wiring up a custo Tri-Cree (RGB) to a NB V4

Hi guys,

I did order from the store a Custom Tri-Cree LED with RGB colors and the NB V4 board.

Now, the issue that I have is about how to actually wire the led assembly to the board. I did go through the V4 manual, and I see that there are only 2 pads for LED connection, plus the 3rd for the FOC feature.

I did a bit of search on youtube to see if there was any wiring tutorial, but for the NB I see most of the people using one color (2 LED) and the third is usually white, so that would match the manual setup.

Could anyone give me some guidance about how the wiring should be done? I see that the NB config file has the capability to set 3 different colors; but they, for some reason, decided to not go much in details about wiring, probably because there is not a single setup that is possible, but there are many. Although I am stuck at the moment, and not sure exactly how to move on.

Also I have a 3.7V 18650 battery (3400mAh), how far should it be from the heatsink where the LED assembly is placed? I am setting the battery right below the heatsink+lens assembly, in the hilt, but I have no clue how much heat the assembly will produce, and how much padding I need to put between the battery and the bottom of the heatsink, to not spike the battery and make it pop. I can put some heat resistant foam in between, but the space is quite cramped, so I would like to know that before put all together :)

Thanks!

1st Question: To run RGB off the NBIV, you will need the power extender. Then you have to manually adjust all your config files in each bank. You can't switch colors on the fly; however, you will be able to mix colors for each bank. You also have to turn on the third pad in the config editor. The NBIV instructions are kind of vague about what to do once you add on the power extender to fire that 3rd LED.

From there, you can mix your colors in each bank by following their drive guide for colors while running RGB. That is included in the instructions.

As far as how close your battery can be to your heat sink? In my Graflex build, the only thing separating the battery from the heat sink is a couple mm of 3D printed plastic. Mine runs fine.

In my Graflex 2.0, I am running a blue, blue, white tri-cree. I am only using pads one and two; however I am mixing them to lighten the blue on one of my fonts.

Here are the config files on that bank:
//Nano Biscotte 4.0
drive=1023,250,0
fdrive=1023,1023,0
focmix=001
resume=0
shmrd=210
shmrp=6
shmrr=13
shmr%=0,50
focd=200
focp=10
focr=10
foc%=45,100
qon=0
qoff=0
flks=3
flkd=20
pulsed=10
pulsel=50
lsfadeon=0
lsfadeoff=0
lightstick=0
omnisabers=0

The "Drive" settings in each bank are how much juice you have going to that pad feeding the LED. They sequence the pads Pad 1, Pad 2, Pad 3...but in numbers that establish the drive amount in mA. So on mine, you see 1023,250,0. So I am running blue with full power, and mixing some white in, with 0 on the 3rd pad because I'm not running a power extender.

Lets say you want Purple. If you wired your die Blue to 1, Green to 2, Red to 3. Your Drive Setting would be: 1023,0,1023. In other words, you are only running your red and blue die, and the green die (#2) is off...set to 0.

Lets say you want plain green. If you wired your die like above, your Drive setting would be: 0,1023,0.

Plain Red: 0,0,1023

etc. etc.

"FDrive" is what the NBIV is telling the diodes to do when it senses a clash. Lets say you are running your drive red so the config settings for drive look like: 0,0.1023

Then you want a green flash on clash, then your FDrive would be set up like: 0,1023,0.

First number is the color you wired to pad 1, Second number is the color you wired to pad 2, Third number is the color you wired to pad 3 (power extender).

Drive and FDrive.

Hope that helps. You have to learn how to understand Plecter settings. The NBIII manual helped me, as did reading the prism manual, and the CF8 manual. The more you know about how Plecter works, the better. I'm still learning, and I could be wrong, but that is my 2 cents.

PS, Plecter's Color Drive Suggestion Settings looks like this:

R G B

"RED 1023 0 0
Orange 1023 255 0
Amber 1023 660 0
Yellow 1023 1023 0
Lime 340 1023 0
Lime2 145 1023 0
GREEN 0 1023 0
Cyan 0 1023 340
Light blue 0 1023 635
Ice blue 0 1023 1023
BLUE 0 0 1023
Mauve 115 0 1023
Purple 355 0 1023
Pink 1023 0 1023
Crimson 1023 0 50
White 1023 1023 1023 "

That is where they tell you how many mA to run to each diode to achieve the color you want. They just gave you a good place to start! You probably thought it was all greek or something, I sure did.

Tom

Thank you so much! I am going crazy trying to figure this out...I did see some videos of how to mix colors to get different shades, and I thought that it was something that you can change on the fly; since all colors are basically a mix of RGB.

