Hasbro Sound Board

[Lord Maul]

post pics when you are done with your saber ros, or at least describe it if you don't have the ability to post pics

[james3]

I have yet to get one but Joe got one and he said it was normal Hasbro sound so I guess it just depends on how many boards someone has experience with.

What will impress me is if the new board is in fact new, how well will it hold up. The problems with bad boards is very well known.

I reckon I will just have to go out and get one :(

[Ros]

*sigh* well i don't have alot of experience, so i'm sure joe is right. however i'm pretty pleased with the new hasbo card. i'll post pics once i finish my hilt...only problem is that i'm having trouble with the grips i'm using. i think i'm just going to start over. in the mean time i would like to hear what everyone has to say about the "spring action saber sound".

[LordArgyll]

Hi folks,

New to the forums (in a non-lurking fashion, anyway) and new to the saber-building world. Building my first MHS (and I say first because we all know it probably won't be the last) and I'm running the 3w Lux directly the Obi ROTS Hasbro board. I'm noticing, though, that the sound sort of stutters while the LED is flashing during the ignition and shotdown sequences. Has anyone else experienced this?

[james3]

Do yourself a huge favor, drive the LED off the battery pack with the correct resistor and use the sound card for the purpose of sound. A Luxeon LED uses a heck of a lot more juice then a little incandescent flashlight bulb. You get that effect because the LED is pulling to much off the board.

You will get the added benefit of having not only a brighter LED but you won't have to worry about the flashing.

edit- Welcome to the boards as a member.

[LordArgyll]

That's kinda what I thought. Since I'm assembling all the wiring with an eye toward "plug-and-play" upgradeability, I figure I can live with it until I can spring for Corbin's driver. Thanks!

[james3]

Ahh, Corbin's.

One heck of a nice driver there.

One thing that I have learned with this stuff is to always make it upgradeable. I have even reworked kids sabers to get an extra this or that. I have found that using the direct drive or a puck is normally the easiest way to later go back and upgrade the hilt.

btw, what voltage are you running the hasbro at?

[LordArgyll]

6v. Consensus here seemed to be that the three cell Habros could hold up under the extra voltage, and so far it seems to be hanging in there alright.

[james3]

Yeah, there is no prob with 6 volts. For the problem though I was thinking you were at 4.5.

[Jediman]

Hi all! First post here :)

Question, because I am thoroughly confused.

I just purchased from walmart for like 11 bucks the Obi Wan Electronic Lightsaber (the newer ones) (but not the one with the force spring thing).

I just want to be sure if it does or does not have the motion sound. I'm reading it doesnt but im not 100% sure people are talking about the same thing, and before I gut it out for the sound board i wanted to be sure. I really want the woosh sound if the vader piece has it.

Please clarify :)

[james3]

Pretty much all the hasbro sounds are activated by impact. Even the "whoosh" ones tend to be with the clash.
The vader/sith seems to be the exception. If you got the obi-wan ROTS with the vibrator then there is only startup/hum/clash and shutdown there is NO motion.
Hope this helps and welcome to TCSS

[Jediman]

How well does the Vader swoosh sound?
Is it very delayed, or pretty useless to the point where the hum will be just as effecitve? Or is there a way to solder or activate a swoosh/motion sound on the obi hilt?

[james3]

I wouldn't go insane looking for one if that's what you mean. It is not the best sound on the board and most of the time I don't hear it.

The real trick to get any good hasbro sound is to give it a good amount of space in the hilt to resonate. As for really wanting the sounds as it moves then really the fx is the way to go.

[Jediman]

Ack, well I fired up the Obi Saber today..I sorta like/dislike the vibration but the sound overall hasnt change much. I guess for an EL saber, it's good enough. I think I'll install two seperate switches maybe perhaps so i can turn the fun on and off at will.

Anyone got an extra force FX saber sound board sitting around?

[Jediman]

Hey all, just dissasembled the obi saber (kinda sad to beat it up really) and successfully pulled out the guts. Now for the fun. Has anyone used the leds from this saber to power their led saber? I'm thinking of just using it as status leds more than anything, and then somehow mounting the rest of the hardware inside the saber somewhere. Thoughts? I have a replica style handle and an EL blad holder already mounted...any thoughts?

