Got my parts, but no PCB....:-(

[pokey]

Well my parts arrived for me to start down the path of DIY lights -- 2 sets of dongle parts.  Of course, there are currently no PCB's available from RJ so I need to sit the parts on my workbench and wait until they become available as part of the Smart String CoOp. 

Sigh.

All kinds of parts to solder, and nothing to solder them to...

[loveroflife96]

I'd put a post in the sale/trade area and see if someone had an extra PCB laying around.

[pokey]

A couple of members were kind enough to offer up spare PCBs - a real testimony to the type of people in this group!!!!

To quote Bogart, "...this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

[pokey]

Got my PCB from a kind member.  Unboxed my shiny new soldering iron and minus an interruption involving forgotten children and a school bus, it went without a hitch.  Got green and red LED's lit up, all seems good.

Now I gotta wait for the Lynx Express co-op to ship...sigh.

[wbuehler]

Nice work on the dongle

Bill

[tng5737]

Nice job!   One comment, though.  If you are getting your case from the coop, I believe that they will have two holes in the end for the two LEDs.   The intent was to hold the leds off the board, bend them so they go through the case holes.    The wiki doesn't mention this in the manual.  You'd have to read the dongle threads to find this out.   I know this because I did EXACTLY the same thing!!! 

[trekster]

Hello Rick.  That is a good looking dongle.

Congratulations.

Ron

[pokey]

Well crap regarding the LED's.  I guess that officially makes this one my "lab" dongle!!!!!

I've got parts for a second one, once the COOP wraps up and ships 'em -- I'll do that one right...

[onesmoothhead]

You can go down to Radio Shack.  If they have anything they will have the LED's. 

My suggestion is buy the new cases and live with the LED's.

 I have a Dongle in a new case and the light are shinning through the case wall and not sticking out.  It looks great and during a show no one wants to look at your dongle anyway.  (my wife's favorite joke). You can see the LED's through the holes so do not worry about it.  Have fun and start sequencing.  I spent the last month sequencing and wished I would have started in January.   Your dongle is great!!!!!!! you will be able to see the LED's.  Have fun! I cant wait to see your show.

If you want to see what I put up for a first show PM me and I will give you a link.


Again, HAVE FUN! do not sweat the small stuff.

[pokey]

Ok...no worries there - I've already started sequencing.  My goal is to do two songs per month, at least for the "known" lights I have, and then add the bells and whistles of Smart Strings, etc once I am certain how they'll work.

I'm 1/2 way through my first sequence....this is a lot of work!

[onesmoothhead]

It really is the hardest and most time consuming portion of the hobby.  Just have fun.

Kevin

[Dennis Cherry]

Ok...no worries there - I've already started sequencing.  My goal is to do two songs per month, at least for the "known" lights I have, and then add the bells and whistles of Smart Strings, etc once I am certain how they'll work.

I'm 1/2 way through my first sequence....this is a lot of work!

May I also recommend, as you do more sequencing and get more knowledge ,after a couple of months go back and look at your first sequences. You will be surprised at how much better you can make the first seuqences.  This happens to all of use.

[pokey]

Without question.  I'm kinda obsessive about this sort of stuff, so nothing is ever complete...I'm sure I'll revisit it 20 times after it's "done".

[trekster]

My first sequence ever for 2010 was Queen Of Winter by TSO.  It took me about 50 hours at 144 channels.  But I had 50 hours of fun learning!

Ron