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View Full Version : Petit Crouton V3 switch wiring and start up issues



zannahishott
07-27-2014, 03:31 PM
Alright Ladies and Gentlemen you guessed it. First Saber. But before you roll your eyes and say here we go, I just want you to know I have read through the forums for weeks and cannot figure this out. I've done dozens of tests with the switches and PC but I still cant get it to start up right.

Here is the gear I am using:

PC V3
2 AA 3.6v Li-ion batteries
2w 28mm bass speaker
deep red rebel LED
16mm latching switch with red LED
16mm momentary switch with blue LED


So the speaker, LED, and sound effects all work when I put the batteries in and the normal start sounds play followed by the soft hum. However, when I tried wiring in the switches and powering them up the saber would beep like it had a heart beat or would sporadically start up and turn off. The LED and speaker wouldn't be in sink either. And then there's this weird animal sound. When I press the swtiches the weird things I said before would happen and Im just frustated.

I think my issues lie in how I am wiring the switches. I have no idea how to wire them. Every diagram I've found I have tried and it hasn't worked. Can someone please point out the obvious thing I've been doing wrong and explain how to wire the switches correctly?

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-27-2014, 03:40 PM
First off, Welcome to the Forums.

What I (we) would need to see is several good high quality pictures that show how you currently have things wired. Offhand I would guess that you may not have them configured correctly in the config file based on what you have said so far. Here are the pics I would need to see - wiring in the switch area, wiring of each of the switches in question, I'll need to know which type of switch is being used for what (I can guess, but I want to hear you confirm it).

Once you have posted these things, we can go from there.

zannahishott
07-27-2014, 07:33 PM
1025810259102601026110262

zannahishott
07-27-2014, 07:41 PM
10264
The first image is the momentary swtch, the second image is the latching switch, the third is the bottom of my PC where I had to solder the red wires for the switches because I suck at soldering, the fourth is the tyoe of battery im using, the fifth is my LED

zannahishott
07-27-2014, 07:46 PM
The sixth one has the latching switch on the bottom and the momentary switch on the top. The attached image is obviously the top of my PC

Ty_Bomber
07-27-2014, 09:23 PM
Waaaay too much exposed wiring. The ones on the switch terminals don't look they have solder on them at all, and they should have heatshrink over the terminals coming off the switch. The underside of your board cannot be used for your switches. They have to be soldered to the top of the board.

You could have a short coming from anywhere, really. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you need to strip that board and start over. I would suggest practicing soldering before you go to try to tackle the card again.

Silver Serpent
07-28-2014, 06:50 AM
Definitely need to trim back the exposed wiring on those switches. I understand that's just a test setup, but you'll get some ugly short circuits doing it that way.

Your switches are set up in the Normally Closed (NC) setup. Try attaching the second wire to the Normally Open (NO) post on both of your switches. That should give you the correct operation. Be sure the latching switch red wire is connected to Act1 on the board, and the momentary is connected to Act2. Also verify that the SD card setting has you using a (NO) switch. That's the default setting, so it should be fine unless you or someone else changed it.

The 3.6v batteries will *work*, but they generally are designed for a lower current draw than what our high-powered LEDs require. I would recharge them fully after you've finished rewiring the switches, and see if that helps. I would also look to replace them with a set of 3.7v li-ion batteries. The voltage difference isn't the issue, but the discharge rate that they will provide. The 3.7v batteries work better in sabers.

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 07:14 AM
The underside of your board cannot be used for your switches. They have to be soldered to the top of the board.


This is not true. You can use the pads at the bottom for the switches, the trick is to make sure you have the right pads for the correct switch. ;) I don't see the GND being used.

With that said, I agree with the others about the wiring, and SS's explanation of the battery.

Silver Serpent
07-28-2014, 08:01 AM
The GND is connected on the top side of the board. The red wires are connected from the bottom.

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 08:19 AM
The GND is connected on the top side of the board. The red wires are connected from the bottom.

Ok, I missed that picture.

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 03:42 PM
Thank you all so much! I will go to work on it right now and get back to you guys with results.

I will also go and get those batteries soon.

Quick question, does my deep red LED or my royal blue LED drain the batteries faster?

