Neopixel stopped working

[Ezra__Knight]

I finished my first neopixel blade last night. Everything was working perfectly. Played around with it for a while, let it charge, played around some more on R.I.C.E and then let it charge over night with the smart charger. This morning I gave the blade a light sanding, put the blade in the saber, and there was no illumination. Hilt side was fine, all the right sounds and no distortions, just no light in the blade. I’m using a 15a battery, so I know it’s not the battery. I quadruple checked all my wiring before locking everything down. It worked perfectly yesterday and now there’s nothing. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

[null]

Hey Ezra_Knight

Just to clarify; are you using the 7pin/11pin pcb boards like the store sells or is it a “Hardwired” blade?

When you say you checked your wiring; did that included that tiny little on-board resistor for the blade-side pcb?

I’m sure FJK, Tom Tilmon, or jbkuma will chime in; they are the neopixel triumvirate around here IMHO

- Steve

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I’d redownload and reinstallation the stock configurations (pre - “playing around with it”), to make sure you didn’t do something in RICE, which it sounds like you might have.

[Ezra__Knight]

Hey Ezra_Knight

Just to clarify; are you using the 7pin/11pin pcb boards like the store sells or is it a “Hardwired” blade?

When you say you checked your wiring; did that included that tiny little on-board resistor for the blade-side pcb?

I’m sure FJK, Tom Tilmon, or jbkuma will chime in; they are the neopixel triumvirate around here IMHO

- Steve

I used an 11 pin pcb and I included the onboard resistor when I was doing all the wiring checks.

[Ezra__Knight]

Well, that would make sense, but it continued to work even after R.I.C.E. I forgot to mention that I played with it for about 10-15 mins after I unhooked it from R.I.C.E. Everything was still perfect until I tried turning it on this morning

[Light Bringer]

This may be a dumb suggestion, but on my saber, where I drilled my blade retention screw, i didn't sand the inside of the blade holder enough and although it felt like I had the blade pushed in, it actually wasn't all the way pressed against the pins.

[null]

Hey Ezra_Knight. Any luck getting it back up and running?

Have you tried FJK & Light Bringer’s suggestions?


I’m using a 15a battery, so I know it’s not the battery While you may be correct; it is starting to sound more & more like a battery issue. The fact that it was working and then mysteriously doesn’t work after sitting overnight.

Maybe something mis-wired associated with the kill key that isn’t cutting the power completely when its inserted?

What are the specs on your battery and charger? (If its an el-cheapo / aliexpress battery it may not be up to snuff regardless of how it is labelled.)

- Steve

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

This may be a dumb suggestion, but on my saber, where I drilled my blade retention screw, i didn't sand the inside of the blade holder enough and although it felt like I had the blade pushed in, it actually wasn't all the way pressed against the pins.

The Neopixel Pin connectors weren’t in there when this all happened, were they?

[Tom Tilmon]

To the OP:

First suggestion is to triple check all the config settings on CFX.

Second suggestion is to make sure the blade is fully seated on the pins with the saber ignited, insert the blade and apply gentle pressure.

Third: check the center most pin on your hilt side connector, does it still spring in and out?

Fourth: Check voltage between positive and negative pins on the hilt connector. Do you have full voltage there?

Fifth: Check continuity between center pin and data line before resistor (if you have a resistor in your hilt).

Sixth: crack open the blade and check connections, including the onboard 0603 resistor if you used it bladeside.

In other words, rule out any other possibility prior to disassembling your blade. But, typically a wire could have come off, or the 0603 resistor lost contact. Usually I have found data wire to be the culprit on a non-working blade.

Tom

[Ezra__Knight]

I was still not able to get it working. I’ve tried all of the suggestions here. I think it might be my hilt side pcb adapter/holder. I didn’t get the right one and just had to kind of rig it up with some set screws. Either that, or maybe my strips are bad? I ordered some new stuff from tcss and am just gonna try to make a blade with new strips and connectors as well as a new adapter and pray that it works

[Ezra__Knight]

Hey Ezra_Knight. Any luck getting it back up and running?

Have you tried FJK & Light Bringer’s suggestions?

While you may be correct; it is starting to sound more & more like a battery issue. The fact that it was working and then mysteriously doesn’t work after sitting overnight.

Maybe something mis-wired associated with the kill key that isn’t cutting the power completely when its inserted?

What are the specs on your battery and charger? (If its an el-cheapo / aliexpress battery it may not be up to snuff regardless of how it is labelled.)

- Steve

I used the Sony 15a battery from TCSS

[jbkuma]

what did you use to wire it up?

[Ezra__Knight]

what did you use to wire it up?

I used 24 gauge to wire the battery and the strips. 28 gauge to wire data line, switches, crystal chamber, and speakers

[Ezra__Knight]

Update: replaced the hilt side connector and added a new adapter, replaced the blade side connector as well as the led strips. This fixed it and it worked perfectly for days. I tried adding a new sound font and now there is no sound. Blade lights up, accent leds light up, I can even change fonts (although I can’t hear them or the font menu). There’s just zero sound. Not even a boot up sound. Tried formatting sd card and reinstalling default package with the same results. Lights up, but no sound. Tried using the debug tool in R.I.C.E and it says that it’s trying to play Hoth font. Tried rewiring the speaker. Same results

[null]

Aw man; chasing this kind of problem is always so frustrating isn’t it?

Can you post some pics of the saber wiring? The guys around here have eagle eyes for spotting little things that could have been missed.

Are you able to try another speaker in place of the one you have installed?

If that doesn’t help you may need to reach out to Erv over on FX Sabers Forum (that’s where he spends most of his time) and see if he can help you out.

- Steve

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Sounds like you’ve either blown your speaker, or your amp.