Awesome! Would love if new sound for the wand was added. Like what we hear in Afterlife with the beep and high pitched hum that gets higher when you switch on the other switches.
Awesome! I originally intended to keep the original D batteries but after seeing how this board even has a part to let you plug an external battery and how it's literally "plug and play", it's definitely making me reconsider the D batteries. Looking forward this to this item.
This is amazing, truly remarkable work here. I will definitely be picking this up as well as a larger rechargeable 12v battery when this is available! Thanks! Question - If I have this board installed with the stock wand connection to the pack, will this also keep the wand running without a timer or do I also need the 'Spengler Wand KeepAlive Board' you also mentioned. Thank you!!
I can't wait for this to starttto go into production ... I was wondering who was goin to come out with it first .... My first pack build had a Spengler wand sound and link board and all my lights by ghost labs ..
Can’t wait to get my hands on a kit! One question though, if we haven’t done the stay alive mod in the wand previously, will we still be able to use this mod or do we need to do the wand as well?
The pack can live through the wand powering off. So not really needed unless you also want the wand to be able to keep the lights on continually. Or (if it works out) ever want to add an e-cig smoke kit that the wand could control...
this is so cool. was hoping for a nice "Drop in" rehcarable battery solution and the idle timer removal is a great bonus. will def be picking this up. anyway to get that battery to also power a powered speaker? seen lots of people adding BT ones that sound great.
That is such a cool (needed) upgrade to the haslab pack. Couple of questions...will it be possible to add in a relay for venting/smoke effects? &, will the wand need to be modded as well? Thanks!!
That is the plan! And yes, it will require modding the wand also so the wand can send the request to the pack. No extra or separate switches needed to control the vent relay.
What a great mod! Two questions: 1. Do you have a link to that battery? 2. What is the time difference, then between the old battery setup and the new battery? Is it a 10% increase in pack life, or greater?
Depends a lot on which D cell batteries and which 12V rechargeable battery you use. I haven't timed it directly yet, but it looks like the pack shuts down early from the D cells, at around 4V, so does not use the full mAH capability. But that aside, if the D cells are rated at and can use 10,000mAH, a 9800mAH 12 V will run approximated 2x longer because of the higher voltage.
Awesome! So if I get it right, there is another version of the Spengler Wand Keep Alive coming that will keep the pack alive too ? Any timeframe for that?
Looks great! And I will be (im)patiently waiting for this to come out. Do you have any plans on attempting to link this with the wand so that the wand will still be able to control the pack? (If possible at all)
Almost - working on two main items: power up/down control even when both have keepAlive boards. The up/down control is already there, but you end up ignoring it somewhat to have the pack keep running. And I am working on getting the wand to be able to control a vent relay in the pack, so some limited communications between the two.
@@ghostlab42 so I’m laimens, even if both have keep alive boards the wand could in theory power the pack up and down like default? Sorry if I’m not getting it right.
@@ecto1139 It is complicated, and also not finished yet, so may change somewhat before the boards are finalized. With both KeepAlive boards installed, the wand will powerdown the pack when you turn the wand off.
Amazing work. So the pack can run on 5v from a talentcell, so you must be stepping down the voltage that the pack sees from the 12v input, correct? I know 12v direct would kill the haslab board. lol
I'm ready Doug, take my money! Just to clarify, if I were to have a custom 6v 2.7Ah battery, with a jst connector (like the original battery connector), this will still work, correct?
If you had a 6V battery it would just replace the 4x D cell pack and connect to the same connector on the Pack KeepAlive board that the D cells would normally plug into. It would also work on an unmodified pack by plugging that into the place on the pack's original board that current connects to the D cells. It would not work well with the DC power plug on the Pack KeepAlive board since the switching regulator wants a voltage higher than its output and it is designed to provide 6V.
