Petit Crouton and a really good plan.

[Storm Sunfire]

Okay so I received my Petit Crouton from TCSS (thanks to all for making this board available) and I have been reading the manual. And I have been reading the manual again.
I want to plan out the configuration of my saber before I ever touch solder to the board.
My plan?
Red Rebel Star LED || Red Ring AV Switch and Recharge Port || Accent LED (possibly a PLI) and momentary switch || Two Trustfire 14500 Li-ion

I have read through thirty pages of posts regarding configuring the PC-L and I see nothing regarding the PLI. I understand that the AV LED needs to be wired to one of the accent LED pads but what about a Power Level Indicator? is this something that should be wired to the battery pack before the recharge port? or will it need to be wired to the other accent LED pad?

Thanks for the time. I appreciate it.

[(null).exe]

I could have sworn there was another thread posted about this recently

*EDIT*
Here it is: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...evel-indicator)

[Storm Sunfire]

Thanks but I've read that post. Maybe I should be more clear; I am wondering if I should use the second accent LED pad for the PLI? Will it tax the board too much if I put it elsewhere? Does an item that cycles through a series of LEDs (like the red LED bubble strip) count as a single accent LED? If it will work how will it function with the parameters of the accent LED configuration?

Lots of questions that I can't find answers to and I am not willing to burn out my PC-L to discover the answers. If it was a cheapy Hasbro I would've tried three or four different things by now...lol.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I wouldn't use the accent led pads for wiring a PLI. Those supply a constant 3.3v and 18ma of current. A PLI will need to be wired to the battery pack, probably off the recharge port or off the positive and negative battery pads on the board so it'll come on when you pull the kill plug. also, the AV switch led doesn't have to be wired to one of the accent led pads, it can go on the 3.3v pad or in parallel with the main blade led. Properly resistored, of course. The only way to have it bl8ink in stand-by mode, though, is to use the accent led pads.

[Storm Sunfire]

Well hello! That was a quick reply! Very interesting!
So if I understand correctly I can wire the PLI (or bubble strip) off of the recharge port, have two blinky accent LEDs, and have the light from the AV switch? That doesn't seem so limited after all. In this configuration a 7.4V Li-Ion should be okay?
Thanks for the help! Give yourself ten cool points.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

It should be alright to run all of that on a 7.4 volt Trustfire battery set up...you'll eat more runtime with the more you have hooked up, but it'll look cool when it's running.

[Storm Sunfire]

Yeah that's the goal. I figure after having so many crappy econo board sabers with bad wiring and worse design I would take my time and make something worthy of the PC.

[Skottsaber]

You do realize what the PLI board actually does?
It shows your battery level as it drops, so I'm not sure what you were trying to achieve with a constant voltage supply, and such a small one at that. You wouldn't even be able to run one of the LEDs on the PLI board, because they run at 20ma.

[IndustrialAction]

Oops, didn't see Skott's post before I posted...

Storm, PLI stands for Power Level Indicator. Wiring it to an accent pad isn't going to do you any good unless you're just interested in the lights. If you want it to actually do what it is supposed to do, it needs to be wired in the battery's circuit.

[Storm Sunfire]

Yeah PLI to me just means "blinky blinky!" LOL I figure that I will know that it is time to plug it in when I try to activate it and it makes a dying pacman sound. LOL.Since Tim doesn't have the PLI any how, I've decided to go with the red bubble strip LEDs. I am planning to mount them on the chassis that slides in and drill holes in the body for them to shine through.
Nice note about the accent pad not being able to run the PLI board. I hadn't considered that. I think with the bubble strip I will put it just past the recharge port so it goes off when the board does.
As for the accent pads I've decided to go with *GASP* accent LEDs.
I'm glad you all are here to bounce my stupid around! LOL