[james3]

It is a great setup for status LEDs etc.

It sucks for a Luxeon in my opinion.

depending on your hilt size you should have no issues.

[Jediman]

Any hints for the existing battery holder? The lid me thinks would need to be glued on or something, but would someone suggest a new battery clip?
Sorry for the questions, I'm getting very excited over building a second saber :-D :twisted: :twisted:

[james3]

Don't you already have a battery pack for the EL? just tap 3 to 4.5 volts off of that.

[Jediman]

I haven't ordered the new guts for the new saber yet.
I'm trying to think if I should run the sound seperate from the EL or solder in a resistor in between the two..since it seems that I can't run the 9volt with the sound board, from what I am reading, right?

I guess if I order I'll need the Momentary switch. Hmm.

[Jedi Belinos]

Ok just got done reading this thread and need a couple of things cleared up. I have a MHS hilt with a 3w luxeon. I have found the hasbro Mace sabers at my local wal-mart and want to see about ripping the guts out of it and using it in my MHS hilt. After reading all this the Mace is a 2cell sound board and this only wants 3V. I am not using a driver or anything at the moment for the LED just a resistor on a 4AAA setup. Is it possible to install this sound board in with my current setup without frying the board? What would I need to do this? I also want to know if it is possible to wire it so that the LED does not come from the sound board as I do not want the "flash on clash" thing. Thanks for any help.

[james3]

What you want to do is to run a set of wires to half of your battery pack. That will supply power to your sound board. Keep in mind that you will have a second switch for sound which some do not like. I have actually used the standard switch that is already on the board and used the normal pushbutton for the LED. I was just playing with my son's saber again I will go get some pics.

[james3]

Ok so we know it is a sloppy job, sue me.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/MyLightsabers041.jpg

xwing didn't I get some pics done of the Mace board for you :?: http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_huh.gif

[What]

I have just "dismantled" my old Luke hasbro lightsaber. The soundboard is simple compared to what some of the pictures of the newer ones looks like. It has a speaker, clash & lock thing, and 3 wires, one red, one blue, one black ( those went to the crappy lightbulb and the batteries).
Ive had this lightsaber since i was like 4, it was so beat up I didnt even care to break the plastic shell. I might use the sound, even though it sux, to just to get some practice, soldering, and wiring in the right place.

[xwingband]

xwing didn't I get some pics done of the Mace board for you :?: http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_huh.gif

I think you were going to. I had a Hasbro board I wasn't sure what it was. It was one I had never seen before and hadn't disassembled myself.

[james3]

Sorry bud, my wifes gets on me for being forgetful all the time. Horrible thing.

This is either the Mace or the Anakin AOTC sabers. heck they may be the same card. If this is not the one you have then I will see what else I have laying around.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/MyLightsabers046.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/MyLightsabers048.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/MyLightsabers049.jpg

[xwingband]

Awesome... That is the second one I wasn't sure about. The first one I'm still in the mist about. It had on-board motion but didn't seem to have a shock sensor... I don't have it on hand but I'm pretty sure that was it.

[james3]

Gotcha! I will keep diggin in the toy box and see what I can find. :wink:

[Jedi Belinos]

I took some pictures of the Mace I just gutted. It has the motion sensor as well as the shock sensor built into the board.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/jedibelinos/12-03-06_2001.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/jedibelinos/12-03-06_2002.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/jedibelinos/12-03-06_2003.jpg

The wires are laid out with the two yellow ones going to the switch, a red and black going to the motion sensor, two black going to the speaker, a red and black going to power, and the extra black going to the bulb. This one was just purchases a few days ago. hope this helps.

[james3]

Cool deal JB! :wink:

It is always nice to get these things posted up on here.

[xwingband]

That's close... I don't remember the wires being that color though. It's good to see the pics though. Maybe a little index can be made to identify them and help with wiring.

[james3]

Great idea xwing. I will get all mine dug out and take pics of what I haven't already.