Can you power on with the cycolotron lid off ? The reason I asked because mine for some reason not working with or without the lid ? I can't figure it out
There is a lid sensor that goes to the original board. Wires and contacts on the lid should be carefully checked. My packs are in storage at the moment so can't check, but the wand should still be able to power on, though the pack is still controlled by the original circuit board that wants the lid on before the pack will power up. Even without the lid attached, you should be able to toggle the control switches inside the cyclotron and the original sound board should make short sounds. This can check that the boards are getting power and the speaker is attached.
I knew you would come through pretty quickly. I’ve been putting off any mods until you would have some upgrades ready. Now I can start prepping the pack in anticipation. Before I go get a speaker, do you have any intentions of releasing a sound upgrade similar to your Spirit pack kit? I’d prefer to open the pack once and get everything installed in a single session.
Not for some time - At that point I may want to just gut all of the original electronics and that is a larger undertaking. You may consider just tapping off the speaker wires and putting that into a separate differential input audio amp and power that from a 12V battery (the same one if you have another Y cable). That should be able to supply about 10W for a much better speaker. Probably some soldering to attach wires to the speaker.
The toggle switch in the production board is only used to disconnect the battery pack, since there was no switch included on the pack to actually disconnect the battery. The 12V input no longer has a switch and I am relying on you either disconnecting the battery or turning it off when not in use for long periods of time. As for charging... Some chargers do put out more voltage than expected/needed and also it can be very noisy and have larger voltage spikes. It is best to disconnect the battery when charging, but the power supply on this board is rated to handle 18V in, so if the spikes do not exceed that the output voltage of 6V (to emulate a fresh set of D cell batteries) will not be affected.
Definitely a lot of screws to open the pack. Actually 15 of the little buggers unless I forgot one. I love this mod, and hopefully it will be available soon. Thank you for including a plug for the battery pack. I do have one question. I'm building a control box that I'm attaching to the front pack straps, so I can control a smoke emitter in the pack. Since I'm going to run wires into the pack anyway, I was going to see if I can also wake up the pack from the control box. I know the red switch wakes up the pack, but didn't know which wire to cut my switch into. Can I use either, or is there a specific one?
The pack's big red switch just shorts the two wires together when it wants the pack on. As long as the switch you add is run in series with one of those two wires and does NOT connect to anything else, then either wire works. You swith would normally be closed so the main sw still works and then flipping it open is the same as flipping the big red switch off. I am trying to get the Wand KeepAlive and Pack KeepAlive to communicate so the wand could directly control a vent relay. No extra switches would be needed. Of course I am not done with this yet - it is a stretch goal for that feature!
I bought the talentcell 12v 3000mah with 5v USB. Would this one be enough power to run the pack with this new circuit board or would I need to buy a more powerful one
That may be about the same as the D Cells, depending on the D cells and how low of a voltage the pack can use. The 5V USB is not used by the Pack KeepAlive's power jack, but you could use that with the appropriate JST connector cable instead of the D cells. Otherwise you could use both the D Cells and the 12V connection on that battery with the Pack KeepAlive for maximum run time.
I don't think just a different speaker will help much. For louder it is going to require an audio amp and use of a higher voltage, like a 12V battery powering the audio amplifier. This should enable up to 10W into an 8 ohm speaker and possibly more to a 4 ohm depending on the audio amplifier. The pack's speaker is labeled as 1/2W so a different speaker would be needed.
Yes. Kind-of - if you also have the wand KeepAlive, the wand won't time out... Either a standard or a modified (Wand KeepAlive) _can_ turn the pack on /off, but not because of a time out. Details are purposefully sketchy until I verify the operation!
Yes - ish. It will keep the wand alive but it will not control the pack. The Pack Keep Alive will look for new signaling from the Wand KeepAlive board to know that it should respond to the wand. The Wand KeepAlive will use the same connector and mounting as the Spengler link, but does not support the audio or power connections.
