Functional MVS LED Marquee Backlight Project

F4U57

General Morden's Aide
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Awesome! Filled my interest on pre-orders.
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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what are we looking on price if you dont mind me asking
I don't mind at all :). Part of my goal with this project was to keep it as open and transparent as possible. Unfortunately pricing is the hardest thing to determine right now :((explanation below). Which sucks because at the same time, it's probably the single most important piece of information I need to find out.

I could definitely come up with a price for the controller at this point (pending any changes that need to be made after 4 or 5 people get to test it for a bit). Unfortunately, it's looking like the most expensive part is going to be the LED panels though which will have the biggest impact on the price. If I have some time this weekend, I'll try to put together what I can and see if I can come up with some projections.
 

Jedah Doma

Chroma Ma' Doma!,
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Boom, filled it out and am ready.

BTW: If there is anything you need from a graphic design or art production standpoint, let me know. Would be glad to help.
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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I have some potentially promising news tonight. After not hearing much from the companies I contacted earlier, I heard back from 4 potential leads tonight. Three of which are Acrylic LED panels without the LEDs and one was with the LEDs. Two of the manufacturers of the panels without LEDs came back with reasonable prices if I ordered at least 100 panels. Granted, I would have to use and assemble the LED design I made but the total cost would probably be less in the long run since I could probably run it at 5V and drop the 12V circuit in the controller which costs more than the rest of the controller components combined, LOL. The downside however would be that if things went smoothly and I had a final design before June, my time I could dedicate to assembly would be extremely limited until I graduate in June. I know it sounds crazy, but working on this project has helped me do something fun and keep sane while dealing with full-time work, college at night, and two young children ;). I'm waiting to hear back about getting samples from these two companies now.

I'm still excited to see what the company with the full LED panels comes back with but I don't want to get my hopes up too high as DackR well knows :D. The poor guy kept getting reply after reply with sometimes amazing costs only to get hosed on shipping.
Boom, filled it out and am ready.

BTW: If there is anything you need from a graphic design or art production standpoint, let me know. Would be glad to help.
I might be in touch at some point about that ;).
 

The King Prawn

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Jan 16, 2012
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I hope I'm speaking for more then just myself on this one, I really appreciate the effort you're putting into this project. With that said, and now I'm totally speaking for myself, don't kill yourself on it. You're a busy guy with a lot going on. While it's admirable of you and exciting we're seeing something new and innovative for our cabs, it's not the most important thing in the world. Your children, job, and studies rank much higher. I'm in no rush for mine personally. I replaced the EL panels on my big red as soon as I got it. It's just the conversion I would like to "upgrade" so to speak. But on that note I'll probably buy 2 for when said EL panels give up the ghost. ;)

Keep up the good work... when you have the time of course!
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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I hope I'm speaking for more then just myself on this one, I really appreciate the effort you're putting into this project. With that said, and now I'm totally speaking for myself, don't kill yourself on it. You're a busy guy with a lot going on. While it's admirable of you and exciting we're seeing something new and innovative for our cabs, it's not the most important thing in the world. Your children, job, and studies rank much higher. I'm in no rush for mine personally. I replaced the EL panels on my big red as soon as I got it. It's just the conversion I would like to "upgrade" so to speak. But on that note I'll probably buy 2 for when said EL panels give up the ghost. ;)

Keep up the good work... when you have the time of course!
Thanks, I hear ya :).

Small Update:
Dimmer boards came in Friday and I got one assembled over the weekend :D. Main controller prototype boards should be here tomorrow... (they were originally expected to arrive today)
IMG_1544.jpg


More good news however, I FINALLY have a sample LGP LED panel coming my way :D. I'll likely have it by early next week and will try to get a video of the results (good or bad) ASAP.
 

Teddy KGB

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Thanks, I hear ya :).

Small Update:
Dimmer boards came in Friday and I got one assembled over the weekend :D. Main controller prototype boards should be here tomorrow... (they were originally expected to arrive today)
IMG_1544.jpg


More good news however, I FINALLY have a sample LGP LED panel coming my way :D. I'll likely have it by early next week and will try to get a video of the results (good or bad) ASAP.

Sounds good man! Keep up the good work and let me know if you need any 6-slot test fitment. :D
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Sounds good man! Keep up the good work and let me know if you need any 6-slot test fitment. :D
I might need to take you up on that ;). There are only a couple of people on the list with MVS-6 cabs so when I'm ready for that I'll probably reach out to you and them at that time.

Personally, I REALLY wish I could test an MVS-6 myself... not because I don't trust anyone else, I just want a damn MVS-6! :D
 

Teddy KGB

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I might need to take you up on that ;). There are only a couple of people on the list with MVS-6 cabs so when I'm ready for that I'll probably reach out to you and them at that time.

Personally, I REALLY wish I could test an MVS-6 myself... not because I don't trust anyone else, I just want a damn MVS-6! :D

No prob. Hit me up if you need any pics and or measurements.
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Hoping to get to test it out tonight :D :
IMG_1547.jpg


Forgot to mention, I have sample LGP panels ordered from 3 manufacturers FINALLY!
 
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badboybill

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Nov 17, 2010
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36
Man this is awesome, and I ordered like 16 glowhut panels a few months ago for my 4 cabs. They are still in the box and I would use this option instead in a heartbeat, I'll fill out the form on your site for 4 full plug n play kits. Thanks for doing this.
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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HUGE UPDATE!!!

