Pyrotechnics sequencer with wireless trigger

Description

This project started because I have a friend who does a small Independence day fireworks show for friends and family. He was lighting them one at a time by hand and then running away. This is a little dangerous and he could not enjoy the show that he was putting on and thats what sparked my idea for this project. With it, he will be able to setup all the pyros during daylight, then arm the system at show time and sit back and enjoy the show at a safe distance with the rest of the party using a simple remote to ignite fuses in sequence.

Details

A place for everything and everything in its place - All components are mounted and/ or wired up. everything connected to the terminal block in the lower right is part of the 12 volt circuit that the relays will be switching on to eventually light pyros. The 5 cell AA battery pack in the lower left powers the control logic - purple pcb center and relay coils.

This is the rear of the chassis showing the poorly cut wire access slots, the ground bus and the antenna.

Here is the front panel with the master power switch in the center, 12volt charge socket to the lower right and the buzzer hole to the left

The enclosure/drawer closed up. Next step: test that it all still works.

P.S. Please disregard the mess caught in the shot.

Files

igniter_logic2.ino

The arduino sketch that runs the show

ino - 2.27 kB - 09/08/2017 at 00:32

Download

Project Logs

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Field tested, crowd approved
visualkev • 07/03/2018 at 16:32 • 0 comments

Since my last log, the sequencer has been used for New Year's 2018 and Independence day 2018 festivities. It worked as planned and everyone enjoyed the shows. My friend who i created it for is also quite pleased with it and now he enjoys designing his pyrotechnic displays.
A possible future version that has been discussed is the ability to coordinate the display with a music track. I've also been pondering control from a PC/tablet/smart phone.

Setup for New years 2018
Chasis aquired! Layout begins.
visualkev • 10/21/2017 at 17:27 • 0 comments

I found a used rack mount drawer assembly, 3U. Its plenty big, it's metal for durability and the electronics are completely enclosed when the drawer is closed. All the components in the box will be mounted to the piece of medium density fiberboard, MDF, in the bottom of the box. I'm still deciding on final positions of everything before i cut out slots for the igniter leads to exit the enclosure.
Integration testing going very well
visualkev • 10/08/2017 at 22:28 • 0 comments
The board is fully populated and testing with half the relay boards is 100% perfect - A pleasant surprise. I've build the 5V regulator circuit board, thats the proto board pictured center frame, cleaned up the wiring from the remote board, its the board in the left of the image with the yellow tape. The arduino programmed without issue through its programming pin header.

The next steps:
1. Finish testing with all relay boards
2. Plan the chassis
3. Make electric matches
PCB's Have Arrived!
visualkev • 10/06/2017 at 04:16 • 0 comments

PCB's have arrived and I've got it mostly stuffed. The 28 pin socket is on order. I hope to have it by the weekend. Then i can fire it up and see if smoke comes out...or does nothing at all.
Breadboard the arduino circuit
visualkev • 09/25/2017 at 03:06 • 0 comments

Today I've breadboarded the arduino circuit and power supply. I was able to successfully send and run the blink sketch. Yes I got the process backwards; I've breadboarded after laying out and ordering the PCB, but the circuit looked simple enough that I felt lucky enough to go for it. My PCB goes to fab tomorrow and I can't wait to get it on my bench, test it out and see how close I got it to functional.
Control board plan B
visualkev • 09/20/2017 at 05:07 • 0 comments

I tried hand wiring the control circuit on a proto pcb. It was tedious and didn't look very good. I gave up on that and drew it up in Fritzing and ordered a set of 3 from Osh Park.

Hopefully the boards are not too messed up. We shall see.
Control circuit block diagram snippet
visualkev • 09/17/2017 at 20:02 • 0 comments

This is a quick block diagram of the control circuit.
Driver board update
visualkev • 09/15/2017 at 03:31 • 0 comments

This is the pinout for the Texas Instruments TPIC6C595. It can actually drive small inductive loads such as my 5v relays, but since i found the premade relay boards, they will only be driving an opto-isolator. I still have not decided on the design for the circuit layout for these driver boards. The red proto boards may not have enough pins for everything. I want the driver boards to be stackable, so must ponder it further.
Relay board mods complete
visualkev • 09/11/2017 at 05:24 • 0 comments

I've finished the modifications to all eight relay boards finally, namely jumpering all the relay poles together and changing the 10 pin header from straight to right angle. I think the next step will be to build a control board, test it and repeat for a total of four. The control board holds 2 shift registers and a pin header for each which will connect to its relay board.

In the midst of thinking through the above, I am also pondering the chassis layout. Maybe a plywood base and an aluminum cover with access doors to the relay terminals - design pics coming at some point.