Yet Another Soundcard Issue

[Evilpancreas]

soundcard.jpgI finally managed to cram the cheap vader card into my hilt and decided that I would test run it. I wrapped the positive and negative battery wires in electrical tape and put the batteries in. Everything is working, except for the LED. It doesn't light up at all. I am using the basic wiring diagram. I soldered the 3 negatives into one wire and used that one wire to go to my transistor. I honestly cannot figure out what my issue is and its making me angry. I put a picture up of what I did.

[Silver Serpent]

Try to take a photo of your wiring. It sounds like you don't have the transistor wired properly.

[Evilpancreas]

Since its all crammed in there a photo would be impossible. I just checked and its wired identical to this diagram: 2010ModifiedBasicrev01-10-2011.jpg

[Silver Serpent]

Verify that you have a PNP transistor and not a NPN transistor. Check the wiring diagram for your specific transistor (some of them may be different).

You should have the BASE going to the 3 LED negatives.
EMITTER goes to the battery POS.
COLLECTOR goes to the LED POS.

Check solder joints on the LED as well, they may not be making good connection.

Also, since you said it's crammed in there, be sure you don't have any shorts. If the legs on the transistor are touching each other, or the walls of the saber, you may get funky results.

[Evilpancreas]

I just did a thorough check and I can't find out what is wrong. Everything is wired properly, it is a TIP42 pnp transistor, all of the connections are solid as well. I put heatshrink on all the transistor's legs. I'll try soldering everything together and see if it works then.

[Evilpancreas]

I finished wiring it all together. Everything still works except for the LED. I am extremely pissed off right now as this shouldn't be happening.

[Silver Serpent]

If you have one, get a 2AA battery holder with ordinary alkalines. Touch the + and - wires to the LED pads briefly to be sure the LED is working.

If the LED is working when you touch the batteries to it, you'll probably have to remove the wiring from the saber and take a picture. I can't really tell you more without looking at it.

[Evilpancreas]

I got the LED to work. It seems there was a small break in the wire near the LED. My issue now is that I can't fit everything into the hilt. Are there more space effective battery packs on the site?

[Zzan]

Without knowing what are you currently using that's kinda hard to answer.
a Li-Ion 14500 pack will be slightly smaller than a 2xAA in a holder because you won't have a holder. It comes 2 ways stick or side by side and outputs 7.2-7.4 volts.

[Evilpancreas]

I got a 4AAA pack, but now my parts won't unscrew. I think I'm not destined to ever finish this saber.