Wiring a Mace Windu Board / No Power Down Sound

[TrypWyr]

Hey TCSS'ers,

Hoping someone can help me with this issue. I put together my first saber with no sound, but it just didn't seem right so I pulled the 2005 Mace board out of my conversion.

It works great, except I get no power down sound. At least, not reliably. Basically the same issue I've read about with the SW-616 boards. I have the board and the LED wired in parallel. As long as the LED is plugged in, I get no (or sporadic) power down. If I unplug the LED and just power the board, all works fine. As suggested in the SW-616 thread, I've also tried installing 2 diodes, one between the resistor and the LED, the other on the main power pos from the battery the the LED. Doesn't seem to help at all. (And, just like with that other board, the power down sounds do tend to get more reliable as the batteries die a little... figure that one out...)

At this point, I am just about ready to order my PC, so this Mace board will be going to my son's new Iron Man saber. I would love to either get this issue resolved so I can have the LED and board wired parallel, or determine if the mace board can push a Rebel Blue all by itself. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate any documentation on what the on-board LED leads can supply (V, mA) on MR boards. Also an option would be to use a 1000mA buckpuck instead of resistor for the parallel LED (once they are back in stock), could that possibly make a difference?

Thanks for the assist all, I appreciate it! I've been bitten by the saber bug after picking up the parts for my first saber... now I've almost got all the parts for my son's saber and can't wait to put it all together. My saber still isn't finished yet, have to redesign my shroud concepts, but getting there. Hopefully I will soon have some pieces worthy of showing off! :D

Thanks,
Tryp

[DarkarNights]

Since, as you said, the sounds work fine without an led attached...wiring the led to a buckpuck and then wiring the buckpuck in parallel to the board so that board is powered without actually sending power to the led itself might be a viable solution. In theory this sounds right to me.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Hey TCSS'ers,

Hoping someone can help me with this issue. I put together my first saber with no sound, but it just didn't seem right so I pulled the 2005 Mace board out of my conversion.

It works great, except I get no power down sound. At least, not reliably. Basically the same issue I've read about with the SW-616 boards. I have the board and the LED wired in parallel. As long as the LED is plugged in, I get no (or sporadic) power down. If I unplug the LED and just power the board, all works fine. As suggested in the SW-616 thread, I've also tried installing 2 diodes, one between the resistor and the LED, the other on the main power pos from the battery the the LED. Doesn't seem to help at all. (And, just like with that other board, the power down sounds do tend to get more reliable as the batteries die a little... figure that one out...)

At this point, I am just about ready to order my PC, so this Mace board will be going to my son's new Iron Man saber. I would love to either get this issue resolved so I can have the LED and board wired parallel, or determine if the mace board can push a Rebel Blue all by itself. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate any documentation on what the on-board LED leads can supply (V, mA) on MR boards. Also an option would be to use a 1000mA buckpuck instead of resistor for the parallel LED (once they are back in stock), could that possibly make a difference?

Thanks for the assist all, I appreciate it! I've been bitten by the saber bug after picking up the parts for my first saber... now I've almost got all the parts for my son's saber and can't wait to put it all together. My saber still isn't finished yet, have to redesign my shroud concepts, but getting there. Hopefully I will soon have some pieces worthy of showing off! :D

Thanks,
Tryp If you can get the power down issue fixed it should work fine with a Rebel, especially if you use 4 AA batteries (6volts) to power it. Many people have done tests to confirm the power outputs of MR boards, but unfortunately no one has gotten consistent results. for the most part though, most FX boards from the MR sabers would output between 800ma and 1400ma, depending on the number of batteries used. I have never had to use a resistor with a rebel or a Seoul P4 with an MR board, so i'm not sure why you're using one.

[TrypWyr]

I should clarify, the LED is currently wired in parallel with the board. It gets power directly from the battery pack, 6v with an appropriate resistor (and multiple diodes for good measure), and there's a 5v voltage regulator before the sound board.

So you think the MR board would be able to run a blue P4 with no issues, with the board running at 5v? I've seen conflicting posts regarding the Mace board being able to handle 6v, much less the 6.5v on a fresh set.

TL;DR: So the decision is either to run from the MR on either 5v or 6v, or run the LED parallel to the board with a buckpuck.

P.S. I must admit, I'm amazed more sabersmiths haven't been afflicted with this issue with the Mace and other boards with this issue... real PitA! ;)

[Jay-gon Jinn]

So you think the MR board would be able to run a blue P4 with no issues, with the board running at 5v? I've seen conflicting posts regarding the Mace board being able to handle 6v, much less the 6.5v on a fresh set.
I don't think, I know...I've done it several times with every MR FX board powered saber I've built...no resistor between the led and the board, 4-AA or AAA battery packs. Never blown an led with any of them, nor have I ever fried a sound board. The 5volt regulator certainly wouldn't hurt anything, though, if you feel better using it.

[TrypWyr]

I don't think, I know...I've done it several times with every MR FX board powered saber I've built...no resistor between the led and the board, 4-AA or AAA battery packs. Never blown an led with any of them, nor have I ever fried a sound board. The 5volt regulator certainly wouldn't hurt anything, though, if you feel better using it.

Cool, thanks Jay! Sorry so long responding, awaiting a huge shipment from Tim and sabers have been on hold for a few days.

I ordered a MWS 1000mA buckpuck for this saber, also since it has a hookup for an accent LED (essential to the design, can't wait to post pics). Also refined the power setup and went with a 7.4v li-ion 14500 pack and recharge so will definitely need that 5v regulator, I'm thinking.

So now I guess I either go with the puck and hope it fixes the sound issue, or if it doesn't I go ahead and wire straight from the FX board and wire the accent LED by itself.

Side note, I also picked up my PC2.0 on this order for my personal saber, building both mine and my sons at the same time. Whew! I foresee a lot of reading over the next month. ;)