Wiring r.i.c.e. port. Jack negative wires to batt negative!!??

[Zahc Zi Phan]

Getting ready to wire up my first saber (PC 2.0) and I just read on a post that if using the recharge port, the rice port ground needs to be wired onto the battery pack negative? Is this true? Would it work if I wired the rice port ground to the negative of the recharge port (where the battery negative comes in)??
Thanks!
-Zahc Zi

[Kevin Starwaster]

Getting ready to wire up my first saber (PC 2.0) and I just read on a post that if using the recharge port, the rice port ground needs to be wired onto the battery pack negative? Is this true? Would it work if I wired the rice port ground to the negative of the recharge port (where the battery negative comes in)??
Thanks!
-Zahc Zi

Link to where you read that plz? There's a pad on the PC where you're supposed to wire that; it's on the same row as the rest of the RICE pads (there's a diagram for it in the TCSS store listed with the RICE configuration software download. Link follows since I'm in a 'nice guy' mood)
http://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/Doc/PetitCrouton_R.I.C.E.pdf

What I recall having been said was that there's problems with style 1 rice port grounding through the hilt and that if you have that one then you should leave the ground unwired...

[Zahc Zi Phan]

Dang I tried to find the link but my iPad is set on private browsing, which means no recorded history. It was a post somewhere on here that linked over to the fx sabers forum, and it was actually ERV from plecter labs saying to wire it to the batt negative if you are going with both a rice port and a recharge port. And crap I did get rice port style 1, is it a crappy part? So I'm assuming that even in the activation box I should leave it un-grounded? Would it still work as well (if you know)?

[Zahc Zi Phan]

Gosh I'm an idiot sometimes. The page was still open in the other browser tab. See: Zahc needs more sleep.

Here's the link: http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=32781.msg480155#msg480155

[TrypWyr]

That was Erv himself that said it (http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=32781.msg480155#msg480155). You should be able to wire to the battery ground on the recharge port, that's what I was going to do; however, I haven't tested that myself yet. As for the physical port itself, I believe both RICE ports have this issue so no, there really isn't a "crappy" part.

As for leaving it ungrounded, wouldn't that prevent the communication from occurring?? I'm not the best at electronics but wouldn't it be like any other circuit, requiring a ground?

EDIT: Haha, beat me to the link! :)

[Kevin Starwaster]

That was Erv himself that said it (http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/index.php?topic=32781.msg480155#msg480155). You should be able to wire to the battery ground on the recharge port, that's what I was going to do; however, I haven't tested that myself yet. As for the physical port itself, I believe both RICE ports have this issue so no, there really isn't a "crappy" part.

As for leaving it ungrounded, wouldn't that prevent the communication from occurring?? I'm not the best at electronics but wouldn't it be like any other circuit, requiring a ground?

EDIT: Haha, beat me to the link! :)

Not necessarily; depends on conditions. If the environment isn't particularly a noisy one then you could get away without it... but then if you have mysterious failures and you start casting about for the cause... hmmm unwired ground.

Wish I could find a link to what I read originally but I can't. The Erv link looks more recent than what I remember so best go with that. Very interesting.

[Zahc Zi Phan]

I sent Erv an email last night, and to my total surprise this morning, he had ALREADY gotten back to me. Now that's commitment. From the keeper of the buttered toast himself:

** (message TO Erv) Hey there guys (Erv?)! I have a quick inquiry. I bought your petit crouton 2.0 board from TCSS (pre-wired) and am about to wire/install it. last minute I was informed that if going with a recharge port (from TCSS, 2.1mm?) AND a R.I.C.E port, the ground from the third post on the rice port should go to the battery negative (recharge port negative post). BUT, someone else said that rice port style 1 has problems with grounding to the hilt, and should be left completely un-grounded. I'm just confused and don't want to mess up this beautiful little (little is an understatement) board. Does the rice port work just as well left ungrounded? If you could help with my quandary, I would love you forever.
Keep up the good work, I'll be getting a couple more PC's and maybe a CF soon!!
-Chaz**

**(message FROM erv) Hi Chaz,

thank you for the kind words,

second statement is wrong, the RICE port requires a ground reference and won't work if left ungrounded (please point me where this has been posted if it's on a forum). That's precisely the fact the control box touches the recharge port and hilt that the ground of the RICE port is set to the battery negative, so that you don't have a ground loop powering the board even when the kill key is in (and when you plug the RICE cable).
You can also use the plastic RICE port of TCSS which housing isn't electrically connected to the control box (RICE ground can be the regular board GND in this particular case).

have fun with your saber project !
cheers,
erv' **

That solves that! I'd trust Erv when it comes to the PC. It's not like he, uhhhh, MADE it or anything ; P

