So i plug in the battery and......nothing.

[parsaver]

i am using a NB V2 and its wired according to this set up:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10032&d=1401313808

I check the speaker and there is the faint sound of electricity being ran through it but no "sounds".

I grab the micro-voltmeter and start checking things Power from the battery to the recharge port to the board is all good. No power from the board to the LED or from the board to the AV Switch, but there is still the electric noise from the speakers.

I've build a few electric guitars and while soldering up a Stratocaster is roomy compared to this saber, isn't exactly like running 110 in your house.point there is a know a little bit and I'm sure all my connections are solid. I disconnect by battery and start checking the all the connections to be safe. Everything from board going out is good. I plug the battery back in so i could try to get measurements of how much current was going to the various points on the board....and nothing....not even the electric sound from the speaker.

So...is the board shot? Are there any tricks i should try? Should I PM Zook and send it to him?
Should i unsolder everything and start fresh? Should i order a new NB v2?

Thanks in advance.

[Silver Serpent]

First, try charging your battery to full. They may not be fully charged when you receive them.

Try taking a picture of your wiring. You may have accidentally bridged something or wired something incorrectly. A few extra eyes may be able to see something you've overlooked.

[parsaver]

I broke down the chassis to better see. I ordered the wrong insert disc for the a ribbed section of the chassis where the crystal will be visible. So as a work around, I found a way to build the chassis in sections as I insert it into the body after I insert the switch and the recharge port. so when you se a foot long wire leading to the LED Module, it is because I have to connect it with JST's last. That is also why the resister is twisted to the lead instead of soldered. After I get everything working, then I can clean it up.

but since it isn't working, I ordered the right inserts this morning.

everything apart.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/parsaver007/IMG_20140702_063158083_zps75c9579c.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/parsaver007/media/IMG_20140702_063158083_zps75c9579c.jpg.html)

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/parsaver007/IMG_20140702_063311784_zps749d2ca8.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/parsaver007/media/IMG_20140702_063311784_zps749d2ca8.jpg.html)

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn239/parsaver007/IMG_20140702_063300983_zps248863a4.jpg (http://s305.photobucket.com/user/parsaver007/media/IMG_20140702_063300983_zps248863a4.jpg.html)

[RavenXp]

I don't see any bridging off hand. I'm going to assume you had the SD card inserted properly when testing it. The board might be dead, I'll wait for SS to look it over and confirm.

[parsaver]

I don't see any bridging off hand. I'm going to assume you had the SD card inserted properly when testing it.

Umm...no. Given my poor fore sight into the chassis.... I decided that once this thing gets put together, it is going to stay together. I didn't think that I would need an SD card in there. because I don't plan on changing the sounds. Does it have to be inserted for the card to function?

[RavenXp]

Yep. No card, no sounds or configuration files. Insert the card that came with the NB and test again.

[Silver Serpent]

I don't see anything terribly wrong with the soldering job. A couple of the joints look like they might be cold solder joints, but you could touch those up pretty easily.

Definitely add the SD card back in, and report back if there are still issues. It should have beeped or something with the card removed. I'm not sure why it didn't.

[parsaver]

i would have never thought to do that. Thanks. I've got some work and a ball game to go to...ill let you know tonight.

[parsaver]

So a charged battery and SD card inserted and nothing.

I tried to get some readinng of current coming off the board and I accidentally bridges the LED negative with the negative next to it. When that happened, the LED lit right up. Does the LED negative point Connect to the main negative point close by the terminals?

Also, can I test the board piece by piece? Example, if I run power from the battery to the board, and just wire thr speakers, will the speakers work? Is there an order to test things??

Also, how durable are the boards when it comes to resoldering?

As always, thanks for any info.

[Obi1]

So a charged battery and SD card inserted and nothing.

I tried to get some readinng of current coming off the board and I accidentally bridges the LED negative with the negative next to it. When that happened, the LED lit right up. Does the LED negative point Connect to the main negative point close by the terminals?

Also, can I test the board piece by piece? Example, if I run power from the battery to the board, and just wire thr speakers, will the speakers work? Is there an order to test things??

Also, how durable are the boards when it comes to resoldering?

As always, thanks for any info.

As to the 2 negatives, probably you connected the negative terminal of the LED to the board GND, which is exactly what the NB does under normal circumstances as well. So it's OK to have the LED light up.
Piece by piece testing can be done to some extent. If you do not connect the LED, only the speaker, the sound must still play if the soldering is done properly. I would start with measuring the voltage between Vdd and GND of the board (so battery + and battery -, whatever they are called). You should get something close to 3.7V. Then you know that your NB is supplied. Afterwards you can try your speaker to see if the board is alive, first wo/LED.

Good luck!

[parsaver]

The voltage directly from the battery is 3.94 Volts. In my experience, batteilries can run a little hot, especially when fresh off the charger.

Measured at the board connectors it it is still 3.94. Measured from the little accent LED point in the middle of the board (behind the +), its coming out at 3.2v so. The board has power. I'll break everything down this weekend. How many times can you resolder a board before it doesn't like it anymore?

[Obi1]

Do not nail me down on this, but I think that the main LED+ is directly connected to battery+ on the board. If you do not have the main LED connected, you can measure also there and the full voltage should be there. 3.2V looks to me a bit too low.

Maybe you can format your card and copy the files over again. Maybe also try to plug in a kill key, if remove it afterwards, the board should play the intro sound. If it does not, it's not alive. In that case check also the wiring of the recharge port.

As to repetitive soldering, as long as you do it carefully, a few reiterations cannot hurt the board.