Should have two cables. One to output power and one to receive a charge via a DC charger. I’ll bet you just open the side door if the pack to access the charging cable (and battery power switch).
At this point I do not connect to the signals between the Pack's original circuit board and the serial LEDs in the powercell or cyclotron, so no way to modify sequencing of the lights.
No it wouldn't, that's a totally different system. Tho he does have a keep alive system available for the wand. Its just not as easy as this. You have to solder it to the existing board.
@@brianbennett2775 I know the keep alive for the Neutrona Wand. But once installed it is no longer possible to turn off the Proton Pack via the wand. That's why I'm asking if the keep alive for the pack would also be able to work on the wand, especially since we see in the video that it plugs into the wand's power supply.
I am definitely interested in this! I want one when they go into production. Does this also keep the wand alive (the 30 second timeout from Hasbro is ridiculous)? When these are in production, and I add this board to my pack, will it also keep the want alive, or does that require modification to the wand as well? I really like my Hasbro pack and wand, I just don't want the damn thing to turn off on its own.
I have the same issue and that is why I am making these boards! For the wand to keep the lights on indefinitely, you would need the Wand KeepAlive board installed in your wand. That is the only way I found to get around the 30 second idle timeout. But... that can also keep the pack alive, so if that is all you want the pack would not have to be opened up.
@@ghostlab42 The wand keep alive will also keep the pack alive? I want to make sure I get the right part. Could you perhaps direct me to a link to the correct part for this? I have seen so many different things people have been working on, that I don't know which is the right thing. I am still interested in this mod, too, because I would like to also keep the pack alive by itself without the wand running.
@@adamhutchins1981 The Wand KeepAlive can keep the pack Alive also, but if the wand is not attached it can't do that so you would need the Pack KeepAlive. Basically if you want both the pack and wand to be able to run indefinitely when they are used separately or together, you would need both KeepAlive kits. I do not have these available for sale yet (still developing them), but the description above does give a link to the GBFans thread I am keeping updated on the progress.
Right, yeah, I know the wand would only be able to do that if connected...but I remember someone doing some testing with arduinos and found that (at the time with the current setup) he was able to keep the wand alive, but the pack would still shutdown. That's why I was asking if the wand keep alive could do that. And yes, I know these new pack keep alive boards aren't available yet. I was asking if you could provide a link to the wand keep alive that you mentioned, so I could make sure to get the right one for my wand. Sorry for any confusion. And also many thanks, I'm looking forward to doing these mods to my pack.
@@adamhutchins1981 Interesting... The Pack KeepAlive board will keep power to the wand, but the wand has multiple idle times that make it hard to have the wand keep the lights on even if the power never goes away. No links to the wand KeepAlive yet, other than the GBFans link in the video description. I will add a link to the description when it is available in my eBay store.
The talentcell equivalent mAH capacity battery was larger than the blue brick so mounting was not obvious. Even the 600mAh capacity (YB1206000) I have is physically larger than the 9800mAH capacity Blue Brick I also have (DC 1298A)
@@craigbrenkley8106 Not at all! That is about the largest one that I had that fit nicely in that area behind (and into) the secret compartment in the pack. Smaller capcity (mAH rating) or larger are all fine. The main requirement is 12V DC and a 5.5mm x 2.1mm plug if you want it to connect to the Pack KeepAlive board which can then power the pack and an attached spengler wand.
It worked great with the TalentCell I have (YB1206000). It uses the 12V output and the TalentCell's cable with a male 5.5x2.1mm connector. No need to have or use the USB 5V output if you have that on the Talenctell you are using.
