Hypnocube HypnoSquare User manual

HypnoSquare Instructions v 1.3, May 2009
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HYPNOCUBE
Things that go blink in the night
Thank you for purchasing a HypnoCube kit. Instructions are online at www.hypnocube.com. Email any
questions to [email protected].
Parts List
The following parts make up the 8Square kit and should be in the box:
1. Shadowbox frame
2. Smoked acrylic panel
3. H8S printed circuit board (PCB)
4. Diffuse common-cathode RGB LED x67 (3 are spares)
5. 110VAC to 9VDC 300mA transformer (a.k.a. wall wart)
6. PIC18F4620 microcontroller (40 pins)
7. SN74AHC574 octal D-type flip-flop x4 (20 pins)
8. ULN2803A NPN Darlington transistor array (18 pins)
9. LM2574 5V switching regulator (8 pins)
10. 22 resistor array (16 pins)
11. 47 resistor array (16 pins)
12. 68 resistor array (16 pins)
13. 47K resistor x3 (yellow-violet-orange-gold)
14. 1K resistor x5 (brown-black-red-gold)
15. 40 pin IC socket
16. 1N4148TR signal diode x24 (red)
17. 511-BAT48 rectifier diode (blue)
18. 330mH inductor
19. 0.1uF ceramic capacitor x5
20. 10uF electrolytic capacitor
21. 22uF electrolytic capacitor
22. 220uF electrolytic capacitor
23. 2.1mm DC power jack
24. Toggle switch
25. Momentary pushbutton x2
26. ¾” threaded standoff x4
27. ⅜” 4-40 screw x8
28. 32 pin header and 7 pin header (to be
spilt later)
If you purchased the USB version of the kit, you will also get:
29. DLP-UB232R UART-USB bridge module
30. Mini-B USB cable
USB Features
If you have the USB interface, we provide a few sample programs to interface with your device and change
settings, play back your own animations, etc. Check around www.HypnoCube.com to get the latest instructions
and/or software for that.
Basic Button Commands
The two buttons are named A and B. “A”
denotes A button up, “a” denotes A button
down, etc., for sequences. See the online user
manual for more details.
Sequence
while running
Description (Command name in bold)
aA
Next visualization.
bB
Prev visualization.
abAB
Lock current visualization. Gadget shows a brief
pause then continues running the visualization.
Executing Next or Prev releases lock
baBA
Pauses current image, resulting in a still image.
Executing Next or Prev releases pause.
abBbBA
Removes currently playing visualization from the
playlist.
Visualization can be reinstated through the console
editor or through a Reset. Lock the visualization
prior to removal to prevent accidently removing
the wrong visualization.
Button(s) Down on
reset
Effect
Neither
White screen
Button A
Blue screen
Button B
Green Screen
Buttons A and B
Red Screen
Buttons A and B, hold
Red Screen, then
blinking, then Reset
Gadget

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Introduction
This is the first part of the instructions for building the 8×8 “8Square” kit.
The three main parts are titled “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly”.
In “The Good” we will construct the controller board.
In “The Bad” we will construct the LED board.
Finally, in “The Ugly” we will assemble the two halves, test, and finally put it all together in the frame.
Tools
You will need the following minimum set of tools:
1. Soldering iron.
2. Solder.
3. Snips.
4. Small Phillips screwdriver.
Disclaimers!
Before you begin, some items to note:
1. READ EVERYTHING IN THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU START! You will make a much
nicer square by knowing where steps are leading before constructing items. The instructions attempt to
make the kit foolproof, but we all know that is impossible :) Don‟t become a FAQ entry.
2. One good idea is to print out the instructions and cross off each paragraph as you finish it, to ensure you
don‟t miss a sentence or instruction step. This can save you trouble later.
3. This kit assumes you have built electronic kits before, and are proficient at soldering items to a circuit
board. Chips and other parts can be damaged from too much heat, so be careful and don‟t hold the iron
on the leads too long. Make sure all solder joints connect well.
4. Many of the parts in this kit require correct orientation (rotation). When mentioned there is a right way
and a wrong way to connect something, both of which look similar. Be sure to have them correctly
positioned before soldering.
5. Plan on spending some time constructing the kit. While this kit is not as complicated as the 4Cube kit,
soldering the LEDs can still be tricky. Actual assembly time will vary widely from person to person, but
plan on setting aside at least 3 –8 hours
For a look at the finished square see Figure 44.
Good luck :)

