Assembling the basic L1 Tagger electronics

Explosive Education
Apr 2, 2019
2 min read

Updated: Apr 6, 2019

This tutorial will show you how to assemble the electronics for the basic laser tag unit.

There are different ways of doing this depending on how you want to mount it.

In this case, all of the components except the infra red emitter will be mounted on top pf the board. It is most suitable for mounting in a transparent case. or directly on top of the basic frame.

There is a particular order to assembling the board, if you want to make it easy. Some components are easier to put in than others.

Step 1 -Resistors

The two resistors which can have a major effect on your tagger are IRRES and MRES.

These are the resistors for the INFRA RED LED (IRLED) and the MUZZLE FLASH LED (MFLASH) .

For the kits we have chosen 10 Ohm for the Infra red led (IRRES) and 22 Ohm for the muzzle flash (MRES).

We have found that these perform the best for this unit and the chosen LEDs.

100 OHM : brown, black brown.

10k (10,000) OHM: brown , black, orange.

MRES, 22 OHM: red, red , black.

IRRES, 10 OHM: brown , Black, Black

Step 2 - the MOSFET

Next we need to install the MOSFET.

This is an electronic switch that lets us provide more CURRENT to the INFRA RED LED than the pins on the Arduino can give us without burning out.

We have chosen a BS170N which can provide us with 500mA of current.

WARNING!

The diagram below, shows the correct locations of the GATE, SOURCE and DRAIN for the board.

Step 3 - Indicator LEDs

These are the three 3mm coloured LEDs. They give indications of shield left, credits, and whether you have been hit. They are Green for shields, yellow for credits, and red for hit.

LEDs can only go one way around. to work out which leg is POSITIVE and which is NEGATIVE is easy.

The POSITIVE leg is LONG, and the LED has a rounded side.

The NEGATIVE leg is SHORT, and the LED has a flat side.

Step 4 - IRLED and MFLASH : Option 1 installed direct to board.

This option is the most useful for a quick assembly of the L1 tagger. It is set up for a reasonably good range and spread, but you cannot easily change the focus.