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bwarfson
03-28-2020, 06:35 PM
Hello,

I'm on my third build and thought i would give neopixel a try. I'm have a lot of issues with it so far. The blade will light up but it has a constant flicker and it can't produce the full range of colors. For example, using the R.I.C.E. editor i change the blade color to purple but the color on the blade is really dim orange. Light blue shows on the blade as red. Also, the led's are not very bright at all. I used 22 gauge wire and the battery is the 15A 18650 3120mAH from the shop. I tried re-soldering and i double checked all of the wire. The last thing is the speaker sounds horrible, there is a rally bad cracking when it is on and around every 5 seconds there is a really bad extra "hum" that sounds like the speaker is about to blow out. I set the ledstrip to 140 in the config but in the R.I.C.E. editor it shows as 0 and if i change it in the R.I.C.E. editor all sorts of weird stuff starts to happen with the colors and it will kill the board.

I'm kinda lost on what to do next.

null
03-29-2020, 02:24 PM
Hey bwarfson

First thing I’d do is re-install the default package from Plectar Labs website (or have you already tried that?)

- Steve

bwarfson
03-29-2020, 03:22 PM
Is that just grabbing the package from the plectorlabs site and doing the copy paste? Is so, yes i did that.

I got this CFv10.004D-Beta default package from here:
http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=4

bwarfson
03-29-2020, 03:25 PM
Actually, on second thought I only backed up the card locally and the re-formatted. I will get the package from the site and try again just to be sure. Thanks for the help!

null
03-29-2020, 04:21 PM
Ok, I’d give that a try first, and check back in if you have no luck. I’m no CFX expert but am currently unemployed & can work through the manual with you. Lol.

- Steve

bwarfson
03-29-2020, 04:29 PM
Sorry to hear about the unemployment. I get the same result with the new package. I'm curious if i fried the board somehow. What voltage should i get on the 7 pin connector on the hilt side? I'm only getting 4+ volts on the outer pins. What should the voltage read be on the board for the high power LED pads? Mine reads .25.

null
03-29-2020, 05:14 PM
Hey

Yeah; thank you COVID-19 eh?

4 volts should be fine from the pins. The CFX manual say between 3.7v & 5v is good (pg 114) for the LED strips.

Is there any way you can take a good photo of your wiring? Either that or doodle one out on a scrap of paper showing what wires you've got going where? I'm not saying you've wired anything wrong; just going through the process of elimination!

- Steve

bwarfson
04-05-2020, 11:58 AM
Sorry for the delay i had a bunch of crap come up this week. I used the diagram from the CFX documentation. Also i have this as a guide:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/924/OqmzpN.png

And some other images from the build:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/924/ITp7r7.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/922/Cj36Z7.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/923/Giqg65.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/921/pdBK6I.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/922/Avf9an.png
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/921/Im8dKo.png

I've taken everything apart and re-wired but still no luck/same problem.

null
04-05-2020, 04:34 PM
Hey bwarfson


Sorry for the delay i had a bunch of crap come up this week. I hear you man. Its all the crazy, all the time these days.

Nice job soldering, its all looks very nice and tidy.

Do you have a resistor in your Data line? For the heck of it could you post your config files? I know you said you just re-grabbed them but all the same lets eliminate that. There should be a main config file and colour profiles.

- Steve

bwarfson
04-05-2020, 05:25 PM
Yes sir, i used this one:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/330-ohm-SMD-0603-resistor-P1415.aspx

And the config:
//CF-X Configuration
debug=0
logport=2
vol=52
menuvol=56
menugest=0
beep=40
muteb=0
muteoff=0
sleep=50000
deep=0
qkignite=0
orient=0
valsnd=0
switch=2
offp=0
offd=200
onp=0
ond=20
swing_flow=360
clash_flow=300
spin_flow=400
smooth_flow=1000
lockup=350
loop=1
shuffle=2
plilh=3400,4200
omnisabers=1000
bladepower=100
ledstrip=140
auxstrip=0
tridentstrip=0
accentstrip=0
dragstrip=0
strippower=1111
ls1_timings=340,700,24,0,3
ls2_timings=340,700,24,1,3

## Motion Settings
gate=50
smooth_gate=50
hswing=450
hhybrid=550
hslash=200
hforce=400
hfclash=600
hclash=850
hstab=500,-20,20
hspin=950
htwist=350
hdrag=300,-90,0
htemp=40
spectrum_mode=0
spectrum_axis=0
field=-783,3000,3000


[profile=0]
wakeup=1
randc=0
blastp=0
random=2
pom=0
pof=0
poi=0
magic=0
saberlock=0
blastm=0
randb=2
shmrd=300
shmrp=12
shmrr=24
shmr%=50,80
focd=500
focp=28
focr=20
foc%=60,99
focl=1
focb=1
focf1=1
focf2=1
focf3=0
fade=0
flks=6
flkd=25
tridentflk=0
flkon=1
flkoff=1
pulsed=0
pulsel=0
on_fade=1
off_fade=1
unstable=0
style_pon=1
style_poff=0
style_lockup=1
style_drag=2
style_blaster=2
style_flicker=0
style_clash=1
style_stab=0
over_pon=0
over_poff=0
mapping_unstable=1
mapping_lockup=1
mapping_drag=1
mapping_flicker=1
mapping_color=0
pos_lockup=60
size_lockup=40
hcool=70
lcool=0
sparkf=120
sparkd=10
drift=1
mapb=255
mapc=175
refreshfx=12
omnisabers=0
sbolt=8,20
dbolt=40,810
lbolt=15,30
fbolt=1
rbolt=10
qbolt=30

null
04-05-2020, 07:29 PM
Hi

Do you know if your LED strips are RGB order (like the store here sells) or could the be GRB order? That could be an issue as Plectar Labs default package is set to RGB. You would need to change the 4th value in the Ls1_timing line to “1” instead of “0”.

- Steve

jbkuma
04-05-2020, 08:14 PM
The strips are in GRB order, older ws2811 style and 5mm type LEDs are RGB. I'm not sure how Plecter handles it, but that is the way it is.

null
04-06-2020, 05:49 AM
And maybe a stupid question; but have you charged your battery lately. CFX seems to do funny things on a low battery...

- Steve

bwarfson
04-06-2020, 09:03 AM
I changed the value and the problem remains. Also, I re-charged the battery again and it's fine. I wonder if I should pull the LED strips apart and test them individually? One thing that is strange that i should note, last night while testing the config change my clamp disconnected and the LED strip came off while the light saber was on. The strange part is when i tried to connect the blade again (while the lightsaber was still on) there was a bunch of smoke that started to come of the board. Why the heck did that happen? I immediately pulled the battery and took out the micro sd. After waiting a few minutes i tested again everything booted up fine (still having the blade issue though).

Forgetful Jedi Knight
04-06-2020, 09:31 AM
You never connect/disconnect stuff while the saber is ON. You probably blew a couple of the mosfets on the CFX would be my first guess.

null
04-06-2020, 09:38 AM
there was a bunch of smoke that started to come of the board.

Smoke = bad. Might want to reach out to ‘Erv from Plectar Labs.

If you are able to test the strips then by all means. You shouldn’t necessarily have to pull them apart as you risk damaging them. Are you going to test each individual die or just the two separate strips? One last stupid question: are strips installed in the proper direction? (all the little arrows pointing to the tip). It does sound like a board issue not a strip issue though.


- Steve