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View Full Version : First saber, please confirm wiring/power



Aryk Ky'Ratsu
03-14-2007, 12:51 AM
Hi all,

I've been lurking/reading for awhile to get up to speed. But since I have *ZERO* electronics/wiring knowledge, I joined tonight so I could post. I'd be grateful if some of the Jedi Masters here could confirm I've got this plan down OK from the wiring & power angles:

4-AAA batt pack (no room for inline AA),
2 switches (SPST & SPDT),
royal blue Luxeon III star LED,
Corbin board for LED,
Hasbro sound board from Obi-Wan saber with motor/FOC (no motion),
Corbin-style blade with MHS hilt.

I'm using the wiring diagram from xwing's post at the bottom of this page:

http://thecustomsa.web133.discountasp.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187

Now the questions:

1) Just confirming: the red wire switch is a SPST momentary for the C/L-shimmer feature, and the blue wire switch is a SPDT momentary for on/off. So you have to hold the C/L switch, then press the on/off switch to get the saber to light or turn off, b/c otherwise it's an open circuit, right?

2) I don't understand why the boards "get out of sync" like GFORCE13 says. Is this problem really that noticeable/frequent? I haven't heard of it happening with the CB in combo with an MR FX board (yet...still reading). I sure don't want a 3rd switch as a master reset...I think I'd just turn it off then on again to re-sync them if it isn't frequent.

3) Xwing said the motor output on the Obi-Wan s/b would be good to use for Corbin's C&L feature. So can I manually trigger the C/L by connecting the 2nd switch in place of the motor *without* connecting directly to the CB like in the diagram? For some reason I thought C/L wouldn't work if not connected directly to the board, but I guess it shouldn't matter since it's already in the circuit?

4) To resist or not to resist...some say you do NOT need a resistor when using a CB/Hasbro combo, yet others generally say their Hasbros get fried easily. I don't want to take the chance and fry my board. I also read in 1 place that you need a 2.2ohm 5w resistor to keep it from frying, another post said 2.2 ohm, 4.3w. If it's needed, which is correct (TCSS store only has the 5w), and where would it go in the circuit...between the + battery end and the Hasbro board in the above diagram? The LED will still have enough power?

All help is very appreciated.

OK...flame-throwers...on!...ready!...A-I-M-at-the-nooooob....

Eric

Strydur
03-14-2007, 01:02 AM
1. That setup is using one switch and the C/L is triggered by a shock sensor.

2. The MR is a latching setup so it doesnt have the same issue. Its not hard to re-sync the board though.

3. Motor output??

4. 2.2ohm 4.3w is the same as a 2.2ohm 5w. The ohms need to stay the same but the wattage can be higher and is actually better.

xwingband
03-14-2007, 01:54 AM
1) What Tim said. There is also a SPDT one floating around. The C/L is taken care of by the shock sensor.

EDIT IN: The SPDT one is on the next page posted by Tim. Use that one. You were getting confused. The one I posted first was a DPDT momentary which Tim doesn't sell in the store.

2) This only happens with quick on/offs and like Tim said is easy to fix.

3) I think you are misinterpreting something. If you use Obi-wan, just keep the motor attached the way it is. On the other boards it's nice to hook a motor (force resonator, as Corbin used to sell) to the lamp of the Hasbro. That way it reacts like the old light with the strobes and stuff.

4) What Tim said and again sometimes reading gets a person confused. You don't need a resistor provided you don't give it too much voltage. If you are sticking with the 4AAA pack you have nothing to worry about. If you want to put the resistor in it would go on one of the Hasbro's power leads.

Aryk Ky'Ratsu
03-14-2007, 11:21 AM
1) ...The C/L is taken care of by the shock sensor.

EDIT IN: ...The one I posted first was a DPDT momentary which Tim doesn't sell in the store.

Thanks Tim & xwing.

Hmm...now you've got me reconsidering ditching the motor.

But maybe I'm misunderstanding C/L. Are you saying you only have 2 choices: have a 2nd switch to manually activate the impact every time & get the shimmer, or let the sensor take the place of the 2nd switch and detect the impacts and lose the shimmer? You can't have your cake and eat it too by adding a SPST mom switch in place of the motor? I thought doing this would be just the thing to achieve this description in the store:

"If you hook up a shock sensor like those in a Hasbro (TM) Lightsaber, in parallel to the C&L button, the blade will flash whenever it senses a strike. Pressing and holding the C&L button will cause the same effect, but the flash will be immediately followed by a shimmering effect that will continue as long as you hold the C&L button down."

Eric

xwingband
03-14-2007, 11:34 AM
You could certainly have both. In fact you really wouldn't get the shimmer of a lockup with just the clash sensor.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this: "You can't have your cake and eat it too by adding a SPST mom switch in place of the motor?"

The motor stays our goes to the lamp wires... a switch wouldn't do anything.

Aryk Ky'Ratsu
03-14-2007, 01:25 PM
Sorry, xwing, that's just my electronics ignorance. I thought at first a switch wouldn't work in place of the motor b/c the motor is on the "receiving end" of the signal(?) from the clash. Then I saw your post that the motor would be good for C/L and thought that meant you could replace the motor with a switch. But you only meant it would be good so you could also have the resonator on clash.

OK, so referencing Tim's diagram at the bottom here...

http://thecustomsa.web133.discountasp.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=506500772de642dae1e64952efe7cc3f

...tell if I'm thinking this through right. I'd have to put the 2nd switch in parallel with the clash sensor and split each of the 2 pink C/L wires (shouldn't the right one be black?) from the CB: 1 left pink wire to the clash sensor, the other to the switch which would then be connected to the yellow/green wire AFTER the clash sensor; 1 right pink wire to the clash, the other to the switch which would then be connected to the black wire AFTER the clash sensor. This would then give C/L sound & light effect on impact, as well as when I press the mom switch. Please tell me I got something right!? :?

Thank you for clarifying this!

Eric

LordArgyll
03-14-2007, 01:37 PM
Sorry, xwing, that's just my electronics ignorance. I thought at first a switch wouldn't work in place of the motor b/c the motor is on the "receiving end" of the signal(?) from the clash. Then I saw your post that the motor would be good for C/L and thought that meant you could replace the motor with a switch. But you only meant it would be good so you could also have the resonator on clash.

What he meant is that only the Obi-Wan board has the motor built-in. On the other boards, you could instead wire a motor to the lamp outputs to get the same effect. There's not really a use for the motor leads on the Obi-Wan board otherwise, except maybe to drive an embellishment LED.

You can indeed wire a momentary in parallel with the clash sensor, that way you can either trigger it on press or on impact. I'm not really wrapping my brain around how it should be wired at the moment. When I get home I'll check out my (similar) setup and edit.

xwingband
03-14-2007, 02:01 PM
LA has it right.

You're getting me confused on it, but it appears you have most of it. The second switch doesn't need to be before or after anything... in fact that'd be bad because then you might have it wired so that the switch only work when the impact sensor goes which isn't much.

The pink ones would simple "Y" on each side. The left pink would go to one of the clash sensor wires and the other to a pole on the second switch. Same with the other pink wire, but to the remaining open wires and pole on the switch.

I hope I'm not confusing you more.

Aryk Ky'Ratsu
03-14-2007, 03:41 PM
No, you're not. I'm learning. Thanks for the help! LA's too.

I'm finishing my order with Tim at the moment. I want lower profile switches (ideally metal) eventually. But I'll just order what I need right now from him so I can experiment with this. I'll post back with pics when I've finished my saber.

Eric