So I've been watching a lot of videos on youtube and finding different methods of doing my lighting and came across a pretty nifty method made by CNB. I am currently utilizing his methods in attempts to do what he has not (that I have seen) in his videos. I want the lights in my building to retract in and out of the middle block on my wall but in a strip not just a single light. I have seen strip lights for the ceiling and floor but doing the walls is proving to be slightly more tricky for myself. If anyone out there has any links to show me what I am doing wrong or has red stone knowledge that think they can help me out it would be much appreciated. If interested in assisting hit me up with a message on XBL, Gamertag: Scarecrow419
Ive done it in the floor, ceiling and walls. I've tried TONS of different methods.
The best way ive come up with is to have a 'sticky' piston that will 'push/pull' the light in and out. on the sides, you use regular pistons that push a group of blocks back and forth, Your more or less pushing an array of blocks, 1 glowstone, regular blocks, till next light ect..
Think of it like this, you have an an array of blocks behind your wall, a set of regular pistons 'toggle' push these back and forth, and a 3rd piston will push in and out your lights/regular blocks.
Really hard to explain but so simple once you see it in play. I'll try to get a screenshot it'll help alot.
I think I need to see your screenshot.. I can get a single light to swap in and out with a regular block. However my goal is to get a strip of lights taking up almost the whole wall except for corners to swap in and out.
X = Regular Wall
Y = Glowstone
XXXXXXXXX
XYYYYYYYX
XXXXXXXXX
Cheesy diagram I know but this gives you the general idea of what I'm going for. Only the glowstone blocks (Y) would all swap in and out with regular blocks.
I just got a mini one only 3 wide done and it seems to be working just fine... key is mimicing identical repeaters and what they are set at on top and bottom pistons. I wanna do this now on a much larger scale lol. Also finding it hard on placement so it doesn't interefere with where my wall will be.
impossible to use this system for a 'strip' light as the one your pulling out to replace only goes into the next one, you would have to lift or drop the blocks
Thats what I did.. got 3 of them to cycle in and out. Shooting for like 20 lol
does it have to be every block ? as in can it be every other block ?
if you made it every other one and reduced to 10-12 long you could cut the pistons needed by alot
Well I can make one every other and reduced but just for giggles I wanted to do a huge one all the way around. The redstone and repeater placement is what was getting me but I think I got it figured out now. Working on posting pics of my small one I made so everyone can see.
actually in the 2nd picture you can see in the background where I was attempting the huge one before this small one.
this is probably the simplest form, although fairly laggy due to the amount of pistons and lighting
a simple separate on/off switch, can be made to operate from one button but would involve alot more work
notice the repeaters going into the top and bottom rows of pistons are set to full delay
maximum line before the need for repeaters to extend the redstone line, you then run into all kinds of problems with timings
Yeah I am noticing they aren't working too great after so many. I got my wall of 20 going and all the lights go in but when I hit the button to swap them out they all swap out except for 4 that seem random to me but its always the same 4 that dont change. Can't figure out why its only them.
Also ya I'm using the single button on/off. Its a little tricky but not too bad.
No its not sticky pistons pull them out and push in the replacement block, and instead of a side to side pistons to push whatever block is replacing you use up and down ones. Its rather simple really. I've been so tied up with some of my own projects I just don't have time to do a test build with pics for you but I can show you in a test world rather quickly if you got a few mins.
So lets take your wall with 20 glowstone in it, lighting up the room,.
Step 1: behind each of these glowstone place a sticky piston 'inverted' so its powered on, and would look like its holding the glowstone in place.
Step 2: 'suppose' that the sticky pistons lost thier power, in that row, exactly two blocks below place regular pistons all facing 'up'. If they fired right now they would just be pushing air.
Step 3: again think that the sticky pistons have lost thier power and retracted the glowstone. Above this retracted glowstone place blocks of whatever it is your wall is made up off, or whatever your going to put in place when the lights are off.
Step 4: above those blocks place more regular pistons facing down, they should be sitting on top of the blocks you will replace so if they fired right now they would push your replacement blocks to where the glowstone is.
You should now see what to do, send a long pulse to 'depower' the sticky's, and 1 4 tick pulse to either the bottom or top piston based on the state of your t-flip flop or whatever your using to use the button as a leaver.
You should depower the sticky's for at least 8 ticks, at it would take 4 to retract, and then at least 4 for the regular pistons to do thier work, probably 3 full repeaters to be safe. Timings should be pretty easy to figure out, and you can adjust the repeaters to whatever works best for you.
So lets take your wall with 20 glowstone in it, lighting up the room,.
Step 1: behind each of these glowstone place a sticky piston 'inverted' so its powered on, and would look like its holding the glowstone in place.
Step 2: 'suppose' that the sticky pistons lost thier power, in that row, exactly two blocks below place regular pistons all facing 'up'. If they fired right now they would just be pushing air.
