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View Full Version : Nano Biscotte won't boot, no sound, no LED



Lendo Avery
09-26-2013, 03:10 PM
Posting this for a friend. Helped him try to figure out what's wrong... He pieced together a NB using JST connectors to put in a converted Graflex. For a switch, he had a momentary tactile, but had accidentally soldered the 2 leads on the same side of the switch instead of one on either side, which basically acted like a latching switch that was closed/short circuit. He put the battery in and said it booted up once and then died, not realizing his switch soldering mistake.

I've since fixed the switch so it closes momentarily. Battery is fully charged and the LED lights when tested with the battery. I've tested voltaged on the pins at the NB and I'm getting the same voltage at the speaker leads as the battery. Is this normal? Will a shorted switch cause a major issue w/the NB?

Thanks,

Lendo

Strydur
09-27-2013, 08:56 AM
Do you have another SD card to try? Wiring the switch like that should not have damaged anything as far as I know.

Lendo Avery
09-27-2013, 01:50 PM
I have one I can try. Where can one find the files?

Thanks,
Lendo

Strydur
09-27-2013, 01:57 PM
Copy them off the other SD or Email me. The card needs to be under 2gb.

Lendo Avery
09-27-2013, 08:05 PM
Tim,

He tested the card and could see the files. So looks to be a board issue...

Thanks,

Lendo

Strydur
09-29-2013, 04:15 PM
It can still be the SD card.. We had a batch of cards that loaded the files fine but when installed in the NB all they did is static the speaker for a second and then nothing..

Darth Scorn
09-30-2013, 11:32 AM
Mine was working great when I first got it put together but after I charged battery for the first time all it does is make a steady clicking sound, I've triple checked everything and I don't get it, anyone else had this issue? any help would be great

The Grey Elf
10-02-2013, 03:03 PM
Hi, all,

I'm the friend Lendo is referring to. I asked him to post because if the jargon gets technical he's better than I am.

I ordered the board with the MWS setup, as well as an MWS speaker/2AA battery pack setup. Put in a 14500 and dummy cell.

Now I had to wire the LED and switch myself b/c there's no MWS setup for an LED module and switch that'll work with a Graflex adapter (Tim? Something to think about in the future? Perhaps you could change the threading on your MWS LED modules so that they will screw into one of the graflex adapters...or vice-versa, change the threading in the graflex adapters to match the MWS LED units). Anyway, I wired them to JST connectors to fit into the harness for the NB. Reds and blacks match up, + to + and - to -. That's all good to go.

I'm not an ace at soldering--I need lots of practice. So I was pretty sure I had screwed something up when it didn't work the first time around. Enter Lendo, who checked my solder joints and said they were okay, but we did have to redo the switch per his post above.

Now, I was pretty sure that I'd managed to fry the board (amongst other things, I accidentally let it touch metal while I had the battery in). So I ordered another, assuming that even if I hadn't fried the board, Hell, this way I'd have a spare.

Alas, the new board came today, and IT doesn't work, EITHER. I'm at a loss. I have no clue what's wrong, and it's really frustrating since I ordered the MWS parts for ease of use :(. Any help would be appreciated.

Here's a picture of the setup with the board that came today. When I put the battery and dummy in, all I get is a repeated, steady clicking from the speaker. No boot sounds, and nothing happens when I press the switch. Could it be that I have two bad SD cards?

9210

Forgetful Jedi Knight
10-02-2013, 03:06 PM
What I would try is to remove the SD card and see if you can read the contents on the a computer. We would need to see a close of of the area you soldered.

The Grey Elf
10-02-2013, 03:14 PM
Already done. Both cards read fine on my computer.

Sigh. This is really frustrating and depressing. I've spent so much money on this saber. I just want it to work.

The Grey Elf
10-02-2013, 04:57 PM
Here's links to hi-res photos (closeups) of the LED and switch. Alas, you can't see the solder joints on the switch as they're covered by heat shrink. However, we have put a tester on the switch and it's solid. The LED, likewise, lights up when directly connected to a battery, no problems. So I don't think it's a solder issue.

http://www.elflair.com/images/IK/solder1.jpg

http://www.elflair.com/images/IK/solder2.jpg

http://www.elflair.com/images/IK/solder3.jpg

Strydur
10-03-2013, 09:05 AM
I will look at your pictures but EVERY pre-wired NB is hooked up and tested before it leaves the shop. If you plug it in and it does not work then something has to be wrong with the wiring.

