DIY_WAND.md

Neutrona Wand Setup

As of November 2023 the last release to support software builds for the Arduino Nano was v2.2.0. Due to memory limitations of this device no further software updates are possible. In order to make use of this guide you will need to upgrade to either an official GPStar Neutrona Wand controller PCB or use a Mega2560 Pro Mini as linked in the DIY_BOM document.

This guide begins with some explanations for common items you will encounter during the upgrade process. Note that it will be necessary to upgrade the hose and conductors between the pack and wand. This exercise is left to individual preferences on connectors and style of replacement, though you will need 4 conductors at a minimum (+5V, Ground, and TX/RX for communications).

The space within the Neutrona Wand is extremely limited, though multiple components must be fit into this space. To maximize what is available, some wires from the original controller (PCB) can be directly soldered onto the microcontroller. Where resistors or inline components are required, these may be soldered between the wire and microcontroller to reduce need for an additional protoboard. If needed, a a ¼ protoboard from Adafruit or any similar size from another manufacturer will be used.

Special Cautions and Warnings

You will find that the wand poses some challenges due to confined spaces and fragile wires to all the stock components. The following are suggestions to help you minimize damage to existing wiring, unless you plan to remove all the stock components and connect new wires.

• Remove what you can of any plastic covers over the switches internally, and use a hot glue gun to carefully drip glue over the soldered ends of the toggles, rotary encoder, and any other wire connections to reinforce them as they stand.
• Gently separate any wires that are bonded together, allowing about 1" of excess for stripping.
• Use a mechanical wire stripper to ensure you quickly strip back the sheathing for each wire.
• Use silicone-coated stranded wiring (22AWG down to 26AWG) to allow for maximum flexibility.
• Solder on extensions to every wire in the wand and use heat-shrink tubing to reinforce extended connections to make a better bond with the stock wire to prevent breakage.
• Continue the extended wire to either a PCB or the microcontroller for soldering, making sure that ALL of the strands of wire make it through the holes. Twist your bare wires tightly, and you can pre-tin the ends with a bit of solder to keep everything together as you fit the wire through any PCB holes (this also works well for making breadboard connections).
• Optionally, this is where you may consider a full replacement of some wires if they break off at the component you are connecting.
• It's too easy to have some strands that get missed which could cause a short--check your connections after soldering. A magnifying glass and good lighting is your friend!

Original Connection References

You may wish to refer to this PCB drawing and the following table to help identify the original components in the Neutrona Wand.

Wand Reference Diagrams by Tomdf

Name	Socket	Color	Hasbro Pin	Notes
J3		Brown	D2	Bar Graph LEDs (5)
		Red	D3
		Orange	D4
		Yellow	D5
		Green	D6
		Blue	VDD
P6		Red	V4.5	4.5V connection from battery compartment
GND		Black	GND	Main power ground
M1		Red	VCC	Wand vibration motor
		Black	GND
SW1		Brown	SPDT Toggle	Lower Right Toggle (Main Power)
		Brown
SW2		Red	SPDT Toggle	Upper Right Toggle (Bargraph Power)
		Red
SW3		Brown	V+	Rotary encoder (intensity) on top of wand
		Red	A
		Orange	B
SW7		Orange	SPST Switch	Wand tip retraction/extension sensor
		Orange
SW4	JST-PH	Red	SPDT Toggle	Activate toggle on left control box
		Red
SW5	JST-PH	White	SPST Button	Intensify button on left control box
		White
SW6	JST-PH	White	SPST Button	Orange button at end of wand, changes modes
		White
D1		Red	VCC	SLO-BLO LED
		Black	GND
NA		Red	VDD	Power to D7 & D8
D7		White	GND	Top Right LED
D8		Black	GND	Top Vent LED
D9		Red	VCC	Clippard LED (Top Left)
		Yellow	GND
LS1		Yellow	Speaker +	Wire closest to barrel LED connector is Speaker +
		Yellow	Speaker -	Wire furthest from barrel LED connector is Speaker -

(Important) Neutrona Wand Barrel LEDs wire colour differences.

