Supercon II badge

Description

This is the badge for Superconference II, which will happen in Pasadena on 5+6th of November. The concept is similar to the Belgrade Conference badge, with several new details:

- LED matrix is made of 128 discrete LEDs
- Accelerometer is an integral part of the badge
- There is 5-bit I/O expansion port
- The visual appearance is redesigned, with smaller, lighter and more convenient component placement
- Microchip created the new bootloader, which "sees" the badge like the USB disk

There is a demo video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkd5RuY84p8

The detailed description of the Belgrade badge is at https://hackaday.io/project/9509

Here is the BOM for the badge components: https://docs.google.com/spr

Details

There are also a few modifications in the schematic diagram. Instead of direct driving of anode P-channel FETs (T1-T8) for the LED matrix, there is 3-to-8 decoder 74HC138 (U3). It uses only four instead of eight I/O ports of the MCU, and the remainig ports are available at the expansion connector CON3.

All other components are the same as on the Belgrade badge.

CPU clock is 48 MHz (which is 12 MIPS), so display refresh takes about 1% of processor time. Infrared transmitter is the single 940 nm LED, and the receiver is TSOP6240, which contains photodetector, AGC preamplifier, 40KHz band-pass filter and demodulator.

Microchip designed the new bootloader firmware for the badge, so when it is connected to the USB port, PC "sees" the badge as the disk and you can simply drag and drop HEX file with your firmware to the disk icon, named HackABadge. Thanks Microchip, good job!

Files

HACKDAY_FINAL.PCB

PCB file, for Protel Client PCB editor

pcb - 502.74 kB - 12/07/2016 at 13:21

Download

HACKADAY_P3.zip

Gerbers for PCBs. Five badges on a single panel.

x-zip-compressed - 178.03 kB - 12/07/2016 at 13:17

Download

ChallengeB.HEX

The same challenge firmware, modified for the first version of the badge, used at Belgrade conferrence, April 9th 2016.

hex - 16.20 kB - 12/06/2016 at 20:53

Download

Challenge.HEX

Solve the puzzle and win a prize! Good luck!

hex - 16.56 kB - 11/05/2016 at 17:10

Download

Badge Manual V1R0.pdf

Same manual, if you prefere PDF format

Adobe Portable Document Format - 1.39 MB - 11/05/2016 at 04:35

Preview

Discussions

Andrew Walter wrote 01/13/2017 at 15:58

I think the BC338 part in the BOM is incorrect, it links to a through hole version of the part, whereas it should be SOT-23!

Are you sure? yes | no

Voja Antonic wrote 01/13/2017 at 16:04

You are right, it's an error in BOM. Thanks.

Are you sure? yes | no

SHAOS wrote 01/10/2017 at 00:58

Anybody needs a badge? Personally I don't like PIC18s so I'm going to trade it for something like PIC12, PIC16 or PIC17 :)

Are you sure? yes | no

ActualDragon wrote 01/09/2017 at 13:49

okay, this is going to sound dumb, but how do i "print" the pcb, which in my case would be sending it to dirtypcbs.com or whatever. one thing i definitely have no idea about is pcbs. How do i get the pcb from the file to my hands?

Are you sure? yes | no

Andrew Walter wrote 01/13/2017 at 15:57

I used pcbs.io to produce mine (but you can use any of the various PCB manufacturers). You need to give the manufacturer the Gerber files, which are inside the HACKADAY_P3.zip file.

You need to download that file and extract the "GERBER Files" folder from it. Then you need to zip that folder into a new zip file. From there, you should be able to upload it to your manufacturer of choice.

Note that if you do use pcbs.io, their software doesn't pick up the backside silkscreen labels for whatever reason.

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Andrew Walter wrote 12/06/2016 at 23:55

Are you still planning on posting Gerbers/PCB files for this project? I'd love to be able to get my hands on one!

Are you sure? yes | no

Voja Antonic wrote 12/07/2016 at 13:20

Posted. There are five badges on a single panel.

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Andrew Walter wrote 12/07/2016 at 22:22

Thanks so much!

