Sound problem on 2011 Ultimate FX sound card

[jvidamins]

I just finished putting together my saber last night. I'm using the new 2011 Ultimate FX soundcard. Everything was working great before installing the guts - startup, hum, clash, swing, shutdown... everything. I then installed the guts and fired it up. Still everything worked great. Then, I thought I'd test the charge port using my Tenergy Li-Ion Smart Charger. As soon as I plugged it in, I heard a loud "beep", so I unplugged it. I plugged it back in, another beep. Pull it out, plug it in again, then beeps and turns my blade LED on very dimly. Pull it back out. This went on for a minute or so, then I decided to stop. Then when I turned my saber on, I got startup, hum and shutdown sounds, but no swing or clash. The battery was charged most of the way before all this. Now when I plug in the charger, I get no beep and nothing acts up. No matter what I do I can't get the swing or clash sounds to work anymore. Anybody have any ideas as to what went wrong? I'm including the wiring diagram I used. I'm pretty sure it's right based on everything I've read. PLZ HELP!!!

2011 Ultimate FX Wiring Layout.jpg

Here's a pic of my card all wired up:
Mounted Swing Sensors.jpg

[Sunrider]

I have heard those are pretty easy to blow up. Chargers can put out a pretty good voltage spike that can blow up cheap electronics.

[jvidamins]

I have heard those are pretty easy to blow up. Chargers can put out a pretty good voltage spike that can blow up cheap electronics.

The way I have the charge port wired, it's supposed to cut power to the soundboard as soon as I plug the charger in though, right?

[Sunrider]

The only way to be sure is for you to check it with an ohm meter.

[jvidamins]

Ok, update... now when my saber is on and i just barely plug in the charger (just so it makes contact) the clash and swings sounds alternate. If I plug it all the way in, then it shuts the saber down. What the $%&#!@ is going on? I need some guidance... please!

[Ronan]

I'm way too tired to figure it out but from your pic you are missing something... Urgh i can't find my wiring pic but i had mine setup with a recharge port and it ended up different than yours (mine works great).

I might be wrong though, check your recharge port for any damage and bad soldering.

[carthrancore]

can it fit in a 1.25 sink pipe

[Rhyen Skytracker]

If the swing sensors are not wired properly it will cause major problems. I normally just replace the existing swing sensors with the ones from TCSS and wire them back in the exact positions they were in to start with. The clash sensor I normally move as close to the blade as possible. Have you tried a board with the factory sensors and just wire up the necessary components?

@carthrancore - Yes, it will fit in a 1.25" sink tube.

[jvidamins]

If the swing sensors are not wired properly it will cause major problems. I normally just replace the existing swing sensors with the ones from TCSS and wire them back in the exact positions they were in to start with. The clash sensor I normally move as close to the blade as possible. Have you tried a board with the factory sensors and just wire up the necessary components?

@carthrancore - Yes, it will fit in a 1.25" sink tube.

Both boards I fried I put in 2 swing sensors, where there was only the one before. I've only used the Vader and Anakin sabers, which both have the same card, but each has the swing sensor in a different location. Each location is actually labeled on the board as "Vader" and "Anakin". What I did was put one TCSS swing sensor in each of these locations, both perpendicular to each other, hoping to get better response.

Here are a few pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about...

Before swing sensor swap:
Ultimate FX Board-Side 2.jpgUltimate FX Board-Side 1.jpg

After swap with 2 TCSS swing sensors:
Mounted Swing Sensors.jpg

Maybe this has been my problem. You've never tried that Wade? I'll try this one with just one swing sensor in the position the board calls for and see how it works.

So you don't wire the clash sensor to the board? How do you fasten it to the hilt?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Do the Vader and Anakin sabers sound the same? If so, it might be that the board has two different fonts on it, and it fried because of the two swing sensors activating two fonts at once. The differing location for the stock sensor may act as a sewitch to tell the board what font to play depending on what saber it was going to be installed in. Just guessing here?

As for fastening a clash sensor to a hilt, if you were to ask four different people how they do it, you'll likely get four different ways. you can mak a pcb using some perf board and then glue that in the hilt or just glue the sensor to the sidewall of the hilt, and I'm sure there's other ways to do it as well.