No "power down" sounds on SW-616 Joe Jedi

This topic has come up in other threads (usually de-railing them) so Im starting this thread in hopes that someone will help myself and others, who are using the SW-616 Joe Jedi sound board in conjunction with pucks or resistors,to figure out why we are not getting or sporaticly getting the "powerdown" sounds.

I know a lot of you have used the diagram I posted from my fury saber as a example and was wondering if anybody has used it and gets the power down sounds every time.

I am also sorry if anyone feels mislead by not getting all the effects the board has to offer , It was the best I could come up with to get this setup working.

I have found that it has somthing to do with both circuits being fed from the same positive lead off the battery, I just dont know enough about electronics to know why.

Hopefully , you electrical engineers out there can help shed some light on fixing this.

here is the original scematic I posted.... but keep in mind that when wired this way the powerdown sounds are sporatic at best.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...urywiring3.jpg

Good idea, Arm. This topic has definitely gotten to the point that it needs its own thread.

I experimented some more last night and pretty much came up with the same conclusions as you did. As long as the LED isn't wired up, your setup works just fine (I used a quick connector right before the LED so it was easy for me to try this both with and without). But as soon as you introduce the LED into the circuit it causes the powerdown sound to go missing. I also tried putting the DPDT switch on the negative line off the LED, but that didn't make any difference. Interestingly enough, I've noticed that when the batteries (I use 4 AAA) are almost dead, the powerdown sound returns! Unfortunately, this means I can only enjoy it for a few minutes before the blade goes dark... LOL!

I don't know when I'll have a chance to work on it again, but some thoughts I had was that since I'm using a K2 to try it with different classes of LEDs (a Lux III or perhaps a Seoul P4) or maybe put a voltage regulator on the input to the sound card. However, I'm no EE and I'm not sure I'm barking up the right tree here. But I agree with you that it seems to be some sort of common power problem between the two electronic devices. Hopefully we'll get some engineer-types to chime in with a few ideas. :)

Ive tried it with a lux III and a seoul p4, so its not the led, I was hoping putting it on the negitive would work, oh well thanks for trying it. I have one of those 5v regulators to try but i fear that it wont let anything under 5 volts thru, so that will cut runtimes considerably. I was also thinking maybe a one way diode of some sort may Isolate the circuit.

Without having one to experiment with Im shooting in the dark here but you could try stiffening up the power supply by adding some capacitors across the power supply rails near the board. Personally Id start with a 10,000mf electrolytic (remember to wire in the correct way around).

I have been semi successful in using this board in a lightsaber, but it is very tempermental. Sometimes it works like a champ, all sounds are consistent with the lighting of the blade, other times their is a delay, or no sound at all, and sometimes the sound is very low and almost tinny. I have put the project aside the last two months, but am hoping to start it up again. I will send pics as soon as i tear it back apart.

Ok I think Ive got it, I put a rectifier diode in between the positve leads of the battery,board and speaker and the positive line out to the puck. I'm not sure if I am right but I think what was happening was the board was getting some kind of voltage signal/spike from the puck shutting off that was interupting the "power down" sequence of the sound board. so by isolating the positive on the pucks with a diode (which from what i understand is like a "check valve" of sorts allowing the power to only flow one way)I get the powerdown every time now.

So unless someone can tell me why this is wrong, Im going with what is working.

I will try and update my wiring diagram as soon as i can.

What kind of diode are you using?

Fawnheart200, this is what I used...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

I had no idea this much work goes into it... wow. Seems this card is a real challenge.

And as a Canadian, I must say I was suprised to see a link to Radio shack - all of ours were bought out by Circuit City.

Thanks for sharing Randy-

I know "I" have a 616 build coming up soon....and it will be PUCK'd or resistored..

Glad there is a final solution here... :)