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xwingband
10-30-2006, 07:48 AM
Chargers:

There are two types of chargers; "smart" and "dumb". The smart charger can sense when the batteries are charged and send it only a trickle to remain full. A dumb charger will continue to charge as long as it's plugged in.

If you buy a dumb one it will often state the rate at which it charges. You can use this to figure out how long it will take to charge it. Example: a 500mAh charger will take 5 hours to charge a 2500mAh battery pack. So if you are going to get a dumb charger go with a low amperage so the risk of overcharging is minimal.

There is also two other options; universal vs. static. A Universal charger will be able to charge packs of different voltages. A static one will state its voltage and only be able to charge those packs. So if you plan on doing other sabers at different voltages you'd need another charger.

Needless to say, I'd recommend a smart universal charger which will run you around $30. Note: Battery chemistry matters, you will need seperate chargers for NiMH/NiCD vs. Li-ions

Plug and ports:

You can use many types of plugs for this. I've stuck with size N plugs because they are relativly small. You can use mono and stereo jacks for recharge ports also instead of the standard style plugs. I will caution/not recommend them for li-ions though. They introduce a momentary short which after long term use may make the batteries go boom. :evil:

Here is the jack I normally use (RS part#: 274-1573):
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2264646w345.jpg

These are two ports I've used (RS parts: 274-1583 and 274-1576):
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2264803w345.jpghttp://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2264647w345.jpg

For wiring these it's pretty simple. You will see on both the jack and port that there is a tab for the center and outer portions. You solder the positive to one and the negative to the other. It doesn't matter which goes where as long as you remain consistant with both port and jack, and if you plan on using the same jack for other sabers.

Otherwise it's not too difficult, it's just a splice into the wires. If you want to get fancy about it with kill switches and charging LEDs I'd defer you to Corbin's article until I write one up myself. http://randomsabers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20

Basic diagram (Note: you can't have the LED or inverter on at the same time it's charging:
http://www.classmaterial.com/~_3513/incom/basicrecharge.jpg

Tenric Starkindler
10-30-2006, 08:30 AM
Redundancy is not always a good thing........

link removed since X-Wing already included it.........

:oops: :oops:

xwingband
10-30-2006, 08:34 AM
hehe, read my post more closely. :P

EDIT: lol, less of this "Ooo, I can add to this!" http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-protarget.gif and more reading. :P

Proximal
10-30-2006, 06:47 PM
Tag. Thanks xwing.

Firebird21
11-05-2006, 07:36 AM
I thought I'd share some of my latest findings when it comes to Recharge Ports from working with my Luke project. Whether you like it or not. :twisted:

Long and boring story, short...
I had no good place to fit the "N" type plug, so I ran over to my local hobby shop to get some ideas... (Although I already knew what I was looking for, I just didn't know if it would work)

I picked up some RX R/C Radio plugs (also known as Futaba's "J" plug) used for R/C Planes, Cars, Boats, ect., that ended up working out quite nicely.

This is what they look like...

http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/Luke1.jpg

Here’s an All-in-One Recharge Port, On-Off switch, and Battery Level Indicator.

http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/SwitchBox.jpg
http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/SwitchBox1.jpg

The BLI is set for R/C planes and will read Low Battery at about 5v so it will say Low Battery long before you notice any dimming of the blade. It is switchable to read 4.8 volt systems so it would read L/B at about 3.8v, but I couldn’t guarantee that you wouldn’t damage it running 6v on it in that setup.


There are a couple of advantages to the plugs...

1. They are very common in the R/C world and therefore easy to come by.

2. They are small and have many different applications and forms of plugs so you could essentially wire your entire saber with them.

3. There are endless Chargers available for these plugs so you won't have to retrofit some random charger.

4. The shape of this Charge Receptacle makes it easy to mount it flush lengthwise on your saber with out having to machine a flat spot onto the round hilt.

5. It fits onto the Luke Switchbox. :D

My charger setup.
http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/Luke3.jpg
http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/Luke4.jpg




I’m only trying to provide more options for everyone, it really doesn’t matter what you use, as long as it works for you.

xwingband
11-05-2006, 07:39 AM
Yup, that the beauty of this. You could literally charge through two wires sticking out of your hilt. :D Anything that provides an outlet for two wires works!