It appears some of the silver tip generation 1 Neutrona Wands and orange tip generation 2 Neutrona Wands may have different wire colour combinations for the barrel LED lights:

Generation 1 (Silver tip Neutrona Wands)

Name	Socket	Color	Hasbro Pin	Notes
Q2	JST-PH	Yellow	VCC	Addressable LEDs for wand tip effects (5 total)
		Red	Data
		Brown	GND

Generation 2 (Orange tip Neutrona Wands)

Name	Socket	Color	Hasbro Pin	Notes
Q2	JST-PH	Blue	VCC	Addressable LEDs for wand tip effects (5 total)
		Yellow	Data
		Red	GND

WAV Trigger Connections

These are the same connections which are used for the FTDI breakout board to program the WAV Trigger. Use pins and sockets for an easy connection should a firmware upgrade be required in the future.

WAV Trigger	Connection
5Vin	+5V
GND	Ground
RX	PIN D14
TX	PIN D15
SPKR+	Speaker +
SPKR-	Speaker -

Mega2560 Pro Mini - Pin Reference vs. Hasbro Controller

The following is a diagram of the Mega2560 Pro Mini pins from left and right, when oriented with the USB connection facing up (north). As this board has 2 rows of pins on each side it is crucial to re-check labels before connection. Please see the diagram at the bottom of the page if necessary.

Please note that the Mega2560 Pro Mini uses a completely different pinout from the old Arduino Nano DIY build!

Mega (L1)	Mega (L2)	USB	Mega (R1)	Mega (R2)
VIN → +5V (Pack)	VIN
GND → Ground (Pack)	GND
5V	5V
3.3V	3.3V
RST	AREF
TX0 → RX (to Pack)	RX0 → TX (to Pack)		A1 → D2 (Brown)	A0 → SW2 (Red)
D3 → SW4 (Red)	D2 → SW45 (White)		A3 → D4 (Orange)	A2 → D3 (Red)
D5	D4 → SW1 (Brown)		A5 → D6 (Green)	A4 → D5 (Yellow)
D7 → ROT (Yellow)	D6 → ROT (Red)		A7 → SW7 (Orange)	A6 → SW6 (White)
D9 → D9 (Red)	D8 → D1 (Red)		A9	A8
D11 → Motor-NPN	D10 → Q2! (Yellow) or (Red)		A11	A10
D13 → D8 (Red)	D12 → D7 (Red)		A13	A12
D15 → WAV Trigger TX	D14 → WAV Trigger RX		A15	A14
D17	D16		D33	D32
D19	D18		D35	D34
D21	D20		D37	D36
D23	D22		D39	D38
D25	D24		D41	D40
D27	D26		D43	D42
D29	D28		D45	D44
D31	D30		D47	D46

^! See note above about Barrel LED wire colour differences: Generation 1 Neutrona Wands (silver tip) data line is (Red) while generation 2 Neutrona Wands (orange tip) data line is (Yellow)

Connections by Component

Toggles and Buttons

LOWER RIGHT TOGGLE → SW1				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Brown	→	Ground			SW1	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where
Brown	→	→	→	Pin D4	SW1	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where

UPPER RIGHT TOGGLE → SW2				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Red	→	Ground			SW2	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where
Red	→	→	→	Pin A0	SW2	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where

SW45/SW4 Connector: SW45 = Intensify / SW4 = Activate				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
White	→	Ground			SW45
White	→	→	→	Pin D2	SW45
Red	→	Ground			SW4
Red	→	→	→	Pin D3	SW4

MODE SWITCH → SW6				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
White	→	Ground			SW6	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where
White	→	→	→	Pin A6	SW6	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where

BARREL EXTENSION SWITCH → SW7				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
Orange	→	Ground			SW7	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where
Orange	→	→	→	Pin A7	SW7	Shouldn’t matter which wire goes where

The rotary encoder is similar to that used on the Proton Pack. It requires a common ground connection and sends data via the A/B signal wires to indicate which direction it was turned.

