Led flashbang grenades

[Zack The Ripper]

Originally Posted by chaz

necro warning

I have started working on one of these myself for indoor play. It will have a serious of high output leds synced in a random flashing pattern with a 5 second delay from when the switch is turned on and a delay of 30 seconds before it turns off. It will all be stuffed in a clear ball. the leds I am using are blinding bright and in a dark room flashing about would certainly through someone off.
fingers crossed it works.

Make me one and I'll procure it from you to put it through the wringer for testing.

[chaz]

Zack - I think that can be arranged I will need someone to test it out once its built.

[chaz]

had a thought:
Would it be a douche bag move to make a version with high output IR LED's to fuck with guys using NVG's?

[cetane]

White light ones should work fine for nvg runners unless you want something strictly for nvg users.

I don't have nvg. Probably will never have nvg (too much for my wallet atm) So if it was ir only to give you an advantage go for it.

[kaiu]

Originally Posted by chaz

had a thought:
Would it be a douche bag move to make a version with high output IR LED's to fuck with guys using NVG's?

If the IR lights go in all directions, you might end up helping NVG users see more as well as it would just light up the area just like a white light would do for non NVG users.

For a real blinding effect. I find you need the light to be focused in one direction... (e.g. the Flood Lamps worked extremely well at Rhino 2)

And of course if you use the invisible light spectrum ones, you will never know if it's working properly .

[Zack The Ripper]

IR flashes don't have a high enough wavelength to cause a disturbance to a NOD. A 300+ lumen LED at close range however is a different story. That will flare out most NODs for a split second, probably enough to give you that second of distraction, but not very long, even at close range.

However: Let's not forget that most people use monoculars. While wearing a NOD monocular both eyes eventually train to the monocular (simply the reflex of eye focus) regardless if it is over the left or right eye. While the weak eye is trained on the NOD it is not focused directly ahead, however a bright light source will confuse the focus of the weak eye not behind the NOD. The human eye as a reflex will want to train on the best/brightest light source in the dark; this is easy to prove simply by walking in the dark and having someone shine a bright light at you unexpectedly. Your eyes (and head depending on the angle) will automatically snap onto the direction of the source, and then, obviously if the source is too powerful for your eyes to adjust/focus quickly you squint/look away/etc.
People wearing a NOD are always focusing on that monocular for their vision and in most cases are using IR lasers to aim their weapons. If you are able to create a light source distraction at close range bright enough to break that focus from the monocular for a second or two and cause that confusion of "what the hell is that?", then it is an effective tool.

The trick is creating a source bright enough that strobes in the right fashion to do so. It also has to be pretty close. You would have to have many high output LEDs focused in all directions to achieve this.

[BioRage]

In with Zack for testing.

[chaz]

well I have ordered 3 different styles of LED's.
Traditional round LED's with an output of 37,000 MCD, Pirahna LED's which are square and throw a bit more light and 3W 220LM LED Chips.
Going to be syncing the strobe with a 555 timer. Trick is going to be the 5 second delay and 30 second run time. Going to be attempting to use a 556 timer for this.
The last trick is going to be finding the right "vessel" to cram this all into with a power source that is enough to power it and easy to replace. I am partially toying with the idea of making it a sealed unit with a rechargeable cell inside and a plug to charge it.

[BioRage]

Originally Posted by chaz

well I have ordered 3 different styles of LED's.
Traditional round LED's with an output of 37,000 MCD, Pirahna LED's which are square and throw a bit more light and 3W 220LM LED Chips.
Going to be syncing the strobe with a 555 timer. Trick is going to be the 5 second delay and 30 second run time. Going to be attempting to use a 556 timer for this.
The last trick is going to be finding the right "vessel" to cram this all into with a power source that is enough to power it and easy to replace. I am partially toying with the idea of making it a sealed unit with a rechargeable cell inside and a plug to charge it.

Keep us posted! Very interested, and interesting project you got going.

[kaiu]

Originally Posted by chaz

well I have ordered 3 different styles of LED's.
Traditional round LED's with an output of 37,000 MCD, Pirahna LED's which are square and throw a bit more light and 3W 220LM LED Chips.
Going to be syncing the strobe with a 555 timer. Trick is going to be the 5 second delay and 30 second run time. Going to be attempting to use a 556 timer for this.
The last trick is going to be finding the right "vessel" to cram this all into with a power source that is enough to power it and easy to replace. I am partially toying with the idea of making it a sealed unit with a rechargeable cell inside and a plug to charge it.

If you do go with IR LEDs, you could go with 810nm ones...

940nm - Invisible (or purple if very high powered, but you still might not notice it unless it's very dark)
-- Illumination performance is like half that of 840nm too. Digital night vision can't see (mine is a low powered one though), Gen1 can barely see it unless very dark, and Gen2 even has trouble seeing it, Gen2+ and Gen3s would probably see it better. *I would guess a high powered 940nm will make it visible but won't even come close to blinding nvg users*

840nm - Supposedly glows red if you look directly at it, might be better if you want to know if you turned it on by accident.

810nm - Even better IR illumination of course, and a pretty obvious red glow when looking at it. You'll know it's on, and it won't ruin non nvg'ers night vision.


*** But I personally feel if it shines in all directions, it just helps an nvg user see more around the area. Usually a bright light is effective because you can't see behind the light while killing their night vision at the same time. At the same time I do not have auto-gating NVGs so you'd probably have to test with someone who has and is willing. ***


I remember long ago there were those clear silicone toy rubber balls that lit up when it hit stuff, maybe try something like that? They had like 4-6 led's completely sealed by clear silicone inside the rubber ball.

Battery would be hard, unless you can do some kind of wireless charging

[chaz]

Originally Posted by kaiu

I

Battery would be hard, unless you can do some kind of wireless charging

Was looking at Lexan spheres for this project. Waiting on a quote on price for different sizes.
Charging will be easy with a battery in a sealed unit. Simply wire it to a surface mount charging plug and BAM you are done.
Switch will be similar except it will be recessed so you don't accidentally set it off while you are storing it during a game.

EDIT: Going to cast my own solid resin sphere with everything encased inside. This means it will be non serviceable. Battery will be wired to a standard connector to be recharged. Being LED's means this thing will last forever before having to be charged.

[Borealis]

Originally Posted by chaz

Going to cast my own solid resin sphere with everything encased inside. This means it will be non serviceable. Battery will be wired to a standard connector to be recharged. Being LED's means this thing will last forever before having to be charged.

I'll buy one when it's available.

[Trev140_0]

Chaz is actually not Chaz btw.

He is "Q"

google it.

Cats out of the Bag. Ask the admins to change your handle.

[chaz]

Originally Posted by Trev140_0

Chaz is actually not Chaz btw.

He is "Q"

google it.

Cats out of the Bag. Ask the admins to change your handle.

Shhhh... dammit!

Going with a Mini USB Type A for charging this way you can just plug it into your computer or smart phone charger or whatever.
Reason: Its a little more robust the the Micro USB.

[chaz]

Assuming the following:
2.5" to 3" sphere (solid clear resin means no wires coming loose)
Contained rechargeable battery wired for USB charging
Push button with delay to start strobe
Strobing light every direction

What would you pay for this? Of course assuming it provides the desired results of distraction when playing indoors.