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Part 1: The Good
Part one is assembling the controller PCB. This should be straightforward for anyone who has done PCB work;
there's nothing exotic here.
Estimated completion time: 1 - 3 hours.
We will start with the lowest-profile parts and work our way up, as that allows your working surface to hold the
parts in place while we solder the bottom. Besides that, there is no particular requirement for assembly order.
Step 1: Splitting the PCB
There are two parts to the 8Square PCB, joined together by a small tab. separate the two parts by snapping them
apart (Figure 2).
You can clean up the edge with some snips or a file if you choose, but this is not really necessary.
Figure 2: Separated PCB
Step 2: Diodes
The first parts we will place are the 24 signal diodes and single power
rectifier diode. Orientation is important here; make sure the black
stripe on the diode aligns with the stripe on the part outline. The red
signal diodes go in the three banks marked D0-D7, D8-D15 and D16-
D23. The blue power diode goes in D24.
Figure 1: Diodes.

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Note that for the blue diode the holes on the PCB are spaced a bit wider than the length of the diode, so you will
want to bend the pins accordingly. The 24 signal diodes can have their pins bent against the body of the diode.
Figure 3: Diodes in place.
Step 3: Resistors
Next we will place the individual resistors. We have two resistor values
here, 1K (Brown-Black-Red) and 47K (Yellow-Violet-Orange).
The 47K resistors go in R24, R28 and R29. The 1K resistors go in
R25, R26 and R27. Resistor orientation does not matter.
Figure 5: Resistors in place.
Figure 4: 47K (left) and 1K (right)
resistors.

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Step 4: Small capacitors
Next solder the 5 small 0.1uf ceramic capacitors, shown in Figure 6, to
the board in spots C4, C5, C6, C7, and C8. These are the decoupling
caps for each IC.
These ceramic capacitors are not orientation dependent - either wire can
go in either hole.
Figure 7: Ceramic capacitors in place.
Step 5: Chips, dips, chains, whips...
It's time to place some chips. When the chips are down....
ICs can be damaged by static from your fingers, so ground yourself as usual when working with static-sensitive
electronics.
The chips can be difficult to fit since their pins are usually splayed out a bit. It might help to bend the pins
slightly before inserting. I used a book and the table to provide a straight, flat right-angle surface to bend them
all slightly and at once.
We will start with the 4 SN74AHC574N chips (Figure 8)
Be sure to orient the chips properly! There is a notch on one end of the
chip (left side on Figure 8,) and this should align with a notch drawn
on the PCB footprint.
It can be helpful to tack the chip by soldering just 2 corner pins in
place, and making sure that the chip is properly seated before soldering
the rest. Uneven seating won't harm anything, but may not look very
good either. It's also good to double-check that the chip is oriented
properly - you really don't want to be trying to extract one after it's all
soldered in.
Figure 6: 0.1uF ceramic capacitor.
Figure 8: SN74AHC574N

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Figure 10: SN74AHC574Ns in place.
Next we will do the ULN2803A (Figure 9) and the LM2574 (Figure
11). Again, note the orientation –in particular, the LM2574 faces the
opposite direction of the other ICs so it‟s easy to get wrong.
Here‟s the board with the first set of chips in place.
Figure 12: ULN2803As and LM2574 in place.
Step 6: The PIC Socket
A socket for the PIC isn‟t strictly required, but we included one since it fits, is cheap, and will leave open the
possibility of upgrading the software by replacing the PIC with a newer version in the future. If you might be
swapping PICs often, perhaps because you plan on programming your own software, I suggest using a low-
profile ZIF socket instead. I have found that the Aries Series 526 low profile ZIF socket works well.
The orientation of the socket doesn‟t matter in terms of function, but most sockets have an indicator towards pin
1 (the white dot in the picture below), and it‟s a good idea to match that with the PCB markings to minimize the
chance that you will insert the chip wrong.
Figure 9: ULN2803A
Figure 11: LM2574