[parsaver]

OK so.... I rewired everything in steps checking voltage as i went. Battery was 3.9 When it was wired to the board there was 3.9 at the Supply + pad and the AUX 3.3v pad was putting out 3.27 volts. I checked the switch before hooking it up and both the momentary feature and the LED light work independently. The LED light works fine when connected to the battery by its self. so i wired everything up as shown here http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?16548-NB-v2-Wiring-Diagram

The switch works and the blade lights up...although its kind of ....slow to light up. its also kind of slow to turn off (takes a half second once it starts dimming). It also takes holding the switch down for a second to cause it to activate. since I've never used one of these before, I don't know if that is normal but i assume it is. however, there is no sound.

Is there a way to test the speaker its self? I am assuming that since the switch part of the board is working, then the board is ok.....or is it possible to fry the sound part of the board and not the rest? Now i would like to determine if i have a bad speaker. Any number savvy people out there know how much voltage should be running through the speakers? anything else i might be missing?

thanks as always and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Sounds like you may need to adjust some settings: qon deals with how quick the saber activated and offd deals with how long you need to hold the button down to deactivate, which is default at about a half a second. You may want to hit the manual again. ;)

[parsaver]

That is good to know then. It's about a half second to activate so it appears to be working fine any ideas on the speaker? when i tried to measure the voltage from the speaker pads on the card.....i got 0.000 :(

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

That is good to know then. It's about a half second to activate so it appears to be working fine any ideas on the speaker? when i tried to measure the voltage from the speaker pads on the card.....i got 0.000 :(

You could have a short or a bridge somewhere. I would check for that, check another speaker (if you have one) or else the board may need repairing. If THAT is the case, you can PM Zook. He handles board repairs.

[Obi1]

You could check the speaker itself. First make sure you use the right one, so either 8Ohm or 4Ohm (although I'm not sure latter is supported), either way you should measure that impedance (e.g. 8Ohm) with a multimeter between the speaker terminals. You could also apply ~3V on the speaker and check that you hear some static... nothing else occurs to me how to check the speaker (except to try another one), unless you own an oscilloscope...
As to measuring 0V on the speaker, well I did not try for a long time, but I could imagine it's not so easy to measure a DC signal out of a PWM, but I guess integrated out it shold give you a reading other than 0V IF the board is active. If inactive, the reading is OK.

[parsaver]

I had acquired a 29mm speaker to test and nothing from it. I tried to measure the impedance and when I found out what the voltage from the NB was on the speaker pads I tried running that voltage to the speakers and nothing. I can only assume that somehow I touched something wrong and shot the amp on the NB and the process of checking and testing I manages to screw up the speaker as well. Yesterday I ordered another NB but didn't find out until this morning that the 29mm speaker will never be able to fit inside the holder, so this morning, I ordered another speaker. I feel bad for Tim having to pack up small little orders like that.

The silver lining to all this....... ill get the NB I have fixed and then ill have an extra sound card sitting around taking up space. Sooooo.....probably going to have to build another one.....

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Good. I've been following your thread on FX. ;)

[parsaver]

Erv has that forum listed as the customer support on his website:) It never hurts to get as much advice as you can. Did you follow my other post over there too lol :):) The new board will be here tomorrow and after ComicCon it looks like im going to have another order for Tim because hey....I've already got a sound card:D

Speaking of Tim...

I'll go more indepth on the details when I post pictures of this one when its finished but I cant say enough good things about my experiences dealing with TCSS. When you are ordering up the parts and you see the final total you think "Jesus this is expensive". then when everything gets here and you see the attention to detail in everything from the machine work and fabrications to how exceptionally well things are packed and the speed they are shipped and I thought to myself "Jesus,this is really INEXPENSIVE for what I got". I think that when the order goes around for the next one I will have everything planned a little better so its one order instead of 3-4. There is a wealth of knowledge on these forums and it really speaks volumes about some of the people involved.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Yes, it's a bit hard for Erv' to be everywhere. When I see something that is unusual (by our standards) I just send him the link to a thread here, or ask Zook (who handles repairs here in the States) to review things.

No one ever said that saber building would be a cheap hobby. As you get into it, you get more and more ambitious, which is good in some respects, but it doesn't necessarily save your wallet at all. :D

[parsaver]

I had this dream.....of a wall mount that looked like the throne from Game of Thrones. But it was made of lightsabers. i took a quick inventory of my MR's....... I'm going to be around for a while:)

[Silver Serpent]

I'll go more indepth on the details when I post pictures of this one when its finished but I cant say enough good things about my experiences dealing with TCSS. When you are ordering up the parts and you see the final total you think "Jesus this is expensive". then when everything gets here and you see the attention to detail in everything from the machine work and fabrications to how exceptionally well things are packed and the speed they are shipped and I thought to myself "Jesus,this is really INEXPENSIVE for what I got". I think that when the order goes around for the next one I will have everything planned a little better so its one order instead of 3-4. There is a wealth of knowledge on these forums and it really speaks volumes about some of the people involved.

Yep, this hobby is not cheap. But TCSS offers tremendous value and quality for your dollar. You can't go wrong shopping here.

[Obi1]

Yeap, it never fails to amaze me how well things must be organized at TCSS, even to Planet Europe shipments arrive in 1-2 weeks (worst case), some other vendors took months to deliver. I do not have to praise the quality (top), but to have that kind of attention put to package the individual parts is amazing.
All things considered, the price is more than fair.
(Pity that by the time it reaches the old continent, it gets 35-50% more expensive, but there is nothing one can do about it. On the positive side free trade between Europe and USA is now discussed quite openly)

[parsaver]

Well, the problem is solved. A new card and a new speaker and it fires right up. More to come with pics on a new thread soon.
The problematic card will be sent to look this weekend and I'll post pics of the finished product in another thread. Thanks everyone for their help and advice.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Glad to hear everything is working OK.