Federal IVP SLR Pod tear down

gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
This may fall into the category of "only interesting to me" but...

I did a tear down of an IVP SLR beacon I picked up awhile back for "not cheap but less than I would've thought" and figured I'd share the pics. After buying it, I lucked into two SLR bars, so the beacon is no longer as interesting to me as it was when it was the only SLR piece in my collection. I've been curious if there was some way to hack it to use a multi-color pod, and so have multi-color functionality, so I took it apart to see what I'd find.

Long story short, I didn't expect there would be a way to hack it and I still don't think there is (at least not to my amateur eyes), but here are the pics for anyone who's curious about SLR pod insides. Nothing too crazy- reflector, optic, board with LEDs and control circuitry, and a magnetic stepper motor to spin the reflector.

Of note, this is an IVP beacon so all the control circuitry is in the pod circuit board. An SLR bar has a board outside the pods (like the Vision), which controls all the pods and holds the firmware. Bar pods have clear epoxy covering the pod circuit board, so they can't be taken apart like the IVP pods.

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nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
The things we have to do for the sake of science...
 
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gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
The things we have to do for the sake of science...

True. We'll pay $250 for a class to learn something and think nothing of it. But we won't risk damaging a $100 item even though taking it apart will often teach more than a class would... or at least that's how I justify the above risk taking to myself...
 
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gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
Do you still have this? Can you share a picture of the bottom of the pod and the power connection?
I don't have it any longer but it was just a red and black power wire. It isn't wired the same as the bar pods as the circuit board is different for the self powered pods.
 

leddguy315

Member
Sep 21, 2012
19
Spfld, IL.
They do come in a multi LED configuration. That just happened be a single color model. The way to hack them is to use a microcontroller to operate the servo motor and LEDs. Google "Arduino Uno", you'll be amazed at what's possible with reverse engineering. The photos are amazing btw!
 

Menachem S

Member
May 1, 2017
123
Brooklyn
They do come in a multi LED configuration. That just happened be a single color model. The way to hack them is to use a microcontroller to operate the servo motor and LEDs. Google "Arduino Uno", you'll be amazed at what's possible with reverse engineering. The photos are amazing btw!
Have you done this

Care to elaborate?
 

leddguy315

Member
Sep 21, 2012
19
Spfld, IL.
I have not yet. I do plan some day to make a quad color Franken bar with rotators. Essentially you program a micro computer to make the motor spin at whatever speed or number of RPM you want it to. Then you program it to turn the LEDs on and off at the same speed that the reflector is spinning at above the LEDs. The persistence of vision effect is how they work. In lay man terms the leds light up in a circle under the reflector as it spins around. The LEDs "chase" one another like in a marquee light effect. I'm bad at explaining things so I hope this makes sense.
 

gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
They do come in a multi LED configuration. That just happened be a single color model. The way to hack them is to use a microcontroller to operate the servo motor and LEDs. Google "Arduino Uno", you'll be amazed at what's possible with reverse engineering. The photos are amazing btw!

I recognize you know all this but, to be clear to others who might read this post, what you are talking about is hacking a pod that was designed for installation on a full bar. Those pods lack the control circuitry required for illumination and movement (because they are controlled by the bar's board). Your hack, obviously, just replicates elements of the bar's control board and thus adds this functionality to a pod that wasn't designed to have it... which is definitely a cool hack for someone who owns such a pod and wants to "get it to work" in their home. The above blue pod is a self-contained IVP pod with all needed circuitry present inside of it. Unlike the bar pods, the IVP pods are only available in a single color (with the exception of these beacons built only as demo units:
).
 
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Nolines

Member
Apr 5, 2018
1,678
Margate, FL
It looks to me ( the untrained eye ) that the LEDs are fully on and the rotator just spins and the color is seen off the reflector solely not chasing as it goes around only lighting those LEDs ( that seems it would take a bit more programming ), so it's fully on and just spinning and changing the color at pre programmed times.
 

gtpts27

Member
Jul 1, 2017
579
Virginia
It looks to me ( the untrained eye ) that the LEDs are fully on and the rotator just spins and the color is seen off the reflector solely not chasing as it goes around only lighting those LEDs ( that seems it would take a bit more programming ), so it's fully on and just spinning and changing the color at pre programmed times.

Correct
 

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