoy them as much my R2 does 🙂
Another great video John, cant wait for for part 2. living in the UK is great for this, thats another time still building R2 and as I once mentioned to you, I know nothing about elecronics but with youtube i'll figure it out hopefully
Always interesting content from helis to electronics John, kudos for the t shirt! 😅
Appreciate the views & kudos back for the positive thoughts toward the scientific method.
Great video John very informative!
Hey Kevin, Thanks for the view & comment. 👍 I also very much enjoyed your last R2 update video. 🙂 Gotta come up with a new dome connector idea as well. Think I'm going to experiment with one of those multi pin magnetic connectors but have no idea if it will work as expected. That's the fun thing with R2 projects right - experimenting & problem solving.
I LOVE that shirt :)
A new John Salt R2 Video? Awesome! Looking forward to part 2!
I just started clear coating my dome last night, but already have my Teeces so I think I'll stick with them for at least a little while.
Definitely not enough of a reason to throw out a working set of lights. :)
LOL - I just got my Teeces light kit yesterday! That's ok - I'm happy to have them. Can't wait for Part 2 !
Absolutely nothing lacking with Teeces 🙂 More options the better. Now to get them installed...
The hardest part of the R2 project in convincing my wife that a paint booth needs to be set up in the garage :) need warmer weather! @@Rchelicopterfun
😄
Hooraaaaaay!
Definitely cool but I'd be curious to see exactly how much the bom cost is on that. Figuring an assembly time I get the feeling he's losing money on those.
I recall reading on Darren's full Astropixel writeup (link in description) what his approximate costs are. He's not losing on them, but he's also not making these things to get rich as this is a non-profit. His goal was to provide a good set of dome lights that anyone could afford and no question that is exactly what he has done. His price did go up to 80 GBP from 70 GBP on the last production run to cover supply cost increases, but that's still a bargain IMO. 🙂
@@Rchelicopterfun yeah I agree. I doubt that the bom $80 but even if he's reflowing those boards you're still talking about quite a bit of time picking and placing unless hes got a pick and place machine. But like you said this was done as a labor of love not as a prophet driven enterprise
@DoRC Going from his writeup - the only soldering he does is all header pins. All light PCBs including SMD LED/capacitor application are outsourced and of course volume discounts come into play. Whom ever he is outsourcing the board builds from is doing a nice job. SMD component alignment is excellent as is flow work. Regardless, I know I couldn't get a set like this put together here in Canada for this price.
He originally offered a non-soldered header kit option for a little bit less going by the Astropixel writeup, which is what I would have preferred because I enjoy soldering header pins. Few sold however and of course a few people screwed up the build so then he had that hassle to deal with; so now he just offers the fully soldered kits giving him control to test & confirm correct operation before shipping.
As @rchelicopterfun says, I do these for the club, not to make money. I've a day job that pays me fine! ;)
All the boards are made by JLCPCB, and if I order enough for 50 sets at once, the price comes right down. Theres only 3 different components on each board for the most part, so set up costs are minimal. JLCPCB are by far the cheapest option too. I've looked at other places and they aren't even close. First few batches had yield issues (about 20% unusable), but apart from one bad batch recently almost all boards are fine. I even get the main control board which is all through hole components soldered by them. If the cost of double sided soldering wasn't so high I'd even get the 3 pin headers done by them, but it definitely isn't economical when it just takes a couple of hours to do a batch of 25 or so.
The cables and ESP32 are bought in bulk too for discounts.
They aren't anything special to be honest, just takes a couple of hours to do the board design as its just a string of neopixels. The benefit is doing the bulk order, which is what the astromech part runs were originally all about. One person ordering in bulk, then sharing out to the club at cost. To get a single set done would probably be in the £200 ball park.
Oh, and since starting doing these a couple of years ago I've helped raise over £3000 for the UK club chosen charities (MNDA and Make-a-Wish) from sales of the kits.
That's a nice set of lights! Where did you get the drilled faceplates though?
3D printed. They are the same ones from the Michael Baddeley 3D Print R2 dome files for the logics but Darren also has links to them on his Astropixel page (linked to in description). I just sliced mine thinner (1.2mm) over the stock 3.0mm which I thought much too thick for this chip set. Might be okay for fiber optics, but not these in my opinion.
hello good Sir. thank you for the review on the light set. will order it soon. I am just getting to the point where I need to get the Radio. and I have a question. I will get the same radio you are using on your R2 and the question is what receiver do you recommend to use thank you? very again. Thank you very much. PS watching your videos got me interested in building an R2..
If you are getting a TX16S running Open/Edge TX operating system with the built in multi-protocol module (the radio I'm using), you can get pretty much any RX you want. That built in RF multi-module supports many different 2.4 GHz supported protocols as you likely know.
Also depends on how many channels you need for your specific build. As you may know from my build, I run an older 9 channel JR-921 receiver (runs Spektrum DSM2 protocol) I had on hand in mine but if you need more than 9 channels, you will need more than a 9 channel RX.
By the way, if you don't already have Open/Edge TX operating system experience, I would highly recommend researching that option/decision a good deal so you know the learning curve involved before deciding on any computerized radio system that runs on those operating systems.
Open/Edge TX is not at all like the traditional pre-configured menu systems on other computerized radios from brands like Spektrum, Futaba, Graupner, JR, HiTec, etc. For many (not all of course) Open/Edge TX is a very steep hill to climb; like going from a Windows or Mac to a Linux PC.
@@Rchelicopterfun good after noon Sr. and there is my problem as i have no idea how to program these radios. i did flew r/c planes back in the early 80 s for around 5 years or so. had two radios a futaba and an airtronics simple to operate. as far as the #of channels I think 9 would be enough. the only reason I am contemplating that radio is because the way you set up the dome lights and the sound system. it is really cool. perhaps you can suggest a more user friendly radio that I could work with. not programing "savi", you know just started learning arduino code. and fusion 360. did not figured that i would have to learn new things to get this going.and the 3D printing as well. but despite all that I have accomplished quite a lot I wanted to upload some pictures for you to see but, not sure if that i possible. in any case thak you for taking the time to respond to my messages have a great day!!!
I just read the description and have to ask: what is the R2 Builders Club and how do I become a member?
I’ve been working on a Baddeley build for about 3 years now. Side note: I only just discovered your build series about a year ago and am absorbing as much as possible. The electronics scare the bejeebuz out of me. I can wield a soldering iron, but I fear it’s all really beyond my skills.
Sorry, I thought I had that UK Droid Builders link included in the description but I forgot - so I just added it. I actually don't think you need to belong to the UK Builders club to order the AstroPixels from "We Make", but you do have to join if Darren is out of them and you want to be put on the wait list or be auto-notified when he has another run back in stock. It's basically the same thing as joining the Astromech Builders Club. Can never belong to enough Droid builder's clubs after-all 😉
Have fun with your R2 build. As you know, it's more about the journey than the destination so tackle the electronics in stages if it seems overwhelming. In my R2 electronics basic video, I do have links in the description to two of the best R2 control and electronic publications out there in my opinion so you may want to download those if you haven't already. The author really break things down into easily digestible & understandable parts.
@@Rchelicopterfun thanks for the detailed reply! I got those 2 files and am printing them now. This build is a surprise for my gf. I had hoped to have it done for her bday this year, but didn’t make my self-imposed deadline. She knows I’m building something big, but doesn’t know what. She absolutely adores R2.
I’ve dubbed it “Project Elrond.”
I’ve got nearly all parts printed and the weather has improved enough to start gluing things together. Motivators crossed!