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Figure 14: The PIC socket in place
Step 7: Resistor arrays
These are just an array of resistors packaged into a chip which we
decided to use over discrete resistors for convenience. Note that the
footprints on the PCB still show the individual resistors. Since these are
just resistors in a fancy package, the orientation does not matter. Each
package is labeled with their resistance value; make sure you place
each one in the correct spot. R0 –R7 (the green resistors, and marked
„G‟ on the PCB) is 47 , R8 –R15 (red, „R‟) is 68 , and R16 –R23
(blue, „B‟) is 22 . Currently the 22 and 47 resistors arrays are
yellow, although this is likely to change in the future.
The label on the 68 package is impossible to read on the picture
below, but it‟s there. Also, it‟s the only black package with 16 pins.
Figure 17: Resistor arrays in place.
Figure 13: 22 resistor array.
Figure 15: 47 resistor array
Figure 16: 68 resistor array.

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Step 8: Large capacitors and inductor
There are 3 electrolytic capacitors to place. These are all orientation
dependent - you will see a + symbol on the PCB for the positive wire,
which is the longer of the capacitor leads. The negative lead is also
marked on the body of the capacitor.
Both the 22uF and 220uF caps will need to be bent to keep them from
protruding too high, as seen in Figure 19.
The 22uF capacitor goes in C1, the 220uF in C3, and the 10uF in C9.
The inductor (Figure 22) goes in the large round footprint marked
„167‟ as seen below. The orientation does not matter for the inductor.
Figure 21: Electrolytic capacitors and inductor in place.
Figure 18: 10uF electrolytic capacitor.
Figure 20: 22uF electrolytic capacitor.
Figure 19: 220uF electrolytic capacitor.
Figure 22: 330uH inductor.

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Step 9: Buttons
There are two buttons to place above the capacitors and inductor. Note that the buttons have an interlocking set
of nubs on their sides. Snap the two together, and insert as one into the PCB. Because the board won‟t lie flat
with the buttons when turned upside down for soldering, first solder one pin on each buttons and ensure that the
buttons are completely seated before soldering the other pins.
Figure 24: The buttons in place.
Step 10: The PIC
One last bit. Since you‟ve already soldered the socket in, it‟s just a
matter of plugging the PIC in. Just make sure you insert in the correct
orientation. The tab goes towards the edge of the PCB.
Alright, the square controller‟s finished!
Figure 25: PIC18F4620
Figure 25: PIC18F4620.
Figure 23: Momentary pushbutton.

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Part 2: The Bad
In "The Bad" we will solder all of the LEDs into place. Admittedly this isn‟t so bad, but the 4-pin LEDs with
their tight pitch can be quite a bit trickier to solder than you might expect. And there are a lot of them to do!
Estimated completion time: 1 - 3 hours.
Step 1 (Optional): Practice
There‟s a footprint for a practice LED on the controller PCB, next the PIC in the middle of the alternate USB
footprint. This isn‟t required of course, but I suggest you use it to practice. The tight spacing on the LED leads
can be trickier then you might first expect and cleaning out a botched pad can be a pain; better to mess up here.
But before you do anything read the rest of the steps so you know what you‟re practicing…
Step 2: The LEDs
LEDs are orientation dependent, and because it is quite difficult to extract an LED once soldered in and to clean
out the holes, you should take care to get it right the first time. It‟s easy to get lax though, since there‟s so many
to do.
The LEDs have a flat side along the base. Align this side with the flat side as drawn on the PCB (on the left side
in Figure 26).
Do the LEDs on the corners first, so that the board will be stable as you work on the rest of the LEDs.
Figure 26: LED PCB with corner LEDs
While you could certainly do more, I recommend you solder one row of LEDs at a time. This keeps the leads
from adjacent rows getting in your way.