Step 3: again think that the sticky pistons have lost thier power and retracted the glowstone. Above this retracted glowstone place blocks of whatever it is your wall is made up off, or whatever your going to put in place when the lights are off.
Step 4: above those blocks place more regular pistons facing down, they should be sitting on top of the blocks you will replace so if they fired right now they would push your replacement blocks to where the glowstone is.
You should now see what to do, send a long pulse to 'depower' the sticky's, and 1 4 tick pulse to either the bottom or top piston based on the state of your t-flip flop or whatever your using to use the button as a leaver.
You should depower the sticky's for at least 8 ticks, at it would take 4 to retract, and then at least 4 for the regular pistons to do thier work, probably 3 full repeaters to be safe. Timings should be pretty easy to figure out, and you can adjust the repeaters to whatever works best for you.
Ya I know this method and have been using it.. kinda have to in order to swap blocks out. However I have found Wolfeuk's method much more simple on such a huge amount of swaps.
@Wolfeuk I am trying to change yours into a one button swap. Timing again on repeaters eludes me but I'm getting closer.
Ya I know this method and have been using it.. kinda have to in order to swap blocks out. However I have found Wolfeuk's method much more simple on such a huge amount of swaps.
@Wolfeuk I am trying to change yours into a one button swap. Timing again on repeaters eludes me but I'm getting closer.
His method is pretty much the exact same as i was describing. There really shouldn't be much for timings involved. You'll need a t-flip flop to turn the button into a leaver, it will also give you 2 different power states, With its 2 power states you should be able to adjust which to power top or bottom. The timings should be the exact same only in one state your powering the top piston push and in state 2 your powering the bottom piston push.
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The best way ive come up with is to have a 'sticky' piston that will 'push/pull' the light in and out. on the sides, you use regular pistons that push a group of blocks back and forth, Your more or less pushing an array of blocks, 1 glowstone, regular blocks, till next light ect..
Think of it like this, you have an an array of blocks behind your wall, a set of regular pistons 'toggle' push these back and forth, and a 3rd piston will push in and out your lights/regular blocks.
Really hard to explain but so simple once you see it in play. I'll try to get a screenshot it'll help alot.
X = Regular Wall
Y = Glowstone
XXXXXXXXX
XYYYYYYYX
XXXXXXXXX
Cheesy diagram I know but this gives you the general idea of what I'm going for. Only the glowstone blocks (Y) would all swap in and out with regular blocks.
Thats what I did.. got 3 of them to cycle in and out. Shooting for like 20 lol
Ya and thats just 1 wall I wanna do.. didn't think to mention the other wall and the back wall haha.
Well I can make one every other and reduced but just for giggles I wanted to do a huge one all the way around. The redstone and repeater placement is what was getting me but I think I got it figured out now. Working on posting pics of my small one I made so everyone can see.
actually in the 2nd picture you can see in the background where I was attempting the huge one before this small one.
Yeah I am noticing they aren't working too great after so many. I got my wall of 20 going and all the lights go in but when I hit the button to swap them out they all swap out except for 4 that seem random to me but its always the same 4 that dont change. Can't figure out why its only them.
Also ya I'm using the single button on/off. Its a little tricky but not too bad.
So lets take your wall with 20 glowstone in it, lighting up the room,.
Step 1: behind each of these glowstone place a sticky piston 'inverted' so its powered on, and would look like its holding the glowstone in place.
Step 2: 'suppose' that the sticky pistons lost thier power, in that row, exactly two blocks below place regular pistons all facing 'up'. If they fired right now they would just be pushing air.
Step 3: again think that the sticky pistons have lost thier power and retracted the glowstone. Above this retracted glowstone place blocks of whatever it is your wall is made up off, or whatever your going to put in place when the lights are off.
Step 4: above those blocks place more regular pistons facing down, they should be sitting on top of the blocks you will replace so if they fired right now they would push your replacement blocks to where the glowstone is.
You should now see what to do, send a long pulse to 'depower' the sticky's, and 1 4 tick pulse to either the bottom or top piston based on the state of your t-flip flop or whatever your using to use the button as a leaver.
You should depower the sticky's for at least 8 ticks, at it would take 4 to retract, and then at least 4 for the regular pistons to do thier work, probably 3 full repeaters to be safe. Timings should be pretty easy to figure out, and you can adjust the repeaters to whatever works best for you.
Ya I know this method and have been using it.. kinda have to in order to swap blocks out. However I have found Wolfeuk's method much more simple on such a huge amount of swaps.
@Wolfeuk I am trying to change yours into a one button swap. Timing again on repeaters eludes me but I'm getting closer.
His method is pretty much the exact same as i was describing. There really shouldn't be much for timings involved. You'll need a t-flip flop to turn the button into a leaver, it will also give you 2 different power states, With its 2 power states you should be able to adjust which to power top or bottom. The timings should be the exact same only in one state your powering the top piston push and in state 2 your powering the bottom piston push.