@@EctoPlasmic IT will work fine. The 3000mAh vs 6000 or 9800mAh (the blue brick style I also use) is related to how long it takes to drain the battery. In theory, a 6000mAh battery will run the pack for twice as long as a 3000mAh battery, though actual current load, internal resistance, and other factors can come in to play so the 2x is just the first order estimate. I have not run the pack with a fully charged battery until it stops (yet) with a new battery pack to give you reasonable estimates of how long it will run. I will do that when I have the final boards done. The D batteries are not really allowed to run down as far as they could, so some of the capacity of those is not used. With the switching power supply for the 12V connection (or if you are not using this board and have some cabling to use the 5V output from a TalentCell) a very high percentage of the 12V battery capacity should be able to be used to power the pack.
Been on vacation! It should now be back up and running. The Wand KeepAlive circuit boards have arrived, but the pack KeepAlive boards have not yet shipped... Hopefully soon!
@@genedavis1386 Nothing missed. Just that the Wand KeepAlive finally has all of the parts (I still have a lot of work to do before they are available for sale), but I am still waiting on the Pack KeepAlive parts - it always takes longer than I want it to!
@@ghostlab42 that's great news. I know you have a life outside of all you do and I appreciate the hard work you put in to this mods. I see lot of people making keep alives and having problems. I plain on just wanting on yours cause I know you do great work and it'll definitely be worth the wait. Thanks for your response
Love the video, but can you do me a HUUUUGGGEEE favor? Can you speak up louder? I'm deaf in one ear and strugging to even hear you speak whilst you're speaking in a quiet voice.
If it can be done in a reasonable amount of time... I believe the design will support it, but until I have it programmed and working it is not a certainty. And if it requires a lot of unanticipated hardware I would drop the stretch goal feature.
Not much... Most of the power draw is the same as what the pack and wand normally draw: All of the current just goes through this board over to the pack and from the pack through this board to the wand. Adds just a few mA compared to without the board.
You have the same voice qualities of Bob Ross. Very soothing.
The genius is at it again!
Awesome! Would love if new sound for the wand was added. Like what we hear in Afterlife with the beep and high pitched hum that gets higher when you switch on the other switches.
Awesome! I originally intended to keep the original D batteries but after seeing how this board even has a part to let you plug an external battery and how it's literally "plug and play", it's definitely making me reconsider the D batteries. Looking forward this to this item.
Or use BOTH. The KeepAlive now works with either source or both combined for even longer run times.
Nice!
I have all your Spirit Pack kits and can say that I will definitely be picking this up when available!
commenting so that you may have my money once this is in production! You are a gentleman and a scholar!
Yea! After all the great spirit pack kits I’m glad to see this! When they are ready I’ll be ordering!
Great and straight forward tutorial for hook up Doug! Once these boards are available for sale color me interested!
Sold! As soon as these are available, I must have one! Thank you for your work!
You sir are amazing! Thank you for all your contributions to the community!
Amazing work!
Can't wait to get my hands on this kit!
Definitely got 2 sold here. Keep up the great work!
That's looking pretty good, look forward to when you release it!
I WANT ONE!
Seriously, I really do want one.
Very excited about this! Can't wait!!!
I’d be interested in buying one once they’re ready to go, great mod!
iam so buying this once your selling these
Wow this is awesome
Definitely excited for this little mod!
When they're finished I want one.
a bezel inside the door compartment with on off switch and charge port for the batterie monunted on it would be nice with dédicated stickers
That would be awesome - not something I can get to for some time, but will add that to my todo list to look into.
This is amazing, truly remarkable work here. I will definitely be picking this up as well as a larger rechargeable 12v battery when this is available! Thanks!
Question - If I have this board installed with the stock wand connection to the pack, will this also keep the wand running without a timer or do I also need the 'Spengler Wand KeepAlive Board' you also mentioned. Thank you!!
I can't wait for this to starttto go into production ... I was wondering who was goin to come out with it first .... My first pack build had a Spengler wand sound and link board and all my lights by ghost labs ..
Can’t wait to get my hands on a kit! One question though, if we haven’t done the stay alive mod in the wand previously, will we still be able to use this mod or do we need to do the wand as well?
