DIY Laser Tag System (Microcontroller verison)

   Here is the long awaited laser tag system with microcontroller setup! If you have have a microcontroller with multiple inputs, then this will tell you how to use it to create and program a laser tag system of your own with a large customization factor. If you do not have a microcontroller, you may want to try this other instructable which deals with two 555 timer chips instead of a microcontroller. For those of you who have a microcontroller you can now see how to create my laser tag system with audio and visual feedback as well as a rumble feature. If you have the time, you might like to watch my four-part introduction and demo of the circuit before you start building.

Materials:
1x 555 timer chip
1x microcontroller (I'm using a Basic Stamp 2 chip but an Arduino would do just as nicely)
1x Peizospeaker
4x +/- resistors (1x 330; 1x 2.2K; 1x 4.7k; 1x 22k)
2x +/- photoresistor (1/4" cell with 3 ribs: 2.5M ohm darkness, 3.35k ohm in ambient light, 330 ohm in bright (laser) light)
4x LEDs (probably four different colors would be best and high brightness)
1x tactile switch
various jumper wires

* The resistors are considered to be +/- because the amounts will vary depending on whether you need resistors for the LEDs or if you have fewer or more photoresistors that you want swap in place of the resistors you have.

tools:
computer with programming software installed
needlenose pliers
laser pointer

Step 1 Step 1: Building the Schmitt Trigger, Bells, and Whistles

   This step can be broken up into smaller steps so that you can double check your work later on if you get stuck.

Step 1. Connect 555 timer to ground and power (1st and 8th pins respectively)

Step 2. Connect pin6 to ground.

Step 3. Connect a 4.7k resistor from power to pin 2.

Step 4. Connect two photoresistors in series from pin 2 to pin 6.

Step 5. Connect a 330 ohm resistor from the 555 timer output to pin 9 (or other pin of your choice) on the microcontroller.

Step 6. Connect a 2.2k resistor from the 555 timer pin 4 to pin 8 (or other pin of your choice) on the microcontroller.
*your Schmitt Trigger is now done

Step 7. Connect a peizospeaker so that it's ground connects with pin 1 on the 555 timer and a jumper connects its power to pin 6  (or other pin) on the microcontroller.

Step 8. Connect each of your four LEDs so that their anodes go to pins 2 through 5 (or other pins) on the microcontroller and leave open ends on the board. (see image below for details on how it looks)

Step 9. Connect all the cathodes of the LEDs together and connect the last wire of the group to pin 6 (it won't affect the Schmitt Trigger)

Step 10. Connect your tactile switch so that one lead connects directly to pin 0  (or other pin) on the microcontroller, the other lead on the other side connects to power, and the lead one lead on hthe other side connects to ground via a 22k resistor.

Step 11. Finally, if you have a pager motor connect it's positive lead to the 555 timer output directly and ground it directly to the board, for a rumble feature when you're hit.

Comments

[16skittles]

Could you add a price estimate like you did with the other?