NBV4 PCB Light Strip Won't Activate

I have a Nano Biscotti v4 wired up and powered by a TCSS 3.7v 3400mAh battery. The board powers on, the momentary switch activates, the switch turns on the saber and the sound all works. My problem is that I can't get the light strips to activate. I'm using a blade and hilt side PCB from TCSS and I wired both of them according to their YouTube wiring video. I've checked the connections, and I just can't get it to light up.

I used a 330 ohm SMD 0603 resistor on the blade side PCB, but it's just not working. I haven't changed any of the programming defaults on the override or config files because I actually wanted it to be RED (the default).

Any suggestions? I'm attaching my wiring diagram. Thank you SO MUCH in advance, I'm banging my head on the desk here.

Attachment 18006

You have the wrong battery. You need a 15A battery for Neopixels.

I have an update for this... I put together a second board and the same thing happened. No pixels. THEN I slapped the blade. The flash and clash must've activated because it turned red (like I wanted) then white, then it went to a yellowish color. If I kill the power completely, it does this every time. If I simple turn it off from the switch, then back on, the LEDs come back on yellowish and flickering.

Is that still the battery power issue?

I have this battery:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/C...tery-P945.aspx

If so, is this the correct battery:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/C...ery-P1587.aspx

Yes and yes.

One sidebar... so I'm new to this so please forgive me.

I FORGOT to tell the NBV4 that I had a Led Strip.

I changed the parameter from ledstrip=0 to ledstrip=144. That made it WORK! I got it to work! So it's completely working fine with the battery I have. Do I need to change batteries?

The only problem I have is that the speaker has a ton of static in it when the blade is attached. If I don't have the blade on, there is no static at all.

Yes, you still need the other battery.

Ok. That begs 3 questions:

1) are the resistors I have on the switch LED (a Dynaohm resistor) and on the data line 330 ohm, still ok?

2) I have 24/26 gauge wiring on the entire rig. Is that ok for a 15a battery?

3) what’s causing the static on the speaker?

1. Yes.

2. No, you need 22 gauge for the neopixel wires.

3. That’s “voltage ripple”. The neopixels are trying to pull more out of your battery than it can comfortably provide, that why your speaker sounds like crap when the lights are on, but sounds fine when they’re “off”

When you say for the neopixel wires, are you taking the two ground wires that come from the board? What about the positive and the negative wires carrying the juice?

Also, what about the hot and neutral from the battery, to the switch and to tue board?

All of the above are what I mean, except the switch wire. The ground to that can be a smaller gauge.

Crud. I guess I have to rewire most of it then. If you look at my diagram, between the recharge port, the switch and the board, the positive touches all 3. The negative coming off the battery touches all 3 as well. Wouldn’t all of that need to be reworded?

It seems like the only thing that doesn’t need to be reworded is the power to the LED on the switch, the data line to the LED strip and the speakers?

It gets complicated. The wires that touch the switch (LED, signal and related grounds) don’t need to be larger gauge, BUT the wires to and from the board should be where the battery (+) and (-) and the Neopixel ground wires (-) are concerned. So yeah, you’re going to be doing a decent amount of rewiring.

Dang it! Ok, if that'll fix the speaker static problem and the light strip color issue, I guess your tagline (at the end of your posts) is legit (LOL).

So everything touching the recharge port and the Neopixel ground wires. Does it matter that the ground from the board to the switch is 24 gauge? I made a solder joint between it and the board ground to go to the switch.

I'm looking to be able to disconnect it (as needed) would you suggest using these:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/D...Pin-P1568.aspx

It doesn’t matter if the ground to the switch is 24 gauge. If you have the room, you can use those deans connectors. I use those (and variants of those) at certain junctures in my Neopixel builds.

Ok... I'm kind of upset here. I spent another $100 on the shop to get all of the components I'd need to get the saber working the way you told me I had to. I spent a decent amount of time re-soldering, and when I powered it up with the new 15A battery, I got the same exact thing as was happening with the other battery! I'm getting massive static out of the speaker if I have the blade attached. Also, the strip is lighting up, but it isn't lighting up to the color programmed into the card.

Did I just spend more money for no reason?

Not likely. I would recommend you sign up to FX-Sabers and ask this question over there, at the board’s creator (Erv’ - Plecter Labs) has his troubleshooting section there.

As for the colors, that sounds like a configuration or misdirected wiring issue.

This is the resistor I have:

https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/3...tor-P1415.aspx

Attachment 18008
Attachment 18009
Attachment 18010
Attachment 18011
Attachment 18012
Attachment 18013

I also just changed out for 2 other blades and I'm getting the same results.

Are you sure the battery is fully charged? They do not come with a full charge.

I am charging one of the batteries now, just to rule that out (fingers crossed).

Will this charger:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/3...lug-P1524.aspx

be sufficient to charge this battery:
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/D...ery-P1559.aspx

Yes, however, it will take several hours to completely charge.

I will leave it on for 3-4 hours. Does that sound about right? What should be the reading on a volt meter when I pull it off?

I just finished a second hilt. I'm using a 2nd card, a 2nd, wiring rig, and a 2nd blade, and a 2nd battery. It has the same problem with the static. The blade lights up red though; no flickering.

I'm REALLY hoping that the problem is with the battery. I'll let you know in about 3 hours. It's been charging for 1.5 hours so far.

Also, what kind of speaker are you using?

I'm using a Saber Essentials 28mm Stealth V2 Speaker in both.

So I just pulled the battery off of the charger. It fired right up and it looks like it's working without problems. My question is, how long will that work? It's a 15A draw battery. I don't know what power was in the battery out of the box, but it clearly didn't work properly with the amount of juice available. At full charge, how long can you expect a saber to operate before the speaker sounds like it's killing a cat?

Its a 3.12 amp hour battery so if you where drawing 3.12 amps it would last a hour theoretically. A pixel strip on full white could draw around 10 amps so it would last 18 minutes. On average I would say you will get about 30 minutes if you do not go full white all the time.

It depends on the color, but as Tim said, 30-45 minutes would be the norm, depending on the color(s) you use.

Thanks. I really do appreciate all of the help. I just wish there was a circuit on the board that would just cut power if the power wasn't correct/enough. It would certainly reduce the number of questions like my own. I'm wondering if the other boards might have that technology built onto them.

The CFX does do that. It will warn you when the power lvl is low and you can also use the blade as a power lvl indicator.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Strydur

The CFX does do that. It will warn you when the power lvl is low and you can also use the blade as a power lvl indicator.

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What Tim said. All my Neopixel builds are with the CFX. Feel free to check out the wiring video I did about 18 months ago on it. It’s in the video section.