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Figure 27: A row of LEDs ready to be soldered. Note the lead lengths.
Chances are you will bridge some of the LED pins with solder. I‟ve done a dozen or so in prototypes and early
builds, and I still get one or two per board. With a narrow soldering iron tip this can usually be cleaned up
simply by running the tip between the pins, breaking and picking up the excess solder. Otherwise you may need
to use soldering wick (the use of which is beyond the scope of instructions here, but I‟m sure you can look it up
if you don‟t know how to use it.)
Optional LED Soldering Strategy
I find soldering the LEDs as pictured in Figure 27 to be quite hard on the eyes. Also the long leads can
get in the way of the iron, making it harder to get good iron/solder placement and generally slowing
things down. The solution I‟ve come up with is as follows; I recommend you try it out on a couple LEDs
to see which method you prefer.
The idea is to cut down the LED leads to a length comparable to, say, the IC leads before soldering. But
you don‟t want them to fall off the PCB, so first solder just one edge lead on each LED. The edges
should be the easiest to solder anyway, it‟s the middle ones that are most problematic. Once the LEDs
are secured, clip the leads down, and then resume soldering the rest. I find this technique to be easier and
less error prone, but you should decide which method suits you best.
Repeat for every LED, and Part 2 is finished! Take a break, and then go on to the final part, Part 3: The Ugly.

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Part 3: The Ugly
In “The Ugly” we will put everything together – the remaining power bits, connecting the LED board to the
controller board, and putting the whole enchilada into the shadow box.
Estimated completion time: 1 –3 hours (half that if there are no problems in testing.)
Step 1: The PCB Interconnects
We use a row of headers and sockets to connect the LED board to the
controller board. We do this rather than permanently soldering together
the two boards so that you can fix any LED solder problems that might
otherwise be blocked by the board.
You will need to break apart the headers and sockets so you have one
32-pin piece, one 3-pin piece, and two 2-pin pieces.
In order to eliminate alignment issues from the sockets or the headers
not being perfectly seated and perpendicular to the board, I suggest
soldering them in with both halves together. To do this, first plug the
headers into their respective sockets as seen in Figure 30. Note that the
short side of the headers will be used to plug into the low profile
sockets.
Place the plugs on the backside of the LED board (Figure 31). Put the
sockets on the bottom, since the pins will show less in the front.
Figure 31: PCB with plugs.
Figure 28: Sockets
Figure 29: Headers
Figure 30:Sockets and headers connected

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Next place the controller board on top, lining up the header pins to their spots on the controller board. Secure
the headers into place by soldering one pin on each one to the controller board, and then flip over and do the
same to the sockets on the LED board. Double check that everything is snug and seated well, and then proceed
to solder the rest of the pins.
Your assembly should look something like the picture below.
Figure 32: Controller and LED boards plugged together.
Step 2: The Power Jack
We‟ve got a couple more things to attach to the LED board and we‟re
done with soldering. Separate the LED board from the controller, and
place it LED-face down.
You may have noticed that there are a couple footprints for the power
jack (there‟s also one on the controller board, though we‟ve partially
covered it with the capacitors.) This was done to allow maximum
flexibility, and if your purposes call for it, the alternative placements
are functional. But for the standard build, we will use the footprint in
the middle of the PCB.
So solder that baby in. Your board should now look like the picture
below.
Figure 33: Power jack

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Figure 34: Power jack in place.
Step 3 (Optional): The USB Module
If you bought the kit with the USB module, we will attach it now. Otherwise, you can skip to the next step.
Similar to the power jack, there are a number of alternate footprints for the USB module. The basic build will
use the one in the middle of the LED PCB, next to the power jack, labeled UB232R.
Figure 35: USB module footprint on the underside of PCB.
Before you solder the USB module in, triple check the LED underneath it to ensure that it is soldered correctly.
Once the USB is place, that LED is pretty much going to be inaccessible.

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Because the module does not lie flat when placed upside down for soldering, it can be difficult to mount straight
on the first try. Solder just one corner pin and make sure that it is level and seated all the way before doing the
rest.
Figure 36: USB module in place.
Step 4: The Power Switch
Next, we will attach the power switch. This too goes on the back of the
LED board, although the neat trick here is that it will slot through a
notch cut in the controller board to line up next to the buttons.
Orientation does not matter here, but it is important to make sure that it
is seated properly. You know what I‟m going to say next by now -
solder just one pin down and make sure it‟s seated all the way before
doing the other two.
Figure 37: Power switch.