Anyone know what the name for the type of outlet boomboxes use? They look like the graflex prongs and that'd be neat.

Do-Clo
11-05-2006, 08:23 AM
Another option would be a XLR connector: http://mpja.com/productview.asp?product=2972+PL

This could be mounted in the hilt or pommel with a little work

Firebird21
11-05-2006, 04:13 PM
Anyone know what the name for the type of outlet boomboxes use? They look like the graflex prongs and that'd be neat.


Are you talking about RCA jacks?

http://www.caraudiohelp.com/images/rca_cables.jpg

xwingband
11-05-2006, 04:45 PM
No, I've noticed boomboxes use a oval type connector for power. They are two pronged and look A LOT like the same connectors the camera flashes use.

Firebird21
11-05-2006, 04:58 PM
This?
http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2004/575/h575T3001BD-i_dg.jpeg

xwingband
11-05-2006, 05:14 PM
Like this:

http://store.l-f-l.com/media/images/product_category/ac-0406.jpg

It says laptop cord when I found it in a google search... Come to think of it my laptop does have that type of cord. I've noticed the ones for boomboxes are more compact though.

Firebird21
11-05-2006, 05:23 PM
Oh... those...


The problem with those though, is that there are many variations of them so it may be hard to find matching sets to build all your sabers with them. And often times it's hard to tell the difference until you go to plug the wrong one in...

On the up side, they are built to be very durable so they will take a lot of abuse!

This laptop is actually powered by one of them. :D

xwingband
11-05-2006, 05:28 PM
Well, all the cheapie boomboxes I've ever had use the same type of chord. I think we lost all of them and have been using the same two for about a decade now.. :lol:

My laptop one is the same as the pictured one, but the ones I refer too have like half of the rubber around it making it more compact.

Firebird21
11-05-2006, 06:02 PM
My Sony stuff has those plugs but I can't use them on my laptop, and I can't use my Laptop one on my radios.

The Sony stuff is pretty obvious because one side is square and the other side is round.

Madcow
11-06-2006, 06:01 PM
I just finished my rechargeable upgrade. This saber now has MR Luke sound and a 4.8v 2000 mAh NIMH rechargeable battery made from 8 AAA cells. The recharge port is similar to X-wings.

http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabers/recharge%201.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/genesis_sabers/recharge%20port.JPG

I tried to run the LED through a 5v relay like my Mace conversion, but couldn't get it to work properly. So I ended up driving the green 3w off the MR board.

MC

Firebird21
11-06-2006, 06:15 PM
MC, that is most impressive work. That first pic should be in the calendar.

james3
11-06-2006, 06:24 PM
Very cool MC.

I am glad this has popped up since I was thinking of doing rechargables in my up coming staff.

GFORCE13
11-06-2006, 11:22 PM
Just beautifully done and excecuted. 8)

elrond.406
11-29-2006, 06:30 PM
That is a very nice job youve done on the saber
Excellent job Firebird! :)

jjshumpert
11-29-2006, 06:45 PM
xwing thats the same style plug as you would find in a playstation, but fb's plug is much easier to use since the female plug is not even an inch across and extremely thin, it fits into the switch box on the mr ani and vader sabers with great ease, and we all know space is at a premium in those areas

xwingband
11-29-2006, 07:30 PM
xwing thats the same style plug as you would find in a playstation, but fb's plug is much easier to use since the female plug is not even an inch across and extremely thin, it fits into the switch box on the mr ani and vader sabers with great ease, and we all know space is at a premium in those areas

Yeah, I mostly entertain the idea due to how it resembles the graflex cords. If space was too much of an issue for an N size plug I'd just special order a piss-ant sized version. I've seen some super small ones like my cellphone and PDA.

jjshumpert
11-29-2006, 07:49 PM
well now that you mention it you could use those in place of the recharge port on the graflex head, the plug itself into the saber could be a modified playstation receptical which you could just set to work with your smart charger and would look exactly like the recharge pins on the graflex

Firebird21
11-29-2006, 08:11 PM
How about something like they use on new crock pots...