Your explanation instead did tell me that it was not a great idea at this point, to get a RGB config :( I did a search for the power extender but nothing came up; is that something that I have to put together?

So far I have only solder the 3 black wires; I guess for tonight I can't do much more since wiring the positive pads at this point won't take me anywhere anyway

You can find the power extender Click HERE on TCSS. You can do some RGB stuff on the NBIV; however, a more appropriate card for that for simple color changing on the fly would be the Prism board. I believe the Petit Crouton has some color changing abilities as well.

So, you have 3 choices here. 1. Either get the color extender and learn how to use the NBIV mixing. You can have 3 colors on NBIV, one in each bank. You can also change those on the computer; however on the NBIV you cannot change them on the fly. The NBIV is an entry level simple board.

2. Get a different LED, and stick with single color with flash on clash white. Single colors are always a confidence booster on your first build. You can save that RGB LED for a later project. My first 2 sabers were single color with no flash on clash.

3. Upgrade your board to a Prism or some other color changing board.

Got it; I did try to wire up the LED using a switch, so I could have red as main color, and purple on flash; and on another side, green with orange on flash, so I use only 2 channels at time; although it is simpler to just get the extender (I see that the name is xtender, that's why the search would come empty :) ). Mostly there is little space to put a switch and more wires; so the solution with the extender is much simpler.

For my next build, I will probably go for a prism; the difference with the NB4.0 is quite noticeable but it pay off in the end, since it save me the extender part :)

Thanks a lot for the info! I did order the extender; can't wait to try your config!

Cant wait to see the results. I'm in the process of collecting parts to build the MPP kit on TCSS (vader's saber). I'm not color mixing on that one per se, except for FOC. Still haven't decided which board I will use. Since this saber will be for an eventual 501st Vader, I want the board to have some advanced features. I guess you and I are learning Plecter boards together. I'm glad you got the extender on the way, and you will be able to learn how to color mix. this way, on your next saber, or when you upgrade, you will already be an expert at that.

I built a MHS RGB saber using a board not available at TCSS, so I am very familiar with color mixing. That saber is my favorite saber, and you can color mix on the fly. It is awesome. Here is my thread on that build: Mako MHS RGB SABER thread

Finally I was successful in making this to work :)

It did help a lot to re-route the wires; due to the extender, but now it works fine. BTW in my config, I have green L1 Blue L2 and Red L3; so I did play a bit with the numbers to get them close to what you posted. I like your shimmer effect, looks better than static. BTW does all these effects ruin the led or the board, due to continuous changes in signal power and intensity? Just wondering if high values may affect the LEDs or the board itself (the battery is protected by the circuit inside it, so that should be fine).

I did 3 configs: one with standard blue (I think it is called light meat sound font?); with greenish FOC; the second is emerald green (as Luke's in ROTJ) with orange FOC (not sure about teh sound font; it does a growl when it boots up).
The third is a pure red with orange FOC, using the last soundfont on the SD card; lots of fun!

My next step will be to actually figure out different sound fonts, and also why the pressure of the button does not enable the "alternative" sounds, like clash sound or blaster deflection. I can just turn on or off the board, and if I keep pressing, it change sound font.

The Nano Biscotte doesn't have any auxiliary effects like blaster deflection or blade lock up. This is all covered by the manual, including how to change the fonts.

On nbiv, you don't get blaster sounds or aux button effects. You get swings and clashes, both of which are activated by saber motion. If you want blasters and other sounds, you need higher tier board. S2, prism,SC2, cf8, I-20. Nbiv only has one button. That button function to do 4 things:. Wake saber from deep sleep, change fonts, saber on, saberoff. That's it. Oh, and mute on the go, if you have that enabled. Glad you got it working. I'm sure shimmer may reduce led life a bit, but LEDs are pretty tough, and the shimmer is within drive parameters, so long as you used proper resistors. Shimmer should not affect board. Nbiv comes with 3 fonts: light meat, grey meat, and dark meat. Roar is grey meat. You can change fonts by swapping out files in each bank following plecter naming rules, which are in the manual. Have fun!

Tom

I see, I thought that at least the switch could be used for lockup or blaster deflection.

There is a silent mode, which imply that you can press the button for a certain time, and do a different action, although that happen before you turn on the saber.

I wonder if there is any way to get in the configuration of the board; to change the inner code; I don't believe that the manual say that it is prohibited to change the software running on the board; although it won't explain how to do that either.

Just for safety, I am not using the full value for the LED; I did reduce it a bit so I have that bit of room when I use them for various effects. The difference betwee 1023 and 1011 is minimal, but the current change should protect the LED just in case.