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I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 7:52 pm
by eagleeyez
I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

First off, I don’t have my Aerodrums yet but one thing I know, is that although they work I need to get rid of white light. This means then using infrared light.

I will explain what I have tested to date and what I will be testing in the next few days.

1. I don’t want to be invisibly lighted by an a array of IR emitters, as IR light can be eye damaging if you stare at it the whole time. Think about a remote control, you don’t stare at it but just point it toward your TV and you don’t look at the sun all day too.
2. So we need low power high angle emitters in the drum sticks and for the feet.
3. The PS3 has an IR blocker built in, which can be removed if you own the right one as there are 2 different versions and it’s nearly impossible to tell which is which and even then you need a dam steady hand to remove the filter. I have heard that most from the USA are the ones that can be modded but at the end of the day you will only know when you dismantle it first. So that is not a good way to go.

4. Using the inside of a floppy disk, as a low pass filter in front of the PS3 camera It blocked out the surrounding light but I could still see the flashes from the TV remote. This means that the PS3 camera most probably has a very weak IR filter and this just maybe possible without taking the IR filter out. So I am thinking 20° IR-Diodes from Osram.

5. The next thing is getting this all light weight into a stick, so I am thinking of using button cells and a hollow drum stick. But then I found this which I have ordered and it will come tomorrow. LED DrumStix from Amazon.

6. I am hoping that The LED is not molded into the plastic and I can change it out for an IR and get rid of the circuit board. I will let you all know tomorrow what happens. These DrumStix have a matt nib/tip and already can be illuminated, meaning my IR can go in there and a button cell batteries holder is already integrated with changeable batteries. You can also get rechargeable button cells nowadays

7. If the IR still does not work with the PS3 camera I will order a modded lenses for 4$ from America, as I am not going to take another chance at getting it wrong.

8. After getting the sticks to work, then come the feet.
9. To test this yourself, shine a remote control into your mobile phones camera, you will see it blinking, then put the inside magnetic plastic ring of a floppy disk onto the lens or use 3 layers of over exposed negativ film, you will see dark but still see the remote control flashing when you press a button on it. That works for the PS3 as well.

10. Till soon everyone and I would love to hear any of your suggestions regardless how crazy.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 4:55 pm
by eagleeyez
Ok guys and girls,
I have just received my DrumStix HD2 in White and what can I say
But just brilliant and is going to be exactly what I need to make me some Infrared drum sticks.
As you can see in the video
I did say AAA battery but I actually used the bigger one AA.

VIDEO
https://youtu.be/w9KccOOoLqM

EDIT: this is not true, they are actually solid. Just the base is whole, so these are useless.
They are super easy to modify and the tips do light up, although the led is sitting at the base of the stick. Well light travels don’t it?
So now I will order some IR diodes to test which ones are better to get a nice bright rounded tip without over or under glowing.
Hope you like the Vid, it was difficult holding the camera, I will have to get myself a phone stand.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 8:42 pm
by eagleeyez
Ok,
I have been googling a little to find out what dam IR-diode I need.
I still do not know and I will order tomorrow a Osram IR-diode with 40°, 20° and a 5° Osram diode. I think that maybe the sharper and not wide will be better, sending more light up the shaft to the tip would be the 5° but they are cheap and I will try all of them. I am going to use a AA 1.5v rechargeable battery, which is actually 1.2V I think.

Anyone got any ideas? As I am very basic in electronics but thankfully google is my friend.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:58 pm
by bkmsx
Hi, It would be interesting to see how just permanently on normal leds works with Aerodrums, you said you didn't have them... Need to fix that!

I think light up sticks woild be akot less visually distracting/nauseating than the lit camera, plus between 'takes' etc its easy to turn them off and they are not overall as bright anyway.

So for me I'd stop there but of course ir would be an ideal to shoot for.
Not sure about the lens floppy disc stuff , have to believe you on that!

Anyway an important factor is how those sticks actually feel/play on a head? Light? Usable you think?
My current bodgy solution that uses reflectors *near the tips of real sticks allows me good feel with hardly any weight or balance change and hitting real heads is great bonus overall.

I'd certainly consider these led sticks tho for a laugh.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 12:39 am
by eagleeyez
Hi,
I think you misunderstood something. The LED Sticks are going to be turned into Infrared sticks, andt that means you will not see any light and be able to play in broad daylight.