The pack can live through the wand powering off. So not really needed unless you also want the wand to be able to keep the lights on continually. Or (if it works out) ever want to add an e-cig smoke kit that the wand could control...
I will have to get one for my pack and wand, this is awesome. Is there a light bar graph for the wand, to replace the lights behind the lens?
this is so cool. was hoping for a nice "Drop in" rehcarable battery solution and the idle timer removal is a great bonus. will def be picking this up.
anyway to get that battery to also power a powered speaker? seen lots of people adding BT ones that sound great.
That is such a cool (needed) upgrade to the haslab pack. Couple of questions...will it be possible to add in a relay for venting/smoke effects? &, will the wand need to be modded as well? Thanks!!
That is the plan! And yes, it will require modding the wand also so the wand can send the request to the pack. No extra or separate switches needed to control the vent relay.
@@ghostlab42 awesome!! Thanks for the info & working all of this out. I cant wait for the next update! 👍👍
What a great mod! Two questions:
1. Do you have a link to that battery?
2. What is the time difference, then between the old battery setup and the new battery? Is it a 10% increase in pack life, or greater?
Depends a lot on which D cell batteries and which 12V rechargeable battery you use. I haven't timed it directly yet, but it looks like the pack shuts down early from the D cells, at around 4V, so does not use the full mAH capability. But that aside, if the D cells are rated at and can use 10,000mAH, a 9800mAH 12 V will run approximated 2x longer because of the higher voltage.
Awesome! So if I get it right, there is another version of the Spengler Wand Keep Alive coming that will keep the pack alive too ?
Any timeframe for that?
I have protoypes and am working on that now... But this is part-time so it may be another month or two.
Looks great! And I will be (im)patiently waiting for this to come out. Do you have any plans on attempting to link this with the wand so that the wand will still be able to control the pack? (If possible at all)
Almost - working on two main items: power up/down control even when both have keepAlive boards. The up/down control is already there, but you end up ignoring it somewhat to have the pack keep running.
And I am working on getting the wand to be able to control a vent relay in the pack, so some limited communications between the two.
@@ghostlab42 so I’m laimens, even if both have keep alive boards the wand could in theory power the pack up and down like default? Sorry if I’m not getting it right.
@@ecto1139 It is complicated, and also not finished yet, so may change somewhat before the boards are finalized.
With both KeepAlive boards installed, the wand will powerdown the pack when you turn the wand off.
@@ghostlab42 awesome man. You’re doing an amazing job so far it seems. I really look forward to the finished product!
Amazing work. So the pack can run on 5v from a talentcell, so you must be stepping down the voltage that the pack sees from the 12v input, correct? I know 12v direct would kill the haslab board. lol
Yes - a switching regulator down to 6V DC since a fresh set of Alkaline D Cells would provide about 6V.
@@ghostlab42 Awesome. You sound like a electronics college professor I had - his name was Doug Sherman. Is that you Doug? LOL
I'm ready Doug, take my money! Just to clarify, if I were to have a custom 6v 2.7Ah battery, with a jst connector (like the original battery connector), this will still work, correct?
If you had a 6V battery it would just replace the 4x D cell pack and connect to the same connector on the Pack KeepAlive board that the D cells would normally plug into. It would also work on an unmodified pack by plugging that into the place on the pack's original board that current connects to the D cells. It would not work well with the DC power plug on the Pack KeepAlive board since the switching regulator wants a voltage higher than its output and it is designed to provide 6V.
Thank you! But, do we still have to wait months before you start selling the kits??
Unfortunately, yes. This is just my hobby gone out of control - my regular job is quite taxing so it's hard to find much time to work on this...
Heck yeah!
Is this a business only project or open source (gerber files , component data, schematics freely available) ?
Probably business - if I decide to stop making them I should push out all of the info for others to take up where I leave off.