The first sample LED LGP panel arrived today :D. As you will see from the 2nd picture, they made the total area 11cm x 14cm instead of the "illuminated area" but that's easily remedied as I can just give them the corrected total dimensions. I got one panel with their LEDs and one without (to try my own). The panel with LEDs came without them mounted in any sort of bracket so I attached them with electrical tape for now. I was thinking about it and I think aluminum tape would work best. I must admit, I'm really impressed. When I opened them my heart sank thinking they didn't have a nice laser pattern or anything and that they would have bright/dim spots. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the lighting is nice and even across the panel as long as you block a tiny area right in front of the LEDs.

Anyway, without further delay, here are the pics (like any of you read this first, LOL):

IMG_1553.jpg


Note: this is WAY too bright as I just hooked it up to a 12VDC source directly:
IMG_1554.jpg
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Not sure if I'm going to have more time to work on it again tonight (I want to SOOOOOOO bad!) but here is a little teaser in case I don't get a chance later:

IMG_1557.jpg


The panel on the left has the slimmer LEDs that came with one panel. I realized after I had already attached one that I should have daisy-chained then but didn't feel like redoing that side ;). The panel on the right is using the LED strip I had on hand which is quite a bit wider than the panel itself. I was in a hurry to solder the wires on before having to get the kids to bed and accidentally wired the dimmer controller upside-down :(. Although it would work fine, the connector is pointing the wrong direction and the trimmers would control the opposite panel. I'll switch it back around before I test it out (this is also why the dimmer panel is left unattached).
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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The 2nd set of LED Panel samples arrived today and I'm disappointed in their quality and performance when compared to the ones I got last week.

- They're not as bright (although they're bright enough)
- The color temp is higher (probably 6500K+)
- The strips are just hot-glued in place and not all are straight
- The panels backs were dirty
- The dots are visible through the MM (although to be fair that's not the fault of the manufacturer)

I tried to get pictures but honestly they look pretty different IRL. The colors on BOTH panels look way worse in the pictures than IRL. The 1st panel is not really that yellow while the 2nd panel is not really that blue. I mostly wanted to show the way the light diffusion dots are visible through the MM. Also, I didn't bother covering the edges in front of the LEDs so the fact that panel 2 has bright spots and panel 1 doesn't is not really accurate, that's about the same.









 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Things are really starting to come together now! After playing with 4 different panel types, 7 different types of diffusion film (yep, SEVEN!), and 3 types of reflective backing... I have finally found a combination that not only works well but might turn out to be more cost effective than I thought :). Believe it or not, the panel on the right above (that looks crappy with all the dots) when combined with good diffusion film provided the most evenly lit panel while still being nice and bright. Once I got the sizing correct, there were no visible hot spots on the edges with 3 different mini-marquees! Also, this was using my own LED strips that I made to run at 5V!!! That means I can eliminate the 12V boost circuit on the controller which accounted for 60% of the cost of the controller including the PCB!

I'm going to play around with combinations a little more just in case but I think this is pretty much the one to go with barring any odd breakthroughs or setbacks. I won't know for sure until I get the quantity sorted out but I THINK I can get the materials cost of each LED panel to around $10 each (this is just the LGP, LED strips, diffusion film, and shipping from manufacturer). If this is the case, along with dropping the 12V circuit, the price point is looking better and better :D.
 

Jedah Doma

Chroma Ma' Doma!,
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Glad to hear things are coming together. I continue to put forth my good LED vibes towards this project. God speed and good luck!
 

EvilEmuOfDoom

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Awesome update being posted to YouTube shortly... :D

Glad to hear things are coming together. I continue to put forth my good LED vibes towards this project. God speed and good luck!
Thanks! Looks like the good LED vibes came through tonight :).
 

Kpj

Larfleeze, Wielder of the Orange Light. , formerly
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Sep 7, 2001
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Great to hear this is progressing! I would definitely be interested in ordering this kit when it's available. Also, for us 6-Slot owners, the 2 MV-EL panels (3 per PCB) are near impossible to find, so I think there is a way to wire (3) 2-Panel PCBs together as a replacement. I should have this figured out shortly (for anyone that cares).
 
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EvilEmuOfDoom

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Great to hear this is progresses! I would definitely be interested in ordering this kit when it's available. Also, for us 6-Slot owners, the MV-EL panels (3 per PCB) are near impossible to find, so I think there is a way to wire (3) 2-Panel PCBs together as a replacement. I should have this figured out shortly (for anyone that cares).
I could definitely make two 3-panel boards for the 6-slots but it would probably be very expensive since there are so few 6-slot owners on the pre-order list (and in general). I ended up going in multiples of 2 so that the 2-slot, 4-slot, and 6-slot versions of this would all use the same parts.

As for wiring up three 2-panel MV-EL boards it wouldn't be hard to make a custom wiring harness that just passes the last two signals to the 3rd panel. In fact, if you got a hold of two "MV-ELD 1/2" pcbs and one "MV-ELD 2/2" pcb, you could do it by just adjusting the pinout of the two small "in-between" jumper cables. I can make a diagram of the pinouts tonight if you want.
 
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