Did my Nano just fry my SD card?

[Zazarus]

Ok, after the defeat of trying to wire in a red LED, I wired my lightsaber up with a blue LED and all was working fine. Boot from deep sleep, and fired up beautifully, later that night as I was hitting the blade on my wrist to test the clashes sounds it cut out, figuring it was just the batteries I replaced them and still nothing is working. When the activation button is pressed the speaker starts clicking in a low audible way. I'm running the 2w base speaker. When I was running the normal premium speaker and the card was not pressed it it had a low audible crackle to it. I did make sure the card was pressed in. Any ideas?

I'm not sure I can suggest the NB to the guys in my area anymore, I have had so many issues with this thing. I'm thinking should just save up my money for a PC board and drop this NB in the trash can where it belongs.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Ok, after the defeat of trying to wire in a red LED, I wired my lightsaber up with a blue LED and all was working fine. Boot from deep sleep, and fired up beautifully, later that night as I was hitting the blade on my wrist to test the clashes sounds it cut out, figuring it was just the batteries I replaced them and still nothing is working. When the activation button is pressed the speaker starts clicking in a low audible way. I'm running the 2w base speaker. When I was running the normal premium speaker and the card was not pressed it it had a low audible crackle to it. I did make sure the card was pressed in. Any ideas?

I'm not sure I can suggest the NB to the guys in my area anymore, I have had so many issues with this thing. I'm thinking should just save up my money for a PC board and drop this NB in the trash can where it belongs.

Offhand, it sounds to me like your saber isn't constructed real well AND from what I have seen from your other posts you don't appear to have a great grasp on how everything works (swapping LEDs with a NB).

FIRST, lets see all the wiring. And now for the standard questions:
Did you do the soldering yourself?
Do you have a chassis for the battery/soundcard?
And what do you mean "batteries"? The NB is designed to run off of a (read single) 3.7V LI-ion battery.

As for your commentary about the NB, it's a great little card if installed and used PROPERLY. The maker of the NBs also makes the PC's ;)

Did you make a backup of your SD card when you started out? If so, you might want to reformat your SD card, and reload the files, and make sure it is in all the way.

[Silver Serpent]

Since you said you've already replaced the batteries, I'm going to assume they're not the issue. You might have some loose solder joints. Pictures of the soldering and wiring would help us diagnose your issue.

If you don't have a chassis, or some other method of holding the board inside the saber, the board could have had something knocked loose while striking the saber.

And yes, the Nano Biscotte was designed by the same guy who designs and builds the Petit Crouton and Crystal Focus. They're fine boards when installed properly. Occasionally you run into SD card issues, but it's usually nothing a quick format and reload can't fix.

[Zazarus]

No I don't have the world's best grasp but I have learn all this from trail and error, forums can only get me so far on learning and there is no one local that can help me. So its just a matter a stumbling around in the dark until I figure things out, I come to the forums when I have a specific question that comes up. I have not been looking to run LI-ion because there is way too much of a debate on those and when I did look to use one someone said their's has a run time of only an hour and that won't work for troops or cons, so I have been running on NiMH rechargeable or standard (yes I know the voltage difference is .25 off from those two. If push comes to shove I will prefer to use the normal batteries because during a troop or a con it would be easier to get batteries if I need them fast) I will attempt to pull all the guts out of the saber tonight and get a picture. I have the SD card backed up but I can't reformat the card tonight until I buy a reader because my computer developed a weird twitch that the screen goes black every time I put an SD card into the reader. really odd, but that's a different issue from the saber.

I did the wiring on the speaker but not the sound card, that was the harness that Tim sells. I have the card running next to the battery pack for space, its the same as the pack he sells that has the 2w speaker and 2AA pack but done for the 4AA rather than the 2AA. (if that makes sense). I had one NB before this one and something happened that fried the card, a friend of mine on the other side of the state looked at it with me and couldn't figure out why it messed either. That weekend I talked to a few people have built sabers and most of what they told me about the NB was that it was more temperamental than a bag of cats dunked in a river. SO I have just been having a lot of bad luck with this.

