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Jetsi
06-14-2007, 07:52 PM
I am almost afraid to post, but here we go :wink: .

I bought a 2003 MR Luke ROTJ, which has the EL blade. Shortly after we got it home, the blade broke off just inside the emitter.

Until I can afford to change it over to LED, I was tinkering with it to see if my son could still use it. I removed all the damaged debris, and shortened the blade just to the base of the EL connectors in the blade.

I have connected everything outside of the hilt, and I get flickering across the entire blade, and a bright light right at where the two connectors are. I held it on for a short while and the bright light at the connectors turned from green to white, and then started to smoke, at which time I removed the power.

Not knowing anything about the EL insert, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? Simple grounding problem? Does the sheet have a tear?

Thanks in advance for any help on this. It just might sit for a few weeks until I can get an order in.

Jedi-Loreen
06-14-2007, 08:26 PM
EL sheet is a very different critter than the wire, even though it still works in basically the same way. Though instead of wires coated with phosphorus that glow when a certain A/C frequency is applied, it has a grid of wires with a layer of phosphorus over that on one side of the paper.

It's easily damaged, unlike EL wire. I have the sheet from a Parks blade (I reused the blade tube and put wire inside it) that has dark spots along the edges just from fighting lightly with it. The dark edges are where the sheet probably shorted out.

I don't think anyone here is an expert on EL sheet, but I would venture to say that, if you don't have an out right tear, then one of the wires in the grid might be broken near the bottom, making an intermitent connection with the rest of the sheet, with most of the power going to the part powered by the wires not broken.

I don't really think there's anything you can do to fix it, if everything looks good at the connector.

And EL works using a high frequency AC voltage, so you can easily get shocked if there's an exposed wire. It won't really harm you, but it's a nasty sting. Some people think it hurts a lot, but I've been shocked so many times in my life that it's not as bad, to me. :roll:

Firebird21
06-15-2007, 05:58 AM
Might I suggest ordering some EL Wire from Tim to hold you over until you can afford the conversion kit...

I don't have very much experience with EL, but I would guess taht you could just replace the Sheet with the Wire and be on your way.

Hasid Lafre
06-15-2007, 06:39 AM
Persionally I would convert it to an el wire setup instead of led. that way you can still retain some of the origionality and possably increase its value from changing to wire.

If it was an led mr I would say convert that thing like theres no tomorrow.

But if its an el mr I would say try to keep its origionality, that being el.

Never know when a collector out there might want it and will prolly pay a good bit.

I remember seing the aotc ani el on ebay a while back and they wanted like 400$ and they got it.

Jetsi
06-15-2007, 08:58 AM
I only paid $25 for this one, and there is a reason for it. The hilt has some nicks, dings, gouges, and the "copper" :roll: is wearing off in some places. So selling it for big bucks to a collector is out of the picture.

I like the hilt design, but am not a big fan of the copper or the boxy switch near the pommel. I want a blue saber, so I figured I would try to clean up the marks as best I could, add some paint to sections, put in a blue blade, and put a different switch in, possibly relocate it.

I figure this could be a good learning saber for me, before I tackle something more difficult.

Hasid Lafre
06-15-2007, 09:01 AM
I would make a v2 out of it then if its all messed up looking.