Partycat Revision 4

Last year I made this revision 4 of the partycat, but haven’t gotten around to making kits… until now!

These are a bit different than revision 3:

  • No tiny level shifter IC. These use a single mosfet level shifter that is much easier to solder.
  • No high-current auxiliary output. I had put this on the previous versions because I wanted to be able to reinforce the RGB LEDs with strips of pure white. Now that RGBW strips are commonplace, I removed that.
  • PCB shaped like a cat.

Want one?

  • A full kit - $15 (3 available)
  • Full kit without the ESP8266 - $5 (11 available)

I’m really short on ESP8266 chips. If you have a ESP 7, 12, 12E, 12F, or anything with that footprint, it’ll work. You can also buy them on Digikey for $10.50.

To purchase

  • Post here so others can see how many have been taken
  • Send me money on Paypal
  • I’ll put it in the Drop Box with your name
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Hey @lukecyca would love to buy a full kit from you please. Will send through bucks by paypal. edit: cashola sent

I’ll take 2 of the kits without the ESP…

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If anyone wants to do a build night together for these I will open the space for such a purpose. Also if you are new to SMD (surface mount soldering) I will get you going. i.e. just buy the kit. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Please put me down for one (1) full kit with ESP8266. Paypal sent.

Mark

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I will take a full kit. Thanks. Will be my first party cat.

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The kits are made. I have to update the instruction sheet, so I’ll post that in the next couple days.

@chadleaman @Janet @Majicj @packetbob I left them in the Drop Box.

Catwalk PCB

A common problem on these LED strips is providing enough 5v current. If the strip is too long, the voltage sags on the far end, causing the colours to be dimmer and more orange. The solution is to “inject” power at various points. For that I made these catwalk PCBs. I included two in each kit.

These give you a bit more surface area to glue down the strip and tie in some power or extra capacitors or whatever. Also useful to terminate the ends of each row and jumper the data.

Moar kits

All of the “full kits” are gone, so I’m out of ESP8266 chips. If anyone wants a full kit and is willing to wait a bit, I’ll source more chips to make more full kits.

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Let me know if/when peeps want to hang out and make these. Will open the space.

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Hello from ENTS in Edmonton, I’ve been reading about the previous board.

Would love to get one, can I arrange to have one kit without ESP mailed to me? :slight_smile:

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Hey @Michael_Best. Yes, let’s work something out! PM me your address and Paypal me a few extra bux for a padded envelope.

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Alrighty - let’s build party cats on Thursday (nov. 29th, 7 - 10pm). I will be at the space. Come and hang out.

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I’ll be there
I’ll bring you those tilt sensors

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Woo! Thanks.

Hi @lukecyca, please put me down for three (3) kits with no ESP chip.

Will PayPal very soon.

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Hi @lukecyca, After our chat the other day, I’m curious to use this for my lightbox/window project. I’ll take 2 kits and will likely need the power injection pieces as the box will be about 5’*1.5’. Will send over PayPal now…

If anyone is interested in doing a bulk order for the wifi chips, I’d be happy to help coordinate. Thanks!

New instruction sheet:

I built a kit last night to make sure everything you need is in there. I updated the instructions here:

I’ve put the following in the dropbox at VHS:

I will also be sending one kit without esp to @Michael_Best in Edmonton.

There are 4 kits (without esp) remaining.

I’ve also left my programming cable in the drop box which you all can borrow.

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Tip of the hat Luke! Look forward to seeing everyone tonight.

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@lukecyca thanks so much - really looking forward to putting this together!

Thanks @lukecyca!

Hey where might I find the solder mask for this board? I’d like to try making a solder mask stencil for this and baking my board in the reflow oven.

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It’s this:

(Right click on raw->save as)

Then, if you want something friendlier, upload it to https://circuitpeople.com/

UploadImage%20(1)

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