Removable Blade MR Anakin Voltage Question

[Ravinoff]

I am building a saber using the soundboard from a MR Anakin ROTS saber. I'm using the TCSS adjustable driver and add-on board for the ramping on/off and shimmer effects. I was planning on powering the boards with 4 AAA's to provide the add-on board with 6v, and using a voltage regulator to keep the MR board at 5v.

Originally, the MR Anakin was powered with 4.5 volts (3 AAAs.) Will I damage the board or hamper the sound by over-powering it by a half volt?

[cardcollector]

nope, 5V will be fine.

[dgdve]

Actually those boards are pretty sturdy so 5v is nothing but be sure your v regulator really is 5v(some 5v's are NOT 5v..just fyi). Also be sure to follow the correct threads for the REMOVABLE blade soundboard(they are reverse polarity) so they work great(apparently new awesome fonts and some cool "misfire" and "connection" noises from the blade presence wire) but it will need to be wired differently, a great smith here named Rhyen works with that card a lot so bug him if you have issues. glad to see you on the forums, keep us posted on your build

[Ravinoff]

Quick follow up question. Am I creating an extra wiring mess by including a voltage regulator to limit the MR board from 6 to 5 volts. I've read that the MR board maxes out at 6 volts, so I'm worried about frying it (hence the voltage regulator.) But I don't want to make my wiring more complex then needed if I can just run 6 volts to both boards.

BTW, these forums are amazingly helpful! Thanks for everyone's help.

[Skottsaber]

Well personally I'd use a 4xNiMH pack which gives you 4.8v.
But the regulator isn't a ton more wiring.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I would personally use 4 NiMH batts too. That way you get the 4.8V and more runtime than akaline batteries. I have heard that the new FX boards are more sensitive to voltage but I haven't tested it myself yet. If you do use 6V I would use the voltage regulator just to be on the safe side. You may try the 6V with out the regulator and see how it does and let us know. I don't use akaline batteries too much anymore so I wouldn't know.

[Azmaria Dei]

i'd like to echo the recommendation to use NiMH batteries. better runtime, rechargeable, and 4.8V.

[Ravinoff]

Thanks everyone. It sounds like the consensus is NiMH. I'm going to go that route and forget about the TCSS driver/add-on. I'll just run everything from the MR board. Thanks again!