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 03:55 PM
The Blue would make it drain faster just because it can handle more current than the Red (1000 mA vs. 750 mA)

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 04:35 PM
So cleaned up the board soldering a bit and put heat shrink over the wiring of the switches which you can see in the photo. The current wiring I have right now has a red wire coming from the act pad on the board to the NO on the latching switch, then a black wire from the C on the latching switch to the momentary switches C, a second black wire comes off that same C port and goes to the GND on the PC, I also have a red wire going from the aux pad on the PC to the NO of the momentary switch.

I started her up and i ran into a similar problem as before. The sabers start up sound would occur followed by the extension sound of the saber lighting up along with the LED turning on as well (atleast they were in sink this time) followed by the hum, but after a brief period of time (a little over a second) the saber would just go off (no closing sound) and the whole process would just continue in a rhythm. I found that if I pressed the latching switch down and then held the momentary switch down the saber would stay off, but the second I disengaged the latching switch the saber would continue its odd song. I have not verified the question about the SD card settings however I haven't even toughed the thing yet so I assume it is still at its default setting. The photo shows the momentary switch in the front.
10265

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 04:52 PM
I think it's the switch setting. You will need to set: switch=0

Your other alternative is to wire the latching switch to NC and C instead of the NO and C

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 05:06 PM
Could you please go into a little more detail on that? Like how to change it and why it's doing that?

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 05:12 PM
Could you please go into a little more detail on that? Like how to change it and why it's doing that?

Well it's behaving that way because of the way you have the switch currently wired, which is not the way the soundcard is currently configured. It's expecting the switch to act one way and you have wired the switch to act in a different way.

To change the setting, turn the saber off, unplug the battery, remove the SD card, and you can plug it into your computer, and edit the setting in the config.txt file, by erasing the 1 next to the switch setting and typing in 0 in it's place. The manual explains how to do it.

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 05:41 PM
How should I wire my switches to match the current setup of the board? I read through the manual and the part about the switches, it all makes sense but I still am confused about the wiring of the switches.

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 07:09 PM
How should I wire my switches to match the current setup of the board? I read through the manual and the part about the switches, it all makes sense but I still am confused about the wiring of the switches.

I mentioned it earlier, move the wire from NO and put it on NC instead.

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 07:19 PM
Okay I tried that wiring and I am still getting the weird start up turn off things over and over. Theres also this lion roar along with it now.

zannahishott
07-28-2014, 07:45 PM
http://youtu.be/yH_kbEOw454

This is a video of what's happening to give you guys a better idea of what the problem might be

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-28-2014, 07:56 PM
Make sure your batteries are fully charged. They sound like they may be near empty. Also, you should only need to push the main activation switch to turn the saber on, unless you have changed the setting on the PC.

Jay-gon Jinn
07-28-2014, 09:17 PM
The "Lion roar" sound effect is the boot sound for the gray meat soundfont. It still looks like you need to change the switch setting in the config files.

zannahishott
07-29-2014, 10:27 AM
Okay so let me double check what I should do. First make sure the latching switch is set to NC and the momentary switch is set to NO, fully charge the batteries, and change the settings on the PC to switch=0. Is that all correct?

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-29-2014, 10:34 AM
Okay so let me double check what I should do. First make sure the latching switch is set to NC and the momentary switch is set to NO, fully charge the batteries, and change the settings on the PC to switch=0. Is that all correct?

NO. If you change the wiring, you should not need to change the switch setting. You can do one OR the other. If you do BOTH, you will have the reverse of the same problem you have now. Charging the batteries is still highly recommended.

zannahishott
07-29-2014, 10:54 AM
Okay so leave the wiring as is and make sure switch=1. Ill charge the batteries and try this out and then get back to you guys. I'm sorry I'm being such a noob right now.

zannahishott
07-30-2014, 02:31 PM
Now it's just one thing after another...I put the micro SD card into the adapter and into my computer and it won't let me do anything until I format the drive which would erase everything on the SD card. So I have no idea what to do at this point. Also, could my power up issues be happening because I haven't soldered the wires to the switches and there is a loose connection? I looked over the board quite a bit and I didn't find any bridging. I just have no idea what to do guys.

Forgetful Jedi Knight
07-30-2014, 02:58 PM
Well, you need to make a backup of the SD card first and foremost. YES, soldering all the wired together helps A LOT.