Strydur
10-03-2013, 09:09 AM
You have to start with a minimal setup so you can then add back in items one at a time to check them out..

Unplug everything except for the speaker and then plug in the battery pack and see what happens. You should get the initial power on sound... report back.

The Grey Elf
10-04-2013, 02:05 PM
When I unplug everything except the speaker and battery pack I get nothing except a rhythmic clicking from the speaker. This is the case with both boards I have (I tried both).

Strydur
10-04-2013, 03:55 PM
Lets narrow it down further..

Have you tried both MWS wiring plugs? Could be a wiring issue in the header itself..

Are you sure your battery is fully charged?

The Grey Elf
10-04-2013, 04:07 PM
Yeah, I tried both plugs and am positive the battery is full

Strydur
10-04-2013, 05:21 PM
Well the only thing left is the speaker then... It might be best that you just package it all in a box and get it back to me where I can easily test each component and figure out the issue.

The Grey Elf
11-05-2013, 05:57 AM
Well the only thing left is the speaker then... It might be best that you just package it all in a box and get it back to me where I can easily test each component and figure out the issue.

Sorry, I wanted to try one or two more things before I took this route. What's the best way to handle sending this stuff back for testing? I've got two boards, two battery pack/speaker combos, two LED units (one MWS, one self-wired). The switch will be tough to send as it's already in the Graflex (and has proved not to be the issue anyway, since I get no boot sound when just hooking up the battery pack and speaker to the board with nothing else).

Strydur
11-05-2013, 11:39 AM
Just send them to the address on the "contact us" tab of the store along with your order numbers.

Lendo Avery
11-15-2013, 08:24 PM
Turns out to be a battery issue. Tested with some Trustfires and now gets the boot sound, but it's giving us the boot sound and then turning off after a few seconds. Is that typical for a bad SD card?

Thanks,
Lendo

The Grey Elf
11-15-2013, 09:57 PM
We got it working. Still a bit precarious; I think we need to shorten some wires, as stuff is crammed in way too tight. We both have the inexpensive Trustfire charger, and it seems to have fried 14500s for both of us. We swapped them out with an 18650 (not ideal for the limited space in a Graflex) and it seems to be working fine.

Odd issue, though; when I push the blade all the way down into the blade holder (one of the Graflex adapters from the shop) it seems to trigger a power cutoff on impact. But if I push it down, then pull it out so it's not sitting right on the ledge (but still secured by the thumb screw) it works okay. Somehow, even though there's the ledge there, the blade is pushing down on something somewhere causing a power cutoff. Strange, but easily worked around.

Thanks, Lendo!!!

Lendo Avery
11-15-2013, 10:48 PM
Seems to be having issues even after working for a good period of time. I'm suspecting something is pressing against the SD card popping it out of the slot. Need to shorten the wires as there's a good bit of extra in there. Getting closer to getting it working flawlessly, but it's a slow, tedious process...

Lendo

The Grey Elf
01-13-2014, 08:05 PM
So the saber worked for 8 hours then conked out again. After multiple different efforts with multiple different configurations on two different NB boards, I gave up and wired up a Force FX board, which works fine. I am at a complete loss as to what was wrong with the NB boards (or what Lendo and I were doing wrong).

Tim, I know it's been awhile but is it still possible to send these two boards back to you for testing? If they turn out to be good boards, I figure I can still try and build sabers out of them. If there's a problem, at least then I know...

Strydur
01-14-2014, 12:00 PM
Yup..

The Grey Elf
01-14-2014, 05:31 PM
Yup..

Awesome, thanks!

rhenry501
04-13-2014, 08:50 PM
I was going to suggest shortening your leeds and the one solder on the left hand side of your Luxor seems to be a cold solder so you may want to clean it and redo that particular join.