The lens floppy disk acts as a low pass filter, just hold a bright light against such a disc and you will only see red. That’s the IR range.

For a laugh they are most certainly, but in this situation, they could be very useful indeed. No more bright lights.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 2:57 am
by bkmsx
no i understood squire!, was merely suggesting that for many, just having lights on the sticks would be an improvement to the current situation - less bright and not in your eye constantly. i say that since as is easier to implement than IR sticks - kind of your step 1: so i wondered if you'd tried it, but you don't have AD yet to try. :(

i applaud you wanting to do IR and hope you succeed, its clearly better. but also trickier. i was curious to know how led stick worked with aerodrums as is *(assuming always on led)

when i said 'a laugh' i meant i would likely try that route for a laugh as it will involve some fiddling and messing around - not that the idea is a joke. big difference, no need to be defensive i am harmless yet curious!

i pretty happy with current setup as i can hit heads with real sticks, but to ditch the lights would be a further bonus - success depends on how those sticks play/feel (hence my asking) and the ability to dial in the correct brightness for consistant playability - which could be tricky - these require a set of aerodrums to compare with its own reflectors.

i do know that reflectors a tiny bit off in size compared to stock makes aerodrums unhappy so getting the led to hit the sweet spot in brighteness and as another poster mentioned doing his own led sticks, though perfectly achievable, will take some fiddling, whether visible light or IR.

best o luck

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 10:22 am
by eagleeyez
Yeah, I see what you mean now. My Aerodrums are on their way to me in Germany. I was lucky as I had ordered before they put a stop on export outside the UK, so I should have them by the end of the week latter early next week.

The first thing I will of course try is the drums as they originally are, then converting the sticks to just constant white light only on the nibs and then try out IR. I will keep you up-to-date in this post.

That is a good idea of yours, putting in a brightness control to get the tracking sweet spot right.

The sticks feel good in the hand and rebound nicely in the back of the hand when air hitting. If you are going to be hitting real heads at the same time you may not like the rebound as they do have more vibration than wood sticks and bounce like hell. But for hitting air, they are to my liking.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 11:06 pm
by bkmsx
Cool, :D I think without the camera lights on the ambient light becomes more critical so in the dark any led need not be bright but if e.g outdoors its got a lot more of a job to do.

Am tempted to just put some little but bright LEDs on regular sticks near the tip, rather than do a tip replacement job, same place I currently have reflectors.

dont think they'd be in harms way and should still give playable response.
Sorting power and wires and comfort/usage stuff is what putting me off at the moment..

Hope u make progress

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2016 11:58 pm
by eagleeyez
Hi, yeah a normal drum stick what I have lying about here is
49g
The DrumStix empty
72g
1x AA Battery 23g
72+23 = 95g + plus then a small diode and kabl

So we are looking at about double the wait, but this weight is all in the back and actually still all feels very light.
I want to use a standard Battery, as buying button cells the whole time would just be insane.

If you put a led onto your tip, you still need power and making the sticks front heavy will be not so good. And you have to fit it really well, that you don’t shake it off, that is why I am building it all into the stick itself and only in the back.

I have ordered different components to give this a go, just waiting for them and the drums
I even learnt Ohms law today and a little about electronics to get me going. It’s actually quite interesting electronics and I think it could become a new hobby of mine.

And as the nibs can be lighted up already very well from the led sitting at the bottom of the stick I am hoping to get the effect just right, so that it simulates the size of the reflector balls on the sticks without the balls. So getting the diffuse and brightness right will be critical.

Re: I’m planning to turn white light into Infrared light.

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:17 am
by aerodrummer
Hi Eagle,

I have tried a few of these ideas. Indeed it is a challenge to get it correct. Infrared becomes a problem during the day because daylight includes infrared light. Even with curtains drawn, I found that the camera could still see the light they were blocking. At night it was okay.

The best success I had was using visible LED light. I still plan to seek a solution- a bit time limited with 3 kids ATM. I also bought the same drumsticks- you will probably have to paint the edges up to the bottom of the tip as the leaking light will confuse the software. I was using a visible + IR filter - so it might work out different for you.

As others and yourself mentioned that the light intensity does cause tracking issues and is essential to get it right to play.

Aerodrums is good however I was hoping for a solution to the blinding light. Any updates on your solution, Richard?