Kill Switch Problem

[bill_fimm]

Hello.
So after finally completing my first saber, I noticed that when I pull the kill key the main LED's flashed I little.. not even a second, and not at full brightness.. I thought maybe I shorted something. So I opened the whole thing back up and checked. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary... no exposed copper or wires touching anything they shouldn't be. My solders on the soundboard are all ok. There's nothing shorting out anything on the board. My kill key does work properly because my deep sleep LED goes off when I put it in the port, like it should. Anyone ever have this problem before? Maybe some advice on where else to look for a problem. Did I make a mistake in my wiring??

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p422/bill_fimm/Luke%20ANH%20asbuilt_zpswjsabmyf.png (http://s346.photobucket.com/user/bill_fimm/media/Luke%20ANH%20asbuilt_zpswjsabmyf.png.html)

[hapki]

Is it possible that a little bit of solder has dropped in the kill switch, so that when you manipulate the kill key, it makes a connection? Just something to check, but even in that case, the main LED shouldn't light up without hitting the switch. Another possibility is that the wiring to the crystal chamber LED is somehow connecting with the main LED.

[bill_fimm]

I never thought of that. I'll look carefully at the kill switch and charging port. Thanks!

[bill_fimm]

Still can't find it, no shorts,,, anyone else experience this before?

[Greenie]

Have you tried charging yet? The kill key will cut power to the DS pad even if the recharge port has the negatives reversed. You'll know when you plug it in.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

If you have the recharge port wired in the saber the same as your diagram, it's wrong. The center terminal is the battery negative, not the positive.

It should be wire as shown in this post:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?2235-Recharge-port-hookup&p=51391&viewfull=1#post51391

[bill_fimm]

I have tried charging, the deep sleep LED went out when I plugged the charger in. Also, with the charger plugged in, I could not activate the blade, which is correct, isn't it??

As far as the drawing goes, it's not an accurate pic of the charger port... I metered which contact goes to the battery with my charger plugged in, I'm almost sure I got it right,,, anyways this Saturday looks like I'll be taking it all apart and checking my work again.. but I guess the charger port is suspect,,, lol. Thanks for taking the time to help me guys.

[Greenie]

The kill key just breaks the connection of the neg and will 'appear' to function correctly. When you plug in the charger, it will send power to the board rather than the battery. This could cause errant functions to occur (LEDs coming on, rebooting or speaker static) If you have a smart charger with indicator light from TCSS it should light up red when charging, green when it's charged or just on but not plugged in.

[bill_fimm]

This may be a stupid amateur thing to ask... But since it will be on my mind all day at work, I will ask anyway... If i had the two negatives wired backwards, wouldn't I be able to power on the soundboard when i had the charger plugged into the outlet??? Beacuse power from the charger would be going to the board instead of the battery.... This is not the case.... I cannot activate the blade with the charger plugged in.. So my charger port negatives are correct, right?? Anyway I'll be taking it apart tonight after work to try to fix it.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

If the positive lead from the battery is going to the tab that is attached to the center pin on the recharge port, your saber will still work just fine as that would be the correct place for it, but your kill key will not work if you have the two negatives reversed, nor will the charger, as Greenie mentioned.

[bill_fimm]

Ok. My kill key definitly works, because the Deep Sleep LED goes out when I insert it. I have the saber apart now and am examining the wires real close for some bare copper, or something pinched... Next I will meter the port, make sure i get voltage on the leads going to the battery when i plug the charger into the port. If that's OK i am going to try swapping out the recharge port. I have another one here.. Thanks again for the help.

[bill_fimm]

Well... think I found the problem.... I took the saber completely apart... this is what I found.....

I did have the charger port wired correctly.... but.... when I plugged the charger in and metered it, it was normal...

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p422/bill_fimm/IMG_2124_zps94cfwfpy.jpg (http://s346.photobucket.com/user/bill_fimm/media/IMG_2124_zps94cfwfpy.jpg.html)

but when I metered the other negative pin that goes to the board... VOLTAGE!!!! not supposed to be there(even though its just a little).. right???

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p422/bill_fimm/IMG_2125_zps223dzrbz.jpg (http://s346.photobucket.com/user/bill_fimm/media/IMG_2125_zps223dzrbz.jpg.html)


Maybe this little bit of voltage leaking through my recharge port was enough to just give the main LED's a quick dim flash when I pulled the kill key.

When I metered the spare recharge port that I have, I got this....
Here's the negative to the battery...

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p422/bill_fimm/IMG_2128_zps7vka7cok.jpg (http://s346.photobucket.com/user/bill_fimm/media/IMG_2128_zps7vka7cok.jpg.html)

And here's the negative to the board...

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p422/bill_fimm/IMG_2127_zpsc5caaojz.jpg (http://s346.photobucket.com/user/bill_fimm/media/IMG_2127_zpsc5caaojz.jpg.html)

NOTHING THERE!! Think I found it,,, Maybe I damaged the port/leads as I crammed it in my hilt.. lol
Do you think this could be it???

Is it possible that this could have also been triggerring false swings?? it didn't happen that often, but once in a while I got a few after a normal swing. I even tried lowering the sensitivity and was still occasionally getting them.

[bill_fimm]

Well, the problem is fixed, even though now I am not really sure what it was.. Possibly there were shorted wires. I noticed that the wires I twisted together from the main LEDs didn't really look right.. Like the outer jacket of the wires may have been a little toooo melted around the copper.
Since I had the saber apart to replace the recharge port, I de-soldered and re-wired the entire saber, using new wires... This time using a little less heat gun on the twists...
Long story short.... I put it all back together and now have no problem with the kill switch...
Maybe i melted some of the wiring by heating them a little toooo much to make the twists in them. Oh well, first time builder mistake.... Still not really sure where the problem was, but re-wiring the saber was good practice for my upcoming second build anyway.

[Greenie]

Glad you got it sorted dude :)

[jbkuma]

It's always frustrating when there isn't any obvious or visible mistake. I was concerned I may have fried my NB, but it turned out to be a bad bit of wire I was able to find by testing continuity for everything.

[bill_fimm]

Thanks, I'm glad it's working now too. Also, solved the false swing problem by lowering the volume setting to 3 on the NB. I guess the bass speaker was causing a vibration. It was only happening on one font, but now that's taken care of too. I didn't want to start my second saber until the first one was completely finished. Thank you again guys.

[FenixFire]

Thanks, I'm glad it's working now too. Also, solved the false swing problem by lowering the volume setting to 3 on the NB. I guess the bass speaker was causing a vibration. It was only happening on one font, but now that's taken care of too. I didn't want to start my second saber until the first one was completely finished. Thank you again guys.

Dark Meat? Mine too...only when in the hilt.

[bill_fimm]

No, funny enough, Dark Meat is alright. It was happenning on another I had dowloaded from Saberfont. Which is weird, beacuse Dark Meat seemed to have way more bass in it than the one i downloaded.