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aguiarmandjr
06-26-2014, 10:31 PM
Hi I recently got a 2002 Anakin fx el lightsaber. I got it relatively cheep, however it was in unknown functioning condition which turned out to be a big problem. Apparently when I turn the saber on, there are sounds (idle hum, clash, power up/down) effects work but not the el blade. I tried messaging the fx saber forms and nobody replied over 2 1/2 weeks so I hope someone could help me here. If there is a way to test the el converter board to check if that is a problem? Here is a picture of the electronics
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also, upon opening the saber, it became apparent that somebody else has tinkered with this saber...
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If somebody can confirm this the way the activation switch is supposed to be soldered to the wiring, that would also be amazing. Again thanks for anyone who answers!

Silver Serpent
06-27-2014, 04:44 AM
This is old tech, there aren't a lot of members left that still remember how to work with EL.

Your best bet would be to convert the saber to use a high powered LED and get a new sound board. LED blades are much brighter than the EL, and far more durable.

dgdve
06-27-2014, 07:55 AM
We used to build sabers with 9v batteries hooked to inverters and EL wire (with guitar amplifier plug's to make the blades removable).. The 02 MR Ani (aotc) is an EL sheet blade and incredibly fragile even at that time... The inverter is blown if you don't hear it buzzing (just like inverters typically do).. Hope this can help.

I don't think Tim has sold El inverters for awhile but send him a message (Hes a really nice guy).

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Honestly I'm not real sure your going to be able to do a straight conversion as (unless Im mistaken?) the LED's we use don't run off the power supplied by the inverter tech on that board so you may need to swap it out for one of the MR soundboards from the next gen LED sabers (like from 05 to now).

Then it would be a straight conversion similar to the ones featured on the great tutorials here

aguiarmandjr
06-27-2014, 09:56 AM
Thank you guys for replying so quickly! As much as I would like to keep it original condition, I definitely would convert it just so it will simply work. I actually have a parks saber, so this is not my only el saber so I know exactly what dgdve is is talking about. Thanks for messaging him btw, either way I am sure ill be fine regardless of the outcome. ;) From my understanding from the conversions is 1 of three things; 1: you do as dgdve mentions and replace it with a modern sound board (which I have on hand so not a problem), 2:you replace the battery pact from 6batteries to 4 battery pack (No idea if that actually works because i would imagine the sound board requiring the 9v from the 6 batteries to function properly) and lastly 3:keep everything the same and simply place a resistor so the led wont blow. If I need to move/open a new post on the conversion pages to answer this i will but hopefully this wont be a problem. Im still relatively new to the forms so please have mercy on me :P