[Jedi Belinos]

Oh my bad on the color. The speaker is a black and a blue. Just to clear it up a little bit more if you look at the third picture I posted the top left both cables go to the battery. The top right the one black cable goes to the Bulb. The next two down on the right are for the speaker. The yellow as before are the switch and the bottom right red and black are the motion sensor. The C&L sensor is hard soldered into the board.

Sorry also for the quality of the pictures. the only camera I have is the one on my cell phone.

The main thing I don't like about the sound on this thing is that the motion sound is too long, meaning that the "hum" doesn't start back soon enough after the motion making it so that you get a "whoosh" almost only once a second or two when your moving it.

[james3]

JB don't sweat the pics if all your using is the cell cam.

Now Jester on the other hand, we demand perfection out of his pics everytime.http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrinsanta.gif

As for the sounds well sadly, there seems to be at least one gripe in every Hasbro board. It is one of those things that I guess we live with untill we are able to get that sweet nirvana of Buttered Toast!

[Firebird21]

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p249/jedibelinos/12-03-06_2002.jpg http://www.yankeetoys.org/lee/12-03-06_2002.jpg

[Victor Marklar]

Hi, all!

I've been browsing these boards for a couple of weeks now. I'm buiding my first LED saber, have no prior electronics experience, and need a little advice. According to what I read earlier in this thread, a Hasbro sound board should be able to run a Lux III unresistored with 4 AAAs. The board will act as the resistor/micropuck for the 3 watt Luxeon, yes? I'm going to be wiring a green Lux III to the sound board taken from a spring-loaded Vader.

I looked at the photos and diagrams that have been posted in this thread and in the Tutorials/Cutaway and Schematics thread on wiring up Hasbro boards. The spring pop-up Vader board looks a bit different than the boards I've seen so far.

http://www.overlordproject.com/galleries/miscellaneous/vaderboard.jpg

(I hope this image uploaded properly)

I've labeled all the wires as best I could. I was a doofus when I disassembled the Hasbro saber, and didn't label everything like I should have. Most of the wires seem pretty self explanatory, but I have a few questions.

1) There are two wires going to the lamp that the Vader came with. Is the "Lamp" wire the positive and the "VCC" wire negative?

2) I beleive the little metal and plastic device next to the shock sensor was part of the momentary switch. One of the wires is soldered to a point on the board labled "On/Off" and the other is soldered to something who's label is unreadable. It may read "GRND 1", but I wouldn't swear to it. Does that seem correct?

3) There are also two stray wires, each connected to a different point on the board, but each point is labled "Off". Should both of these wires go to the same connection on a Radio Shack SPST momentary switch? If so, do the "On/Off" and "GRND 1" wires go to the other connection

My apologies for the length of this post. I tried to read as much as I could and make my questions as clear as possible.

Thanks, in advance!

[Victor Marklar]

Umm... Has anyone had time to look at my questions on this spring-loaded Vader sound board? I know, I'm new and I don't mean to be pushy, but I was just wondering.

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?
:wink:

[james3]

http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif good one.

That was on the 10th and no response? wow. Ok well I am going to guess that no one has gutted one of these puppies yet. It is on my to-do list which I will be getting to right after my hunny-do list. :P

So you seem to have a grasp on it. I would guess that stray black is a neg connection. Have you applied power and hit the switch with everything out of the hilt? I would say it is a safe bet that you are right on the pos and neg on the LED. If you have a meter of course you could verify all this.

Oh and yes, the 3w Lux can work off the board with a 4AA/AAA pack. Works fine in both 4.8 and 6 volt setup.

When in doubt, wire the switch and see what you get. Crappy answer I reckon but if all your other connections are right follow what you have right there and it will either light up or not. I doubt anything will fry just off that one lead.

[Victor Marklar]

Thanks, James!

I'll try alligator clipping things together in a few days and running power through the whole mess to see what happens. Unfortunately, I don't have a meter. I'll just hope my magic smoke stays where it belongs and I get light and sound.

After all, what's the worst that can happen?

