boatman Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 To get the ball rolling in the "Project Zone" I have attached the files for my Cuelight system. It comprises a modular channel board utilising a bus system for control. The channel board accepts signals from "Standby" and "Go" buttons and a "Ready" button on the remote out-station. It provides a bipolar constant current output for driving local and remote signal bi-colour LEDs connected in reverse parallel. The supply source for the remote station "Ready" button will be taken from the LED drive so the button will always be active. The installed system will work over standard twin screened audio tie-lines provided that the screen is floating and not connected to ground at any point. This should be standard practice in all theatre and event venue installations. The channel board is controlled by a PIC12F615. Provision is made for a clear button. If this is fitted the "GO" LED will remain lit until the clear button is pressed. The signalling bus from the buttons to the boards allows for up to four sets of "Standby" & "Go" buttons and channels can be allocated to any combination of button sets. For example, channel 1 could be allocated to button set 1 & button set 3, channel 2 to button set 2 and channel 3 to button sets 2 & 3. So that button set 1 will activate only channel 1, button set 2 will activate both channels 2 & 3 and button set 3 will activate only channel 3. The bus is isolated at each channel with diodes so the switch setting on one channel cannot affect another. The bus consists of a 16-way ribbon cable running between the channel boards and terminating at the button sets. There is a single clear button which can be allocated to any combination of channels. Each channel lights one of its LEDs at power up and if the channel is allocated to the "Clear" button the red LED will light otherwise the green LED will light. If a channel is allocated to the "Clear" button then its green LED will remain lit after the "Go" button is released and not be extinguished until the "Clear" button is pressed. Otherwise the green LED will extinguish as soon as the "Go" button is released. The "Ready" button on the remote stations has two uses. It's primary purpose is to acknowledge the flashing red LED after the "Standby" button is pressed, which will then go steady. It's second purpose is to cause the red & green LEDs to fast flash alternately to attract attention. This function is only active when either no LEDs are lit or the red LED is in steady mode. It is intended as a means of attracting the attention of the SM when there is no access to cans adjacent to the remote cuelight box. The code has been written in MPASM assembler and the full source is attached for users to modify if they wish. The HEX file is also attached for programming the PIC. The LEDs are driven by constant current sources giving flexibility over the power supply voltage. If only one LED is fitted in the controller and one in the remote box the power supply could be a little as 9VDC. More LEDs would require higher and the system will accept power supply voltages up to 40VDC. There are two separate constant current sinks for the LEDs which can be set to have different currents if required. That's all for now, but I'll add parts lists as soon as I've finished them. I am building a prototype system with 3 or 4 channels. This is dependent firstly on how many I can get in the box and secondly on the arrival on the miniature toggle switches from CPC which have been on back-order for several weeks. Enjoy. ChannelBoardSchematic.pdfRemoteBoardSchematic.pdfChannelBoardPlacement.pdfRemoteBoardPlacement.pdfCuelightMasterGerbers.zipCuelightSlaveGerbers.zipCuelightSoftware.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 ... and here they are. ChannelBoardPartsList.pdfRemoteBoardPartsList.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJProctor Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Hi, Is this available to purchase pre-built? Regards James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 Hi, Is this available to purchase pre-built? Regards James I can supply both boards pre-built, but you would need to build them into your own desk. Send me a PM if you're interested. Alternatively you could wait for the boards to become available through the Elektor shop once the project has been published (no date yet I'm afraid). I built a three channel system for our local Community Theatre in just over a day. So it's not too difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 This project should be in the Elektor magazine issue dated April 2014 (available in shops from later this week). They have made a few minor additions to the schematic which are detailed here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antlear Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Boatman, I am intreasted in getting one of these systems built for a school. What would the cost be for a built system. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 You should be able to build a master and slave board pair for around £25. Multiply that by the number of channels you need, factor in a housing for the SM end and project boxes for the remote ends and you'll get a rough guide price. You'll also need up to four DPST and one SPDT small toggle switches per channel and up to four sets of Standby & Go buttons. Apparently there has been a delay on the publication date in Elektor so the article probably won't appear until the May issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antlear Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Are you able to do a prebuilt system??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 Are you able to do a prebuilt system??? No, I won't be building any systems. This was designed as a DIY project. The boards are plated-through holes and are very easy to construct. I don't have any of the original batch of boards left, but blank PCBs and pre-programmed PIC devices will be available from the Elektor shop after the article is published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted April 24, 2014 Author Share Posted April 24, 2014 I've bumped this thread to let you know that the article was published in Elektor this month (May 2014 edition). You can see the article here. They have done their own layout of both PCBs and added an ISP connector to the main board. Bare boards are now available from the Elektor shop. The boards are priced at £7.95 each. That seems reasonable for the main board but rather extortionate for the slave board, which could very easily be built on stripboard on even an "air-wire" construction as it's so simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonShep001 Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Looks great! If our group had a fixed stage etc we could go down this route, but sadly the stage and everything else gets dismantled each production, leaving a bare hall at the end! If of interest to anyone I have come up with an 8 channel wifi system to use with a Tablet and 8 phones. Might be useful for temporary events or small groups too.It auto finds each device and has programmable Cue lists, video and links can be found here. cheers Jon http://stagecue.eu/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 Looks great! If our group had a fixed stage etc we could go down this route, but sadly the stage and everything else gets dismantled each production, leaving a bare hall at the end! If of interest to anyone I have come up with an 8 channel wifi system to use with a Tablet and 8 phones. Might be useful for temporary events or small groups too.It auto finds each device and has programmable Cue lists, video and links can be found here. cheers Jon http://stagecue.eu/ just be careful on the blue room terms of selling things, now you've 2 posts on the subject - especially with this thread being about a particular system, not the concept in general. the Blue Room costs money to run, so when other people are making business on the BR, it is often policy that they stump up some cash to keep it all fair game. Perhaps if you contributed something to the forum it might be different (IE there are members here who say "my product does this" now and then - but in the context of a thread - and alongside hundreds or maybe thousands of useful and informative posts about all manner of other things. But so far all you've contributed is 2 sales pitches and this might be seen as over-stepping the line. Maybe you could speak to the mods about putting something in classifieds, taking out an ad, or making a donation to running costs. Not having a go, just politely suggesting before somebody takes offence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted July 16, 2014 Share Posted July 16, 2014 It's possible John hasn't noticed the rather strict Blue Room rules on self-promotion. As so many members are in business, our original policy was no advertising at all. We softened it a few years ago, and it's now OK to respond to q question - with an answer that says "We make these, have a look at..." and pop in a link. It's still not OK to use the Blue Room to generate business - just something our members have favoured. People get a bit suspicious when a new member adds to a quiet topic, and as Top-Cat says, your only two posts do seem to promote the software? It's tricky because the software is interesting - but there's a very fine line here. I've a feeling, this post is ok - but it is borderline. Software announcements is a different matter. There is a sticky explaining what it is for, and is mainly designed for equipment software upgrades - if you look, it's releases of new version software, bug fixes - NOT - new products. I've removed that one. The topic here is current enough for us to not worry too much, as it is interesting and linked to the topic. Just have a read of the rules and stickies when you have a moment - we do have some odd and confusing rules, but you'll get the hang of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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