Help!!! Battery Problem

[informalmyx]

i am having a problem with my saber draining my battery even with my saber turned off and my battery heats up:
13.5 Feet of EL Wire from CSS(Custom Saber Shop)
4khz inverter from CSS
Lighted Rocker Switch (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103602&cp=2032058.2032230.2032278&pg=3&parentPage=search&kw=lighted+rocker+switch&numProdsPerPage=20&parentPage=family) from Radio Shack
1 Standard 9v Battery (I have used both Energizer and Duracell)
1 MOhm Resister for inverter protection

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[Strydur]

Thats wierd. I guess I would say start with switch because if you have it wired correctly nothing should be getting past the switch when it is off. I have never seen this problem before, I have a test saber that has had the same batterys for 5 months in it.

Tim

[seamusphan]

Some "third party" made EL sabers seem to have the same problem, even when the switch is off. I am unsure if the drain is due to EL itself, or just those fancy LEDs in an array (in front of their switch). I have NO problem with Tim's own creations, they "keep" the power for a long time when switched off.

[Erik]

With an LED wired prior to the inverter, of course, I've had no problems with battery drain. The only problem would be when the saber rolled on its side and the push button switch turned on. I'm only using 2khz inverters on 9v but still, no problems yet.

[informalmyx]

well i found out the problem the soldering on my part caused the it to shortcircuit and drain the battery so i am gonna go back and redisn the saber the 1.5 pipe it a tad too large for me so i am gonna see if strydur can make me a new emitter so i can redo the saber

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[Von Rampart]

I have the same kind of problem, but I'm not sure what's actually wrong or where. I have one lead from the inverter soldered onto one switch lead, and the other to one lead on the mono jack. The second lead from the switch goes to another lead on the jack. I followed the EL saber tutorial practically to the letter (I'm not a wiring expert, and I really didn't want to frag things up), so I can't say for sure why it drains my batteries so fast.

I'm wondering if I reversed which wire goes to which jack lead, would that solve the problem? A friend suggested hooking up a resistor to offset the power drain, but I'm not sure that would work.

[987654321a]

pictures? this would work better with pics and then we can help you out.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Since it's an A/C voltage coming out of the inverter, you can't reverse it. It doesn't matter which lead goes to what part of the mono jack. It only matters with D/C voltages.

Let me get this straight, you have the switch on one of the inverter output wires? :shock:

If that's true, then that's your problem. The switch is supposed to go on one of the wires from the battery, before the inverter. You didn't actually follow the tutorial "to the letter", then.

With the switch on one of the inverter outputs, your inverter is constantly enegergized, the switch it just turning the blade on and off. Your battery is constantly draining, and it's not good for the inverter.

The switch is meant to interupt the power going to the inverter, not coming from.

[Madcow]

I have had similar problems in the past... the solution has always been that bare wires or solder joints were making contact with the inside of the sabers' metal body. Or even the battery itself - if the jacket of the battery gets worn or nicked an a sharp peice of metal. Maybe once the saber is assembled a screw put through the saber body might nick a wire.

At any rate - I now heat shrink ALL my contacts, and I use plastic film around sound cards and batteries. No more problems.

MC