(sound of ominous thunder in the background)

[chase]

i know this question has been asked before...but could someone direct me to a wiring scheme for a hasbro board that i can use for my led saber? theres so many topics and pages!!!

[xwingband]

You don't have to ask in two places! :P :roll:

I'd say we can't. There are so many variations that having a pic that matches your board is extremely hard. I'll distill the entire topic into as few sentences as possible:

If you want the board to run the LED get a 4.5V one and give it 6V. If that board has the 5mm LEDs it will have two leads, LED + and -'s. Use those for the Luxeon. If it has a normal bulb use the lamp wire to the positive and the negative directly to the batteries.

If that's not enough... you have no choice but to read. You don't even tell us what you have. We can only help so much when you ask a question that is so broad!

[chase]

well i have 4 different boards...qui-gon, windu, the do it yourself board, and the vader, ...just wondering which wires go where.... the last post i did with that same question a message came up saying "you cant post two messages within a certain time limit" thats why i posted again....sorry :cry:

[spongerd82]

Could a Buck Puck be powered by the Hasbro sound board? The minimum input for the Buck Puck is 5vDC.

[LordArgyll]

The input for most of the Hasbro boards is 4.5VDC. So... not really.

Some boards (the Obi-Wan) you can push 6 volts, which would probably work.

[chase]

well, i got the 5w cyan led, could i still use the hasbro sound board from any of the hasbros? would the voltage be off or still do-able?

[Stinky Bantha]

So I've been browsing the forums for a while and now that I'm ready to put the electronics in my hilt I thought I'd sign up and ask a few questions. First off, I bought an Obi Wan force action saber (the spring blade one) and since I didn't see any pictures that matched the board in it exactly I thought I'd post one I took and labeled. Here's a link since the picture is pretty big:

http://i7.tinypic.com/65zt4i9.jpg

The mystery wires were connected somewhere near the LED's, but I'm still not sure what they're for. The board works fine without them connected, so it's all good I suppose.

Also, I had a couple of questions, I was going to get a green K2, and I was wondering how I would go about hooking that up with the sound board. I'd like to have in on one switch, so would hooking up the negative lead from the LED's on the board and then having the positive coming directly from the batteries with the proper resistor work? Also, would just a 4AAA or 4AA setup be enough to power both the K2 and the board?

Thanks in advance.

[neophyl]

Chase you cant directly power a 5w led from a hasbro board. The voltage requirements of the led are too much for the hasbo electronics.

Bantha, as for the K2, while the board will light it up it will in no way get ANYWHERE near enough current to run properly. Way below spec. The thing to remember is that the hasbro is designed to power 3 normal low power leds , each one at around 20-30ma. Compare that to what the K2 needs to run at full capacity of 1500ma. Even though a K2 will still be pretty bright at lower currents you might as well have used a 3w led instead.

If you guys really want to be using these boards you really should learn some basic electronics. In effect your hacking the boards and with some simple additional components its possible to use whatever batteries you want, run whatever led you want and still have the hasbro board operate safely. Unfortunately that means you have to actually learn something and it doesnt get handed to you on a plate.

[pockets]

Bantha, I also have used that particular sound board, and it is safe to run it off 6v(mine works anyway) and the green and white wire are actually a shut off switch connection, when you force the blade back into the hilt it will automatically shut off, thats what those wires are for.

the only problem with that board is as was previously mentioned, running your green K2 off the LED leads. I dont have a meter so I havent checked the output on the leads so i just run my LED in parallel to my soundboard. meaning i use 2 switches. which to me is kind of helpful because the repetitive noise of the Hasbro board gets annoying fast.

[Stinky Bantha]

Thanks pockets and neophyl. I figured just using one switch wouldn't work out well with the K2, but I just thought I'd ask. I'll probably just run my K2 directly from the battery for a while and add on the board with a different switch later on.

[Novastar]

The "darkside" colors of the K2 LED are looking for 700ma, so those would be ok.

Neophyl is correct however about the "light side" colors. Those require 1500ma. Well... IDEALLY they do.

