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View Full Version : Vader Sound +K2 Royal Blue ?



Psiberian
06-11-2007, 04:01 PM
I was trying my best to avoid asking this, but I have not been able to glean an answer from the forums despite creative use of the search function.
So I apologize if this ends up being a stupid question.


I am building a custom saber (mix MHS and other parts to make it my own)
I am using a vader sound board and a K2 ROyal Blue.

I followed the conversion directions Here: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3


now when I it all wired up and test it i have 2 problems.

1: No light! all the connections are sturdy and according to the schematic they are correctly wired.

2: The sound. it sounds like it stutters and loops the first few milliseconds of the power up sound. It will do this until i turn off the switch.


Now I have not yet gutted the sound module so I am running it off the default MR power pack: 3xAA so 4.5 Volts. ( I know this is underpowered for the K2 but I thought it would at least dimly light up.)

I was going to use the relay method but I am still new to wiring things up (working my way through the Mims books still) and the different relay setups presented confused me a little so I figured i would give the "simple setup" a try first.

My Digital cam is down for the count so I am without means to post pics at this moment. hopefully I can figure this out without the need for me to make up some pictures.

(And for the record the LED is fully functional I tested it with a resister and the same switch I am using with the MR board after the first time it didn't work.)

Thought suggestions? Witty quips?
thank you in advance for any assistance/.

xwingband
06-11-2007, 04:07 PM
Try new batteries if they aren't new already.

Psiberian
06-11-2007, 04:08 PM
They are in fact brand new 8) I have tried 9 different (new)batteries and 2 different brands same result.

Novastar
06-11-2007, 04:34 PM
Still sounds like a bad connection to me. Either that or a short.

Does it work when it is not in the hilt? Or does that have no effect?

Also, is your K2 attached to any kind of "star baseplate", or is it just sitting on the heatsink?

Finally, I have had what looked to be "good" connections before wire-wise. Tug on the wires, look at the solders--and everything SEEMED great...

...but I still had problems. Sometimes, the solders are simply too small for your eyes to detect a problem, and so you need to do it again.

I have had problems running a K2 in an FX board as well. I did it as a test, and as I expected, it sucked.

DO NOT run a K2 with an FX board unless you're doing the 700ma ones. Then you should be ok.

Psiberian
06-11-2007, 10:00 PM
Novastar and Xwing thank you bot h very much for responding!

Novastar:

-yes, it works outside the hilt with no LED hooked up. All of my tests so far have been before putting inside of the hilt. I always test my connections as I go to avoid issue later. 8 )

-the K2 is attached to the star (purchased from Tim.)


Ug i am not entirely sure what the problem was but I got it fixed as follows.

Tore apart the sound module from the MR Vader, figured out the wiring to the soundboard..then hooked it up to 4 AA (brand new) batteries and everything works perfect.

I cannot wait to get my camera up again such a bright pretty blue :shock:

Thank you gentlemen for your help

Jay-gon Jinn
06-11-2007, 10:10 PM
Glad you got it working. Must have been something in the mR battery pack. I run a green 1500 ma K2 off a Vader board and it's as bright as the green lux III in my direct drive set-up with resistor.
I had a similar problem with a Vader board I installed in my son's training saber that was running a star/o with a micro puck, and it just needed fresh batteries to get it going again.

Psiberian
06-11-2007, 10:16 PM
it was strange because the bat pack worked just fine until the K2 plugged in.

After kicking up the # of batts all was well with the world. I didn't figure the draw of the K2 would be enough to completely bork the whole thing from running. Live and learn I suppose. and yeah this thing is bright as hell lol. I was walking around my apt using it as a flashlight haha. /sigh im a nerd.


micro pucks lol I am still reading up on those before I attempt to incorporate one, though it would be nice to get the full potential out of the K2. I have everything on quick connects so it will be easy for me to change out parts as I learn more.

Novastar
06-11-2007, 11:44 PM
Glad to hear it's fine now! And yay, finally some people to continue confirming that YES royal blue is just dandy bright.

Maybe someday you can meter what it actually takes to light the LED... it's possible that your K2 royal blue is on a higher end of the fwd voltage spectrum, meaning it wants/needs more like 4v (instead of 3.85) to light up.

You are correct in the beginning to think that it's pretty tough for the LED to light up off of 4.5v in the first place, given that the FX board is taking up some juice...

...and here is an interesting tidbit. Erv figured out that the battery "spring" system that MR has created causes a lot of resistance, and you lose a good amount in the process... ESPECIALLY if you have the 6AA pack with the diodes. Loss can be up to 1v if you have that. Probably about 0.5v on those thick battery pins alone.

So, yeah... 4.5v for an LED that wants 3.9v... is pretty tough to pull off, especially if you're running sound, and we also know that alkalines have voltage drops as they are used.

Li-Ion batteries tend to maintain their voltage over a usage cycle... so you could always try this someday as well.

Jay-gon Jinn
06-12-2007, 08:19 AM
I used the micropuck with that particular saber because the MR board puts out more milliamps than the star/o is rated at. It only needs 350ma, and the MR board puts out about twice that, I believe, no one's really gotten an accurate measurement of that.

Novastar
06-12-2007, 11:11 AM
Hi Jay... yeah, that bugs me about the readings on MR output... although I know it varies--I would love to see something like:

Vader MR (200x) -- 700ma to 900ma
Anakin MR (200x) -- blah blah ma
Mace... .... .... ...
Yoda.... .... ....

...on the wiring guides or whatever. Granted, I don't really care anymore, since I don't plan to use an MR board to make my "brightest" sabers. For that, I should obviously go with Ultra's board & Erv's.

Psiberian
06-13-2007, 07:34 AM
good info guys thank you.

Yeah, If I get a chance I will take out my meter and test what the LED is actually hungry for. It would probably be interesting.

I will do the erv/ultra thing in the near future (possibly my next saber) but baby steps ;P and the cost of those is a bit prohibitive.

My first saber was a hardware with no sound, second (this one) is MHS/custom with MR sound. I may try and flip the batteries to Li-Ion and put in a charge port, we will see as soon as I figure out the bottom half of the hilt and where to mount this huge speaker from the MR LOL.

Jay-gon Jinn
06-13-2007, 08:39 AM
If you need a smaller speaker, the one in the store works great with my Vader boards.