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Doddy
05-24-2007, 10:50 PM
Sorry if this was addressed elsewhere, but after about an hour or more of searching I couldn't find anything.

When my batteries start to get low, the luxeon will suddenly turn off then do the flare up effect, turn back off, flare up again, and so on.
It only seems to happen once the batteries get low, but its getting to the point where I'm tempted to go back to a straight resistor set up.

Question : Is this at all normal?

If no, what possible causes/solutions are there?

I currently use a 5 AAA recharageable setup (Energizer 1.2V NiMH)
Latching switch with latching board. 3W red-orange luxeon.

It does it even when out of the hilt.

neophyl
05-25-2007, 03:16 AM
Im guessing you have the earlier version of Corbins driver. That behaviour is normal with that.

You may have noticed that the led turns on when you first connect the batteries on the earlier versions (doesnt on the later ones). Well when your batteries get low it 'browns outs' the microprocessor controlling the driver. Theres not enough current getting to the micro to run it so the driver turns off. Meanwhile due tot he nature of the batteries when not in use they recover slightly. This mean that theres enough power to run the micro, that boots up and turns the led on which in turn kills the batteries again. SO you get a disco effect with the speed getting faster as the batteries get progressively worse.

Later versions of the driver dont turn the led on when power is connected so you dont get that effect, it just turns off if the batteries cant support it.

Just treat it as a very low battery warning.

Doddy
05-25-2007, 04:06 AM
Thanks for the info, I was getting a little worried that I had screwed something up.
Oh well, I'll decide what to do once my order arrives (crazy ideas about including "focusing crystal" detail and such. Shame Australia can really suck for getting all the electronic goodies I want.

Novastar
05-26-2007, 12:42 AM
Doddy... happens to me all the time when batts are low on Corb's board... just recharge/replace the batteries, and you're all set.

To double-confirm Neo-Phyl's thoughts--no... you're not doing a bloody thing wrong! He explained it PERFECTLY, as he normally does... :)

I kind of LIKE this effect, as it tells me yes the board WORKS, but the batteries are buggers and need to be recharged. :)

Doddy
05-26-2007, 01:27 AM
Cool then.
Thanks for the reply.

May or may not be replacing corbins board with the new ultrasound or crystal core V2 when I have some cash anyway, so that I have sound as well.

Marsupial
05-26-2007, 03:02 PM
I kind of LIKE this effect, as it tells me yes the board WORKS, but the batteries are buggers and need to be recharged. :)

I agree.
but the downside is when you NEED to change the batteries, its hard to shut it down. My first saber needs partial dismounting to cut power or change battery. I know, I should have a main cut-off switch, a recharge port or something. But it doesn't at this point. With empty battery, it means I need a 40 minutes operation to change battery, and its impossible to prevent the flashing effect. Sucks.

I also have a more recent corbin driver... the downside is when you tweak the electronics, I got used with power-on as soon as you have power to the board.

if you want sound, the ultraboard seams to be a good solution. V2 is even better for the custom builders (flexibility) but have a bigger cost. If you're to build more then 1 saber, the extra price is all worthed on the V2 for custom sounds.