[Stinky Bantha]

I didn't realize the different colors of K2 had so much of a difference (I did read the thing at the bottom of the resistor chart page, but I didn't think it'd be an 800ma difference).... good to know

[Novastar]

Basically, each LED has its own current "wants" and its own forward voltage "wants".

Just give the LEDs what they want, and you're going to have it about as bright as anyone else's in the same class of LED.

Granted, you CAN "overdrive" an LED... for example, if it "wants" 700ma... you could give it 800 to 1000ma if you like.

People say... won't you shave life off the LED? Yes. Take 100,000 hours of life and... I don't know... cut it half if you like as an overly-ridiculous gauge of how much life you might lose. You'll STILL never use it that much. I guarantee it. :)

[Stinky Bantha]

Well, I finally got my springloaded vader into my saber along with a direct-drive green K2. I've got it on two switches and I just need to get some fresh batteries and drill some holes for the sound and I'm all set. There's a really cool effect when I turn on the board-- the LED flickers ever so slightly, like the Ultra board and it stops when I turn off the board, so I guess it's probably just the board pulling some of the current from the batteries. Anyway it looks really good and I can't wait to get some new batteries in there.

[Hasid Lafre]

Eather that or your getting mixed voltage signals.

Thats why setups like this are best suted for dpdt switches.

YEs one switch turns them both on but keeps the current seperate.

If you do plan on keeping it like that then I would pay attention to things like battery heat. resistor heat. and board heat.

Make sure nothing causes an exponental meltdown.

But on a side note its cool that you got the flicker effect.

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

Hey Gang! Just wanted to start by saying that this discussion has been very helpful to me. I got my saber wired for sound this weekend.

I have a 3W Royal Blue, and I used the board from a Vader Hasbro. It was the one with the three LEDs instead of a bulb. I picked up a nice little low profile momentary switch at Radio Shack.

I decided to put the resistor in the circuit. I saw a diagram that someone posted, (I think it was Do-Clo,) that showed the board that I have, and showed a buckpuck in place before the LED. When I was testing, I saw that in my original setup, I had 6v from the batteries, and 3v at the Lux. Since I was putting 6v into the Hasbro, and I didn't see any resistor in the circuit, it seemed like a good idea to put it in. As far as I can see, it's just as bright as before.

As I read through this thread, I was wondering what to do about the flash on clash. I had read about DPDT switches, latching relays, tapping power from half of the batteries, and so on, and didn't know how I was going to do all that and fit it all into my hilt.

I didn't like the flashing, and I didn't like the goofy noise it made either, so in the end, I simply eliminated the clash sensor altogether. On my board, it is a separate component, and I just took it out of the equation. If the board doesn't sense the clash, it won't make the flash.

This is what my clash sensor looks like:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-1/1236148/100_9406.JPG

I thought about taking out the other sensor too, and just have the idle hum, because the swoosh never seems to happen at the right times. I realized that I couldn't do that though, because without any sensory input, the saber would shut itself off after a minute.

I'll hang on to the clash sensor. If I ever get Corbin's board, I'll want to put it back in, but for now, my saber works great without it.

I had a bit of trouble with the speaker. A lot of you said that you just shaved a little off the outside of it to get it to fit. I must have got a bigger speaker, because I had to cut a lot of material off. I hit the very edge where the diaphragm was glued on, and it still wouldn't fit. If I had kept going until the speaker fit, the diaphragm would have had nothing holding it on. I ended up just shaving off the sides and putting it in on an angle. It seems to work OK. I'll have to put a speaker on my next order from Tim.

Thanks again everyone!

[GFORCE13]

Okay the reason the Speakere wouldn't fit is the later Hasbro use a bigger diameter speaker and it is really tight, you are better off with Tim's speaker since it is more durable and louder plus will give you that extra space for the Corbin Board. :wink:

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

That makes sense. I was wondering why it wouldn't fit when others said that it would. The Hasbro speaker actually sounds pretty good. If Tim's speaker sounds even better, I'll be thrilled!

I'll be placing another order, (My third already. This is getting to be an addictive hobby!) on pay day next week. I'll order two speakers. One for this saber, and one for the next one I've started.