Magnetic break away... That would be cool.

Ryma Mara
12-09-2006, 04:11 AM
Awsome guide, I got one question thou, is it possable to get a pic of a hilt that has the RS parts: 274-1583 and 274-1576) on them?

Iam trying to figure out which ports to use to keep it as sleek and smoth as possable.

Firebird21
12-09-2006, 05:21 AM
Check out erv's sabers on this (http://thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=703&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30)page.

Ryma Mara
12-09-2006, 05:28 AM
Well thats not to bad, iam sure by the time you look at it in hand its not all that big.

I could prolly have my brother take my hilt pice to work and drill a hole and countersink it like the switch hole tim put in it.

humm..thank firebird

vortextwist
01-20-2007, 09:08 PM
sorry to dig up an old topic but, when you wire in your recharge jack can you just wire it right to the battery pack?

xwingband
01-20-2007, 09:15 PM
You can. You just need to be consistant with what is positive and negative.

If you want to be electrically safe though you should have the third pin to deactivate the power and only charging. Without that you could potentially turn on the saber and divide the amperage for it charging.

I've never had a problem. I use it until it's dead and don't pull it off until it's done.

vortextwist
01-20-2007, 09:17 PM
third pin?

xwingband
01-20-2007, 09:20 PM
Using a traditional "recharge" port there is a third pin. One pin is the center of the recharge plug, the second the outside, and the third is meant to disengage the power.

vortextwist
01-20-2007, 09:22 PM
ok, that was what I thought it was. read the one post you put up about recharge ports but didn't see my answer to my ?

kinchar bamin
02-21-2007, 01:16 PM
hey xwing, did you make that luke saber a couple of pages back? or did you just paint on a luke saber :?: :roll:

Firebird21
02-21-2007, 02:55 PM
hey xwing, did you make that luke saber a couple of pages back? or did you just paint on a luke saber :?: :roll:


If you're talking about this one...

http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/Luke3.jpg

I built it.

It's 90% Tim's MHS parts.


You can read up on it here.

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1739


And there is no paint on it at all.

ti-el_terall
03-03-2007, 08:56 PM
Hey everyone! I was just wondering if this is the right way to wire up a rechargeable battery pack in a MR saber.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f58/Ti-el_Terall/ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.jpg

Basically Im just confused about wireing up the jack.

xwingband
03-03-2007, 09:00 PM
That'll do fine with the assumption that you don't turn it on when you charge it.

Erv has a good explaination of how to do it ideally so that it kills the power once the jack is put in.

ti-el_terall
03-04-2007, 12:09 AM
Sounds great X-wingband, is it on his site?

xwingband
03-04-2007, 06:15 AM
Yup, it's in the saber core manual.

ti-el_terall
03-04-2007, 11:53 AM
Ok, thanks Xwingband. What I understand is I just have attch the negative wires to the ground and switch haed power, and the positive to the central pin. Then I just need anouther male plug and have it just stay in?

Strydur
03-04-2007, 10:54 PM
I will keep an eye out for a less expensive smart charger as well. Rechargeable batterys benefit greatly from a charger that can shut off at the correct time etc.

LordArgyll
03-05-2007, 07:50 AM
Most smart chargers I've seen sell for considerably more than the one you're offering. Looking around my local hobby shop, most of 'em were in the $50-100+ range.

ti-el_terall
03-17-2007, 04:33 PM
What size drill bit would I need for the jack in the store?

Luke-SkyMarcher
03-27-2007, 04:24 PM
So Corbin wrote a wiring diagram for the recharge port and wrot this:


Sometimes grounding out against the body can cause issues, especially with red, red/orange and amber LEDs.

Now when I wired mine up, I made it kill the power once the jack is in. It woked fine for a while, but it stopped. When I took it apart, the resistor was fried (literally burnt) and so was the Hasbro board, which was blackened where it touched the resistor. Would me wiring it this way be the cause of this? I certainly don't want to repeat it.

-Luke

Firebird21
03-27-2007, 04:34 PM
Can you draw up a wireing diagram of what you did?

Luke-SkyMarcher
03-30-2007, 05:34 PM
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-3/1165233/NewBitmapImage.JPG

and the LED is red