Economy Vader Soundboard

[Evilpancreas]

Yesterday I gutted my simple saber and wired in a cheap Vader board using skottsaber's "flicker effect" wiring diagram. All went well and my saber now also has a awesome deep red LUX in it. I noticed that the blade is not nearly as bright, even though I am using a pnp transistor. Is it the set-up? Or is it supposed to be less bright?

[Silver Serpent]

That is correct. Skottsaber's wiring diagram will add the flickering effect at the expense of brightness. To my knowledge, no one has come up with an economical workaround for this particular board.

Unfortunately, with this board your choices are limited to:
1. A bright saber that blinks on and off
2. A dim saber with flickering effect
3. Get a different sound board

It's still not a terrible board for the price, you just have to accept its limitations.

[Evilpancreas]

That's a bit disappointing. I guess I'll rewire to the basic set-up. Thanks again Silver Serpent, it seems like you're always the person who answers my question. :grin:

[Archangel_Gregory]

Evil, which econo vader saber was / is it? I got the ultimate FX for just the same thing. To gut and use the soundcard on my own. If this is the only options, dim or flickering... I might buy another as my daughter will be quite upset when I gut "Her" lifesaber... (She's 2.5 years).
Silver Serpent, is there a better cheap board? Isn't there a thread on killing the flicker / clash dimming but keeping the brightness by wiring in the speaker? I will look to see where that string is... I may be wrong but who knows, I've been right before.


Grey

[Silver Serpent]

There are the ~$20 sabers that come with a mini-DVD. Those are the econo boards that I'm talking about. There's a newer version that runs about ~$30-35, and I have heard that it doesn't do the flashing on/off. I think that is the ultimate FX one.

The older econo boards flash on/off for certain events. Wiring the transistor into the speaker eliminates the on/off effect and gives it a neat flickering/shimmering effect, but cuts the brightness in half (or more).

Is there a better cheap board? Kinda depends on how you define cheap. You can pick up boards scavenged out of the MR/FX sabers for ~$50ish, possibly less. I haven't priced those in at least 6 months, so it may be different now. Later this summer, there is an amazing new board coming to the TCSS store. Pricing is expected to be around $70ish.

Everyone's budget is different. Some people won't blink an eye at $200 (or more) for a Crystal Focus. Other people's budget doesn't allow for sound at all. I think that once the new NB board hits the store, we won't be needing to scavenge boards anymore. It's easier to just save your money a little bit longer and get a proper sound board.

[mrknify]

you should be able to do a bypass to get more power to the blade. using the existing leds, find what led drops power for the flicker and what not, put on a resister (making a parallel) bah i just got up and i forget. ugh.

use the resister to branch from the led that flickers, to act as the switch, on the resister you use the base, then run the power (resistored) from the battery to your collector, then the emitter is attached to the led. i'll see about the pick.

[Evilpancreas]

7231I got the saber for $20 at Target. Its not a ultimate fx or whatever its called. I decided to gut everything again and rewire the board into the basic set-up. Besides, my hilt was a GIANT mess of wire when I last wired it :D