[Ty_Bomber]

Are you running all 4 AAs in that holder? That would be pumping 6V to the board, which could cause problems. The board is made for up to 5.5V. Hence why it calls for a 4AAA battery holder with NiMH.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Well, for a single LED setup like you are running, even at 1A, a single 18650 battery should give you at least 2hr 15min of runtime. Now what you read might have been accurate, because the user was trying to run a multi-die setup (which can be done, but was not what this board was really designed for). This NB was designed for (ironically enough) trooping in mind, where it would run a single die for at least 2 hours or so. IF you really want long runtimes, try investing in a 18650 holder and get a couple of 3400mAh AW 18650 protected batteries. With those, you should be able to get at least 3 hours out of a single fully charged battery. ;)

Now that the lecture is done...
How are you securing the NB to the battery back?
Do you have anything to prevent the board from shorting out within the hilt when getting jostled around (metal on metal touching)?

[Zazarus]

Are you running all 4 AAs in that holder? That would be pumping 6V to the board, which could cause problems. The board is made for up to 5.5V. Hence why it calls for a 4AAA battery holder with NiMH.

No I'm running 3AA with a dummy cell, sorry I should have clarified that one.

[Zazarus]

Well, for a single LED setup like you are running, even at 1A, a single 18650 battery should give you at least 2hr 15min of runtime. Now what you read might have been accurate, because the user was trying to run a multi-die setup (which can be done, but was not what this board was really designed for). This NB was designed for (ironically enough) trooping in mind, where it would run a single die for at least 2 hours or so. IF you really want long runtimes, try investing in a 18650 holder and get a couple of 3400mAh AW 18650 protected batteries. With those, you should be able to get at least 3 hours out of a single fully charged battery. ;)

Now that the lecture is done...
How are you securing the NB to the battery back?
Do you have anything to prevent the board from shorting out within the hilt when getting jostled around (metal on metal touching)?
I just had it stuck to the battery pack with a piece of automotive double sided tape, not sure if it something could be hitting the side or not.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

OK. Pay Home Depot a visit (assuming there is one near you) and pick up a plastic fluorescent tube cover (about $2.) - size T8 fits perfectly inside a MHS main body piece. It comes in 4 foot lengths IIRC. Cut off 4" or so and place that over your sound card/battery pack. If you can't put a the full circular tube in there, cut a slit lengthwise, which should help. It is what many of us use to "insulate the inside of the hilt against accidental shorts.

[Zazarus]

Ok, so will i need to replace the sound card again as well?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Ok, so will i need to replace the sound card again as well?

I would try everything else first (and maybe try a single cell 18650 on a QD), You might also have only damaged the SD card - try a different one if you have it. You could get the NB repaired... you would have to shoot Zook a PM.

[Zazarus]

Unfortunately I do not have a spare sound card. :(

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Unfortunately I do not have a spare sound card. :(

A spare SD card... Those could be bought at Staples or someplace like that.

[Zazarus]

Oh, yes I do have some spare SD cards, just need a reader to get one on.

[Lord Dottore Matto]

Sounds like you shorted the card out. If the board is not protected from touching metal, then you will indeed have a great deal of trouble, but that is true for ANY soundboard that you may choose. If you have bare wire that touches another wire or the inside metal of the hilt when things move around, you will also get a short. I will echo what the others have said, pictures of your set up would really help us to help you. It is no shame if your skills need improvement. One thing I can absolutely promise you is that the Nano did not destroy the card. User error may have caused a short or ESD which, in turn destroyed the card. Once again, no shame in that but learning what is indeed wrong would help you in the future, no matter which board you choose to use.

Also, as an FYI the 18650 3.7V pack on a QD is a much more efficient way to go for trooping. Keep 3 of them (1 in the saber and 2 handy) and you will get ~7 hours of run time with about 500 recharge cycles. The QD is the key. Just unscrew the pommel, unplug the drained battery and plug in the fresh one...all done ;) (needless to say, I build tons of sabers for folks to troop with...maybe 25-30/year and that is almost always my recommendation to them).