Novasound Dark 3.0 board problems?

Hello all,

I've got a Novasound Dark 3.0 on my bench right now and I'm trying to get it running. I've put together about 4 or 5 sabers now, but this is my first Novasound board.

I've got power to the pads marked P+/-, I've got an LED to the pads marked L+/-, I've got a switch to the pads marked SW. I don't have a speaker here yet, but that shouldn't be causing the problem I'm having. I get everything wired up and hit the switch and nothing happens.

There's nothing obvious jumping out at me...is something mislabeled on the board? Is there a menu I need to navigate first that I can't hear? Does anybody have the original instructions/manual/user guide they could share?

Using my multimeter, I see there's voltage at the power pads, there's connectivity at the switch pads when I hit the button. The specs I saw said it's good for 7.4 volts...this is a question I should have maybe figured out before I started, but does the board put all 7.4 volts through to the LED? or does it limit it?

Is my problem just that I fried my LED? Or is there some other issue?

I havent heard of that board in ages. I’m not even sure you’ll be able to get a wiring diagram unless one of the very old posts (if they even still exist) still have functioning links.

Wow that's a real blast from the past!

It sounds like your wiring may be correct iirc (its been a long time since I saw the wiring diagram for those) except you DO need to wire up the speaker because once power is supplied to the Novasound board it uses a female voice menu for selection of settings (LED type, swing and clash sensitivity, flicker etc) which has to be done before the board will allow illuminating the blade. Once settings are selected the switch will activate the saber normally. So you need the speaker lol.

FYI these Novaconceptions boards design predated modern tri-LEDs and were meant for the olde skool Luxeon III, V and K LED stars popular in the early days of the saber hobby...its rated for 7.4V batteries because the Lux V was actually a quad-emiiter under one dome wired in series so needed higher voltage but for Lux III or K LEDs one could also use a 4 AA or AAA battery holder (6V alkaline or 4.8V Nimh).

Today one more likely would use a single 3.7V 18650 battery (~4.2V fully charged) to power a single Luxeon Rebel LED star, using the "Luxeon III" LED type setting on the voice menu which is closest to the Rebel's requirements.

Good Luck.

Edit: Couldnt find a manual for you but found this which has some additional info: https://lsdx4.blogspot.com/2011/10/n...ound-mode.html