Can you power on with the cycolotron lid off ? The reason I asked because mine for some reason not working with or without the lid ? I can't figure it out
There is a lid sensor that goes to the original board. Wires and contacts on the lid should be carefully checked. My packs are in storage at the moment so can't check, but the wand should still be able to power on, though the pack is still controlled by the original circuit board that wants the lid on before the pack will power up.
Even without the lid attached, you should be able to toggle the control switches inside the cyclotron and the original sound board should make short sounds. This can check that the boards are getting power and the speaker is attached.
Any idea when production models come out?
Awesome! Will you consider starting an Etsy store as well?
No time! Just trying to find time to work on the actual product is tough enough. And... eBay is already set up for me!
I knew you would come through pretty quickly. I’ve been putting off any mods until you would have some upgrades ready. Now I can start prepping the pack in anticipation. Before I go get a speaker, do you have any intentions of releasing a sound upgrade similar to your Spirit pack kit? I’d prefer to open the pack once and get everything installed in a single session.
Not for some time - At that point I may want to just gut all of the original electronics and that is a larger undertaking. You may consider just tapping off the speaker wires and putting that into a separate differential input audio amp and power that from a 12V battery (the same one if you have another Y cable). That should be able to supply about 10W for a much better speaker. Probably some soldering to attach wires to the speaker.
@@ghostlab42 thanks for the reply. Any ETA on when this board will hit the streets?
What does the toggle switch do if you use the battery pack? And if you use a battery pack is there danger of frying the boards when you charge it?
The toggle switch in the production board is only used to disconnect the battery pack, since there was no switch included on the pack to actually disconnect the battery. The 12V input no longer has a switch and I am relying on you either disconnecting the battery or turning it off when not in use for long periods of time.
As for charging... Some chargers do put out more voltage than expected/needed and also it can be very noisy and have larger voltage spikes. It is best to disconnect the battery when charging, but the power supply on this board is rated to handle 18V in, so if the spikes do not exceed that the output voltage of 6V (to emulate a fresh set of D cell batteries) will not be affected.
Do you have a sign up page where we can sign up for notifications for when the board is ready to be purchased?
Best place is the gbfans page that is referenced in the description. www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50623
Definitely a lot of screws to open the pack. Actually 15 of the little buggers unless I forgot one. I love this mod, and hopefully it will be available soon. Thank you for including a plug for the battery pack.
I do have one question. I'm building a control box that I'm attaching to the front pack straps, so I can control a smoke emitter in the pack. Since I'm going to run wires into the pack anyway, I was going to see if I can also wake up the pack from the control box. I know the red switch wakes up the pack, but didn't know which wire to cut my switch into. Can I use either, or is there a specific one?
The pack's big red switch just shorts the two wires together when it wants the pack on. As long as the switch you add is run in series with one of those two wires and does NOT connect to anything else, then either wire works. You swith would normally be closed so the main sw still works and then flipping it open is the same as flipping the big red switch off.
I am trying to get the Wand KeepAlive and Pack KeepAlive to communicate so the wand could directly control a vent relay. No extra switches would be needed. Of course I am not done with this yet - it is a stretch goal for that feature!
Yes!
I bought the talentcell 12v 3000mah with 5v USB. Would this one be enough power to run the pack with this new circuit board or would I need to buy a more powerful one
That may be about the same as the D Cells, depending on the D cells and how low of a voltage the pack can use. The 5V USB is not used by the Pack KeepAlive's power jack, but you could use that with the appropriate JST connector cable instead of the D cells. Otherwise you could use both the D Cells and the 12V connection on that battery with the Pack KeepAlive for maximum run time.
Ive been waiting to do any mods because I was certain you would come out with something! Thoughts on speaker replacement or power amp yet?
I don't think just a different speaker will help much. For louder it is going to require an audio amp and use of a higher voltage, like a 12V battery powering the audio amplifier. This should enable up to 10W into an 8 ohm speaker and possibly more to a 4 ohm depending on the audio amplifier. The pack's speaker is labeled as 1/2W so a different speaker would be needed.