[Kevin Starwaster]

I sent Erv an email last night, and to my total surprise this morning, he had ALREADY gotten back to me. Now that's commitment. From the keeper of the buttered toast himself:

** (message TO Erv) Hey there guys (Erv?)! I have a quick inquiry. I bought your petit crouton 2.0 board from TCSS (pre-wired) and am about to wire/install it. last minute I was informed that if going with a recharge port (from TCSS, 2.1mm?) AND a R.I.C.E port, the ground from the third post on the rice port should go to the battery negative (recharge port negative post). BUT, someone else said that rice port style 1 has problems with grounding to the hilt, and should be left completely un-grounded. I'm just confused and don't want to mess up this beautiful little (little is an understatement) board. Does the rice port work just as well left ungrounded? If you could help with my quandary, I would love you forever.
Keep up the good work, I'll be getting a couple more PC's and maybe a CF soon!!
-Chaz**

**(message FROM erv) Hi Chaz,

thank you for the kind words,

second statement is wrong, the RICE port requires a ground reference and won't work if left ungrounded (please point me where this has been posted if it's on a forum). That's precisely the fact the control box touches the recharge port and hilt that the ground of the RICE port is set to the battery negative, so that you don't have a ground loop powering the board even when the kill key is in (and when you plug the RICE cable).
You can also use the plastic RICE port of TCSS which housing isn't electrically connected to the control box (RICE ground can be the regular board GND in this particular case).

have fun with your saber project !
cheers,
erv' **

That solves that! I'd trust Erv when it comes to the PC. It's not like he, uhhhh, MADE it or anything ; P

Ok, sorry for the misinformation, that's what happens when I try to quote from memory. I guess it's the creeping senilities setting in :(

I had it partly right; the plastic port is ok to use as documented and the metal one, I got confused as to what needed to happen to that. What's odd though is that I HAD mine wired as documented with the style 1 port and didn't have any problems with the board being powered. Though I did have a problem where it had been working ok and then I did something not RICE related and it wouldn't power on at all and was noticeably overheated near the power pads on the board which didn't stop until I desoldered the RICE. I'd already configured everything the way I wanted so I left it unwired. Just woke up so my head is still hazy but I'm thinking now if it was shorting, that could have prevented it powering on and also caused it to overheat at the pads. Can't get my head wrapped around it; I'll think about it some more after coffee.

And yeah, I've contacted Erv a few times and he's really prompt and informative. Makes me worry he has no life or doesn't sleep. No wait I just remembered, that's ME. :P

[Zahc Zi Phan]

Yeah this whole wiring scheme is confusion at times, but I'm confident enough that I'll probably wire it all up and fire the badboy up without asking for someone to check over my wiring diagram... As long as I take my time and make sure that I send all the wires exactly where they need to go.
After sending several emails back and forth with Erv, he told me to ONLY use an ESD safe soldering station. Bummer. All my parts are here, and now I have to wait another week to put it together. I have a radio shack iron, three pin grounded, but he said it wasn't safe to use really.
Which makes me wonder if I've fried the board just by touching it, if it's so damn sensitive to static-electricity. Anyone have an idea of how easily you can fry the PC just by touching it?

[Crystal Chambers]

Don't drag your feet on the carpet before handling it and you should be OK. Hehe. IIRC the SD card is more sensitive and just needs to be reformatted should it not work for no other reason. I usually just touch something metal to clear myself of any charge built up and I haven't had any issues with static at all. Even when shocking yourself on a doorknob is unavoidable.

I did everything by the book from what I can tell. Cheapy soldering iron with no issues before. However, my RICE function isn't working which could still be a driver install or port issue, but I'll have to give the grounds a try. Scratch that. Mine is loose in hilt and isolated. RICE really does seems like it can be more difficult then it should be.

[Zahc Zi Phan]

Whew! I wired some of it up today, just the recharge port, switch and accent led (in-switch) and hotwired the PC board and... BAMM let there be LIGHT!!! It works like a charm. I even got the recharge/kill key port RIGHT on the FIRST try! I feel like a pro! The dang thing sounds EVILLL (even with light meat sound font) next to my force fx anakin ep. 3... But... I have to admit, I expected it to be brighter. It's brighter than the force fx by a lil bit, but I thought it was going to BLOW IT AWAY. Not soo much. Still way more awesome tho.

Do you have the metal R.I.C.E. port AND a recharge port? If so, I guess the ground pin is supposed to go to the batt negative instead of the PC board. As you can see above, Erv himself told me that one. But, as this is my first build, I am by no means an authority on it. You apparently have had more experience with this kind of stuff than I have. I haven't wired up my R.I.C.E. port yet, but hope for the best.