2010 Hasbros @ Walmart

[Skottsaber]

May I enquire as to why you're using AAA's?
If you have room AA is the way to go, the runtime of your saber is more than double that of AAA.
But I know it can be hard to fit, just letting you know

[Jango72]

I use AAA batteries as that's what will fit in a circular battery holder, in order to maximize my internal space. I make PVC sabers, so I'm limited to the 1" ID of the PVC tubing... it's more difficult to get the white, thin wall PVC in Canada as most only carry the grey thick walled.

I understand that the run times will be shorter, but until I can find a reliable source, I'll have to use what I can get.

As for the latching switches... it's what I've been using and am currently used to. No real reason. I can just as easily use a momentary switch, so long as it turns the saber on and off.

[RevengeoftheSeth]

Just to go into a bit more detail:

The 5v regulators are there to protect the board from excess voltage. The soundboard can only take 5v or less.
If you are using 2 Lithium Ions or 4 Nimh or 4 Alkalines then you need this. Alternatively you can use a single lithium ion, or a dummy cell for 3 Nimh or Alkaline.
I believe the board shuts off with no activity after 30 seconds. All you need to do is trigger a sensor on the board to stop this, a swing will suffice.

Equinox, Pololu converts momentary to latching, not the other way around.

Jango72, why specifically do you want to use a latching? I personally don't like them due to the "click" noise they make when you press them. They don't possess any particular advantage over momentary.

4 NiMH batteries would be ok without a regulator. It's only 4.8V (might be close to 5.2V at a full charge).

[Skottsaber]

(might be close to 5.2V at a full charge).

Exactly

[equinox13]

i was able to let the smoke out of one of these boards with ~5.5V on a testbench at work. just wanted to test the limits. ^_^

[Skottsaber]

[RevengeoftheSeth]

It really wouldn't hurt to add it as a safety net, I suppose. It's not like it would get hot or anything with nothing to burn off. I wonder if it has a natural voltage drop as a normal part of it's circuit?

[equinox13]

nope - it just clips the level at 5V and burns off the rest as heat and to ground. anything less will pass through relatively fine.

[cardcollector]

i was able to let the smoke out of one of these boards with ~5.5V on a testbench at work. just wanted to test the limits. ^_^

That was very informative... thanks