Any timeframe for release?
This will keep the pack alive, even when the attached wand times out?
Yes. Kind-of - if you also have the wand KeepAlive, the wand won't time out... Either a standard or a modified (Wand KeepAlive) _can_ turn the pack on /off, but not because of a time out. Details are purposefully sketchy until I verify the operation!
Is all this available to buy?
Will the spengler link kit for the wand work with this?
Yes - ish. It will keep the wand alive but it will not control the pack. The Pack Keep Alive will look for new signaling from the Wand KeepAlive board to know that it should respond to the wand.
The Wand KeepAlive will use the same connector and mounting as the Spengler link, but does not support the audio or power connections.
I'm in!
Could you provide info on what battery pack that is and where you bought it? (A link?)
I randomly purchase on eBay and amazon. Search for "12V rechargeable 9800mAH". If that is not narrow enough you can add "DC 1298A"
How do you charge that rechargeable 12v battery?
Should have two cables. One to output power and one to receive a charge via a DC charger. I’ll bet you just open the side door if the pack to access the charging cable (and battery power switch).
Can a clockwise/counter clockwise option switch for the cyclotron lights also be added?
At this point I do not connect to the signals between the Pack's original circuit board and the serial LEDs in the powercell or cyclotron, so no way to modify sequencing of the lights.
Does this board keep alive the wand too?
No it wouldn't, that's a totally different system. Tho he does have a keep alive system available for the wand. Its just not as easy as this. You have to solder it to the existing board.
@@brianbennett2775 I know the keep alive for the Neutrona Wand. But once installed it is no longer possible to turn off the Proton Pack via the wand. That's why I'm asking if the keep alive for the pack would also be able to work on the wand, especially since we see in the video that it plugs into the wand's power supply.
I am definitely interested in this! I want one when they go into production.
Does this also keep the wand alive (the 30 second timeout from Hasbro is ridiculous)? When these are in production, and I add this board to my pack, will it also keep the want alive, or does that require modification to the wand as well? I really like my Hasbro pack and wand, I just don't want the damn thing to turn off on its own.
I have the same issue and that is why I am making these boards! For the wand to keep the lights on indefinitely, you would need the Wand KeepAlive board installed in your wand. That is the only way I found to get around the 30 second idle timeout. But... that can also keep the pack alive, so if that is all you want the pack would not have to be opened up.
@@ghostlab42 The wand keep alive will also keep the pack alive? I want to make sure I get the right part. Could you perhaps direct me to a link to the correct part for this? I have seen so many different things people have been working on, that I don't know which is the right thing. I am still interested in this mod, too, because I would like to also keep the pack alive by itself without the wand running.
@@adamhutchins1981 The Wand KeepAlive can keep the pack Alive also, but if the wand is not attached it can't do that so you would need the Pack KeepAlive. Basically if you want both the pack and wand to be able to run indefinitely when they are used separately or together, you would need both KeepAlive kits.
I do not have these available for sale yet (still developing them), but the description above does give a link to the GBFans thread I am keeping updated on the progress.
Right, yeah, I know the wand would only be able to do that if connected...but I remember someone doing some testing with arduinos and found that (at the time with the current setup) he was able to keep the wand alive, but the pack would still shutdown. That's why I was asking if the wand keep alive could do that. And yes, I know these new pack keep alive boards aren't available yet. I was asking if you could provide a link to the wand keep alive that you mentioned, so I could make sure to get the right one for my wand. Sorry for any confusion. And also many thanks, I'm looking forward to doing these mods to my pack.
@@adamhutchins1981 Interesting... The Pack KeepAlive board will keep power to the wand, but the wand has multiple idle times that make it hard to have the wand keep the lights on even if the power never goes away.
No links to the wand KeepAlive yet, other than the GBFans link in the video description. I will add a link to the description when it is available in my eBay store.