ROTARY ENCODER (ROT) → SW3				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
Brown	→	Ground			V+
Red	→	→	→	Pin D6	SW3
Orange	→	→	→	Pin D7	SW3

Motors

Considered optional as this can be left out if desired, and without impact to normal operation.

VIBRATION MOTOR			Motor Wire	Mega Pin	Notes
		1N4001 (s)	Red	+5V	1N4001 diode (s = striped end of the diode)
NPN C	→	1N4001	Black		NPN* = PN2222
NPN B	→	330 Ω	→	Pin D11
NPN E	→	→	→	Ground

*NPN Bipolar Transistor. Reference Pack page for more info.

Hasbro Bargraph

BARGRAPH → J3				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
Blue	→	+5V			VDD
Green	→	140 Ω	→	Pin A5	D6
Yellow	→	140 Ω	→	Pin A4	D5
Orange	→	140 Ω	→	Pin A3	D4
Red	→	140 Ω	→	Pin A2	D3
Brown	→	140 Ω	→	Pin A1	D2

Note for Bargraph: If you want to replace LEDs, the bargraph uses 3mm LED diodes. Use the appropriate resistor for your replacement LEDs based on their forward voltage given a 5V source!

Wand LEDs

VENT LIGHT LED BOARD → D7 & D8				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref
Red	→	+5V			VDD
White	→	90 Ω	→	Pin D12	D7	Blinking white LED on top of the wand
Black	→	90 Ω	→	Pin D13	D8	White LED inside the wand (vent light)

SLO-BLO → D1				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Red	→	140 Ω	→	Pin D8	D1
Black	→	→	→	Ground	D1

FRONT LEFT LED → D9				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Red	→	140 Ω	→	Pin D9	D9
Yellow	→	→	→	Ground	D9

Wand Barrel LEDs

*See note near the top of this page about the Neutrona Wand barrel LED wire colours differences between the silver tip and orange tip Neutrona Wands*

Generation 1 (Silver Tip Wands)

WAND-TUBE → Q2				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Yellow	→	+5V			Q2	Power to 5 wand LEDs
		↕	CAP 100uf			Capacitor across the +/- power wires
Brown	→	Ground			Q2	Ground to 5 wand LEDs
Red	→	470Ω	→	Pin D10	Q2	Data input for addressing LEDs

Generation 2 (Orange Tip Wands)

WAND-TUBE → Q2				Mega Pin	Hasbro Ref	Notes
Blue	→	+5V			Q2	Power to 5 wand LEDs
		↕	CAP 100uf			Capacitor across the +/- power wires
Red	→	Ground			Q2	Ground to 5 wand LEDs
Yellow	→	470Ω	→	Pin D10	Q2	Data input for addressing LEDs

Component Fitment

As noted at the start of this guide the space inside of the gun box for the wand is extremely limited. Creative placement of any protoboards, the Arduino, WAV Trigger, and speaker (if upgraded) will be left to each individual. As a matter of advice, placing the WAV Trigger under the wand barrel is an advised option with other items "stacked" above and beside the spring-loaded mechanism.

(See the alternate component fitment section below for more information on the stacking option)

For another fitment option, the WAV Trigger can also fit in the opposite half of the gun box if the barrel jack is removed--this is to avoid the spring which attaches to the wand barrel.

(See the Audio Output addendum for more information on the opposite half gun box mounting solution)

Audio Output Addendum

Below is a view of the wand internals showing the microcontroller, a PCB for connections, and many of the wires which extend the stock wiring. This solution is using several of the included STL files: a small spacer is meant to fit under the barrel if you removed some of the plastic from the old controller mount; another 3D printed part is meant to protect the wiring from intruding on the barrel latching mechanism while still allowing the wires to connect to the barrel. And lastly, a mini USB cable has been routed through the casing to allow updating of the Arduino without removing the cover--in this case the vibration motor had already been removed to save space and make this area more accessible.

Alternate component fitment

This solution requires removing plastic within the wand, and printing some of the included STL mount files and stacking the PCB board then microcontroller on top of the WAV Trigger. Everything is then screwed into one of the remaining holes in the wand body.

Mega2560 Pro Mini Pinout Reference