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Ben Hencke wrote 11/06/2016 at 20:44

Back hacking tip: If you are using the C project and leveraging the kernel, but adding your own interrupt sources, you should wrap the call to the kernel ISR to check for timer 0 and int0 interrupts, it assumes those are the only interrupts it will get. e.g.

if (TMR0IF || INT0IF) {
//this ASM call must end the function (needed for kernel compliance)
asm("goto 0x2B08");
}

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Nick Sayer wrote 11/06/2016 at 00:38

Which of the two "demo2.hex" files is the one that the badge came with? I want to be able to put it back the way I found it if I screw it up (I don't intend to replace the bootloader).

Are you sure? yes | no

Voja Antonic wrote 11/06/2016 at 00:45

Ignore the one that is packed in ZIP file and use the new one, with corrected timing, as that one was used for badge programming. The only difference isthat the new one (which is NOT in the ZIP file) has 15 minutes power-off time (after the last button pressed) instead of 2.5 minutes for the old (zipped) version. Also a minor bug was corrected, with the format of message transmitted over Infrared Port, when you press "Down" button (marked as "I" at the main menu).

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Nick Sayer wrote 11/06/2016 at 01:02

Thanks! And well done on the badge design.

Are you sure? yes | no

Ben Hencke wrote 10/24/2016 at 17:08

Wow, nice work! Lots of detail here, and I love how the kernel and bootloader will let people easily write some stuff for these!

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zakqwy wrote 10/23/2016 at 02:16

I noticed the Github repo isn't linked in the project description; for anyone looking: https://github.com/Hack-a-Day/2016-Hackaday-SuperConference-Badge-Hacking

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Peter Noyes wrote 10/20/2016 at 17:35

Love the design! Any chance you could tell me what battery holders those are that can be mounted sideways? @Voja Antonic

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Voja Antonic wrote 10/20/2016 at 18:48

Thanks, Peter. You can see them at http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/keystone-electronics/2466/36-2466-ND/303815

Those battery holders were not meant to be mounted sideways, but on the flat PCB surface. Luckily, hacking allows using things in "non-meant" way :) All you have to do is to shorten leads, and solder them flat, on the wide copper surface near the edge of the PCB.

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Peter Noyes wrote 10/20/2016 at 19:20

Thanks! I have been struggling with how to incorporate batteries into my own project. This has given me some inspiration.

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jens.andree wrote 10/19/2016 at 01:18

As someone living way too far from Pasadena (not even close to that continent) and currently have too much time on my hands, is there a way to get hold of this badge for at-home hacking in order to feel a tiny bit part of the gathering? (Or is it DIY as an only option?)
Thanks in advance!

Are you sure? yes | no

Voja Antonic wrote 10/20/2016 at 18:53

I'm not sure, but I don't think that there will be leftover badges after the conference. Project is open and all files will be available as soon as we make sure that there will be no more modifications, so DIY is the option.

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jens.andree wrote 10/20/2016 at 23:16

Ok, thanks! DIY it is then ;)

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zakqwy wrote 10/17/2016 at 18:40

Really excited about this badge, it's a beautiful design @Voja Antonic. I noticed in some of the earlier pictures that the soldermask was pulled back on the vias; this doesn't seem to be the case in the pictures shown here. Can we assume that the vias are tented on the production boards?

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Voja Antonic wrote 10/17/2016 at 18:51

Thanks, zakqwy.
It's exactly as you noticed, prototyping and production PCBs were produced by two companies. The first of them assumed cleared vias, and the second tented ones. In both cases, I had no influence (to be honest, didn't even think of it)

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EK wrote 10/17/2016 at 17:37

Excited for this! Would it be possible for you to post up the blueprints of the board with the dimensions too?

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Voja Antonic wrote 10/17/2016 at 17:40

Yes Erin, soon there will be gerbers and PCB files (for Protel) and JPGs also

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SHAOS wrote 10/17/2016 at 14:14

Great piece of art! Question: is new Microchip bootloader mentioned above available somewhere to play with on my own custom PIC18 board?

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Voja Antonic wrote 10/17/2016 at 14:22

Thanks, Alexander!

There is a bootloader project at https://github.com/perkyguy/XPRESS-Bootloader/tree/HaDSuperConference2016
HEX file for 18F25K50 will soon be placed here

Are you sure? yes | no

SHAOS wrote 10/17/2016 at 14:50

Thanks!!!

Are you sure? yes | no

Supercon II badge

Description

Details