Programmable LED Badges 1501 had at BoilerMaker Regional

[ForgottenSalad]

I'm not sure what team had them, but I remember seeing them around at the SBPLI regional... Those things were awesome... for $12 each, that's not too bad if your team has the cash for them...

[ZZII 527]

Originally Posted by ForgottenSalad

I'm not sure what team had them, but I remember seeing them around at the SBPLI regional... Those things were awesome... for $12 each, that's not too bad if your team has the cash for them...

You saw the single badge that has made its way through both BAE (with Team 97) and SBPLI (with Team 527). I purchased it in an electronics swap meet at MIT for $60 . Well, this one can hold eight 125-character messages with variable scroll speeds and brightness. Plus, it is programmable by infrared, which is really cool, and the battery seems to be lasting for ever. I'm bringing it down to nationals, of course, but it seems 527 won't be the only team with one now that you are all getting such a great deal on them.

Good pic of the winning alliance just after it was formed and the LED badge:
http://web.mit.edu/scolton/www/ledbadge.jpg

[the_short1]

sweet link. .thanks ..

i wanted to make our own .. nice big one.. tri color leds. . the whole bit . . so during a competition, on our robot we could have messages programed like if we capped a tetra the driver can hit a button and it will show SCORE!.. and whatnots.. . but then ran outa fundage and time ...

[Daniel Brim]

Team 294 will be sporting these at SoCal and championships again this year. We are sponsored by digitalbadge.com

[omutton]

Yay! I bought one!!!!

[KyleGilbert45]

These are pretty cool, and a good price too. I have one question though, does the serial end of the cable connect into the badge or the computer. The only reason i'm asking is because I have a laptop that doesnt have a serial connection and I don't want to spend the extra money on a Serial-USB converter.

[Kevyn H.]

Sorry, the serial end goes to the computer.

[george56]

cool!! I'm soo getting me one of those.

one question is the battery rechargable, do you know?

[Sscamatt]

They are standard CR2032 batteries, (they aren't rechargeable) You can buy them at radioshack for about $3 or order them for $1 each with your LED badge. I'm sure you can find a lot of them or something like that on eBay also.

[Chris_Elston]

Yeah eBay does have a few online now, you can get lots of 10 pretty cheap.

Chris

Originally Posted by Sscamatt

They are standard CR2032 batteries, (they aren't rechargeable) You can buy them at radioshack for about $3 or order them for $1 each with your LED badge. I'm sure you can find a lot of them or something like that on eBay also.

[dangerousdave]

chakorules, Thanks for the link. Received my 3 badges + batteries on Saturday and they work great!. Thanks also to Elston Systems, Inc. for offering the discount to First! Dave

[Chris_Elston]

FYI:

Elston System has decided to sponsor a special price for the LED badges once again for 2005/2006. They have TWO deals now.

Deal #1 Original Badge with upgraded FIRMWARE called Version 1.1. It can be programmed with software in kit or HyperTerminal. This means you can connect this badge to a serial device and send ASCII to the badge. We have not tried to connect this badge to the IRC controller, but it might be a possibility.

Link:
http://shopv2.elstonsystems.com/prod...products_id/49
The price did increase $2 this year to $14.00 from last years $12.00

Deal #2 is a whole new upgraded badge that can store up to 16 different messages. Includes (2) batteries now in the kit and an IR transmitter. Transmitter must be located within 2 cm of receiver unit on the back of the badge. It can not be programmed with HyperTerminal nor does it support ACSII strings.

Link:
http://shopv2.elstonsystems.com/prod...products_id/59
This new version 2.0 badge is special priced at $16.00 for FIRST robotics.

[Freddy Schurr]

i am thinking of ordering one

is it worth it?

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by chakorules

Deal #1 Original Badge with upgraded FIRMWARE called Version 1.1. It can be programmed with software in kit or HyperTerminal. This means you can connect this badge to a serial device and send ASCII to the badge. We have not tried to connect this badge to the IRC controller, but it might be a possibility.

Having worked quite a bit with serial communications on the RC for the CMUCam this year, I would say that anything you can do in HyperTerminal can be done on the RC. I can just picture capping a goal and having a little taunt scroll by the side of your robot...

[Taylor]

Above post reported.