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Figure 38: Power switch in place.
Step 5: Test!
Now that you‟ve got power in place, you can test everything out. Plug the controller in to the LED board, plug
the power cord in, and throw the switch.
You should see the power-on test sequence, which lights up all of the LEDs in each separate color, and then all
in white, and then lights each individual LED in sequence. This should help you identify any problems (see the
troubleshooting section at the end for further info on finding the source of any problems.) In my experience, by
far the most common is simply forgetting to solder some LED, IC, or diode lead. I probably average at least at
least one per build.
Once you‟ve got everything working, now‟s a good time to take a break, turn off the task lamp, and watch the
square go for a bit 
Step 6: Mounting
With the electronics all up and going, all that‟s left is to mount the
whole thing into the shadowbox frame.
The LED board will be mounted to the back panel of the shadowbox
by way of four standoffs. First attach them to the PCB using 4 screws.
Figure 39: Standoff

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Figure 40: PCB with standoffs.
I recommend plugging in the power plug (and USB cable if applicable/desired) at this point because it‟s about
to get less accessible.
Next, place the back panel from the frame over the controller board, aligning it so the buttons and power switch
are accessible through the slot cut into the panel, and screw it down using the remaining screws.
Figure 42: Back panel attached
Figure 41: Screws

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Step 7: Final Assembly
Before you assemble the square into its final glorious form, you need to make a decision: clear or smoked? We
like the smoked acrylic front, but you can go with the original glass if you prefer. Of course you can try them
both and compare them yourself.
Put the power and USB (if applicable) cables through the notch cut into the bottom of the back pane, and place
the whole assembly into frame. Bend the tabs down to hold everything in place, and you‟re done!
Figure 43: Fully assembled
Plug it in and enjoy!
Unfortunately this means that you will need to open up the frame to plug/unplug the USB and power cables.
This was a design compromise we made, so that nothing protrudes out the back allowing the square to be
mounted on a wall. We figured most people won‟t be plugging and unplugging the cables very often –
hopefully it won‟t be too bothersome in use.

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Figure 44: The finished square (with acrylic front.)

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Appendices
Appendix 1: Troubleshooting
Nothing happens when the square is powered on:
Make sure that the power jack and power switch is properly soldered.
Make sure that PIC is soldered properly.
If you have a voltmeter, check to see if you are getting 5V out of the regulator (one of the big capacitors is a
good place to check.) Lack of power suggests something is wrong with the power jack or switch. If you are
getting 5V, then odds are there are one or more shorts on the PCB (particularly with the flip-flop and Darlington
ICs.)
A particular LED doesn’t light:
Make sure that the LEDs leads are soldered properly. One color not lighting suggests that that color lead is not
connected. If none of the colors light, it‟s likely the ground lead.
It is also possible that the LED was either damaged, defective, or oriented improperly (the last one you can
definitively check by looking for the flat spot on the side of the LED.) If all other LEDs look fine, and the
solder connections are good, the LED may need to be replaced.
An entire row of LEDs doesn’t light:
Make sure that the Darlington IC is soldered properly.
Make sure that PIC is soldered properly.
An entire column of colors doesn’t light:
Make sure that the register IC, the resistor chip, and the diodes for that color are all soldered properly.
Make sure that PIC is soldered properly.
A row of LEDs is lighting when it shouldn’t be:
This can be caused by a damaged/defective LED or a backwards LED. Usually this is accompanied by the
offending LED also not lighting properly.
The square goes through the test sequence fine, but then acts erratically:
Make sure that the USB module is soldered properly.
Make sure that PIC is soldered properly.
Appendix 2: Programming your square
You can find detailed information on drawing to the square from a PC program via the USB module in a
companion manual available on the HypnoCube website. We released detailed specs on the protocol to talk to
the PIC, sample C++ source code, and a sample program to fiddle with the HypnoCube settings.
But for those who really want to get their hands dirty and reprogram the PIC microcontroller with their own
code, here are some things to get you started.
DISCLAIMER: REPROGRAMMING THE PIC IS NOT SUPPORTED. YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN
RISK! WE WILL NOT RELEASE OUR SOURCE CODE OR THE HEX FILE FOR THE SQUARE, SO IF
YOU ERASE YOUR PIC IT CANNOT BE RESTORED. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND SOCKETING THE
PIC AND USING A SPARE PIC, LEAVING THE ORIGINAL PREPROGRAMMED PIC UNTOUCHED.