Can anyone tell me what the talentcell equivalent would be? To the blue brick
The talentcell equivalent mAH capacity battery was larger than the blue brick so mounting was not obvious. Even the 600mAh capacity (YB1206000) I have is physically larger than the 9800mAH capacity Blue Brick I also have (DC 1298A)
@@ghostlab42 thanks for getting back to me, does it have to be 9800mAH?
@@craigbrenkley8106 Not at all! That is about the largest one that I had that fit nicely in that area behind (and into) the secret compartment in the pack. Smaller capcity (mAH rating) or larger are all fine. The main requirement is 12V DC and a 5.5mm x 2.1mm plug if you want it to connect to the Pack KeepAlive board which can then power the pack and an attached spengler wand.
@@ghostlab42 that's a relief I'm grateful for your help, really appreciate it. Any chance of an ETA for this?
Will a 12V Talentcell work with this?
It worked great with the TalentCell I have (YB1206000). It uses the 12V output and the TalentCell's cable with a male 5.5x2.1mm connector. No need to have or use the USB 5V output if you have that on the Talenctell you are using.
@@ghostlab42 I have the 3000mah version.. will that work too?or do I need the 6000mah?
@@EctoPlasmic IT will work fine. The 3000mAh vs 6000 or 9800mAh (the blue brick style I also use) is related to how long it takes to drain the battery. In theory, a 6000mAh battery will run the pack for twice as long as a 3000mAh battery, though actual current load, internal resistance, and other factors can come in to play so the 2x is just the first order estimate. I have not run the pack with a fully charged battery until it stops (yet) with a new battery pack to give you reasonable estimates of how long it will run. I will do that when I have the final boards done.
The D batteries are not really allowed to run down as far as they could, so some of the capacity of those is not used. With the switching power supply for the 12V connection (or if you are not using this board and have some cabling to use the 5V output from a TalentCell) a very high percentage of the 12V battery capacity should be able to be used to power the pack.
Outve curiosity can it still run on the d cells as I'm not wanting to add a new battery pack
from what the video shows, yes it can.
@@brianbennett2775 just wondering what the ETA for this is
When is this being released? I keep checking your ebay store
All parts and boards ordered -- should be available in a month if all goes well...
@ghostlab42 nice! I can't wait, thank you for your hard work
What happened to your Ebay Store?
Been on vacation! It should now be back up and running.
The Wand KeepAlive circuit boards have arrived, but the pack KeepAlive boards have not yet shipped... Hopefully soon!
@@ghostlab42 you already made the circuit boards for the haslab packs and I missed them? Or you mean they will be up soon on ebay?
@@genedavis1386 Nothing missed. Just that the Wand KeepAlive finally has all of the parts (I still have a lot of work to do before they are available for sale), but I am still waiting on the Pack KeepAlive parts - it always takes longer than I want it to!
@@ghostlab42 that's great news. I know you have a life outside of all you do and I appreciate the hard work you put in to this mods. I see lot of people making keep alives and having problems. I plain on just wanting on yours cause I know you do great work and it'll definitely be worth the wait. Thanks for your response
Love the video, but can you do me a HUUUUGGGEEE favor? Can you speak up louder? I'm deaf in one ear and strugging to even hear you speak whilst you're speaking in a quiet voice.
I'll be more conscious about that on my next video! I don't do too many of these and am a definite amature when it comes to making these videos!
Ok. I'm in. Very interested in the stretch goals. How are you make that decision ?
If it can be done in a reasonable amount of time... I believe the design will support it, but until I have it programmed and working it is not a certainty. And if it requires a lot of unanticipated hardware I would drop the stretch goal feature.
how much power does this board draws from the D cell batteries?
Not much... Most of the power draw is the same as what the pack and wand normally draw: All of the current just goes through this board over to the pack and from the pack through this board to the wand.
Adds just a few mA compared to without the board.