I'm going all out with this one. I went to the local scrap yard last week and picked up a bunch of 1.5" brass tubing. I'm doing my layout work now, and will attack it with my Dremel this weekend. It's a long weekend here, so I should get lots done.

I think I'll save up some money and put a Crystal Focus in the new one. I still have to do some research on it first, and figure out how I'm going to do the switches.

I may still get the Corbin board for my first saber. It depends on how much money I have left after I pay the bills.

[DarthFender]

Greetings everyone.

This is my first Post. First off let me say just how great a website this is. I had already build a couple of EL Lightsabers by following Jedi Loreen's tutorial on TFN. Then I found the Customer Saber Shop and have spent many hours reading the threads in the Forum. So... on to my current (no pun intended) issue.

I have Lurked here for a while and read everything I can about the issues with using Hasbro boards. Mainly the FOC Feature. I think I have come up with a way to get around this. I would like the input of this board before I go spending a ton of time and money trying to tilt windmills, as it were.

I have seen on the web IC's that will use the signal from a momentary switch and emulate a latching switch. If you used a DPDT momentary switch with the IC controlling the LED on one circuit, and the sound on the other circuit. That should eliminate the FOC while keeping all the sounds.

I am not very experienced with electronics, and I'm not sure what the added need for 5ish volt to run the IC will do the the required battery pack. It just seems to me that if the solution were that simple you guys would have thought of it before. But, then again sometimes we overlook the simplest of things. (I know I do.)

Has anyone tried this method? If so did it work? what are the caveats?

[Ghostbat]

I have seen on the web IC's that will use the signal from a momentary switch and emulate a latching switch. If you used a DPDT momentary switch with the IC controlling the LED on one circuit, and the sound on the other circuit. That should eliminate the FOC while keeping all the sounds.



I am intrigued, do you have any parts numbers for this chip?

[Steeljack]

I have seen on the web IC's that will use the signal from a momentary switch and emulate a latching switch. If you used a DPDT momentary switch with the IC controlling the LED on one circuit, and the sound on the other circuit. That should eliminate the FOC while keeping all the sounds.

I assume you're talking about something like eLabs' EDE2208 (http://www.elabinc.com/Semiconductors/ProductOverview/tabid/57/Default.aspx). This subject actually came up recently in another thread (http://thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3587).

(Note that the EDE2208 is really just a very basic microcontroller programmed to act as a momentary-to-latching converter.)

I ordered a couple of these chips, which arrived last week, and offered to build a momentary-to-latching converter for the original poster, but haven't heard back from him yet.


I am not very experienced with electronics, and I'm not sure what the added need for 5ish volt to run the IC will do the the required battery pack.

The load on the battery pack is more a question of amperage than voltage. The spec sheet for the EDE2208 puts its current draw, when run at 5 volts, around 670 microamperes. Put another way, that's less than one one-thousandth the current draw of a Luxeon V. Don't worry about it. :-)


Has anyone tried this method? If so did it work? what are the caveats?

Not yet. You can be the first, if you're feeling brave, just as soon as I get a chance to draw and etch some test boards...

[strengthofrage]

Hey guys,

I picked up a ROTS Obi Hasbro, its sounded great when it was assembled and I gutted it. Disconnected the motor and the LED's, hot glued everything, sanded the speaker and hooked up the battery pack to test before I installed it. Now there is a significant static sound at the end of the clash effect. The clash starts normal and ends in static. Any ideas?

[DarthFender]

Strenshtofrage,

Check the battery Charge. They don't last that long even with the limited draw from the Hasbro Boards. Like qan hour or so driving a lux. 2 hours of you have AA's. I noticed that most sound boards start to sound "yucky" when the batteries get low.

[strengthofrage]

The board isn't driving the K2, I have a buckpuck driving the Lux and the board is hooked up separately, just for sound.

[strengthofrage]

Hey guys,

Anyone have this problem or one similar (the static at the end of the clash)? I am at the point where it is annoying and I may swap out the old Hasbro board for a new one... I would rather not spend another $20 on a new one though, any ideas/advise on the static sound?