Econo Board Help...

[Gnar-Gnar Gin]

Hey Guys,

This forum has been great to me, and I've built 8 successful hilts, but now it's time for me to play with some new features...

2 things about me... Im broke as heck, and am horribly clueless to electronics... I'm doing my best to learn, but theres a lot, and am having a hard time building my skills.

I have bought 2 econo boards, one the current mace windu, the other is the current anakin both pictured below.
IMG_1243.jpgIMG_1244.jpg

Does this diagram work for these boards?
speakersetup.jpg

I've gone through tones of forum pages in my spare time, but haven't found anything for this: how do I add a recharge port to said diagram...

I'm in a bit of a time crunch, because I'm making this for my little brother as a birthday present, which is why I'm coming to you guys, I've run out of time to read the boards and figure it out by trial and error.

Thanks a million

[Silver Serpent]

Look in this thread: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...w-DVD-Tutorial

And find the pic labeled: 3.7 V - 6 V with recharge port (No accent LED)

The speaker-driven setup that you posted works, but you get a very dim blade.

[Gnar-Gnar Gin]

I was hoping to get the blade flicker minus the "flash" on clash effect...

so no one found a way to increase brightness using the speaker method eh?

[Obi1]

I guess the brightness topic is just a question of the active element (i.e. transistor) used, for me I prefer MOS-FETs. I recently "improved" one of my Hasbro FX sabers using a similar method, you can find the thread here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...-motor-upgrade

It works for LEDs as well. the brighness depends on how "open" the transistor is. Well, that's where it can get complicated, because you need to match certain parameters of the used transistor to the speaker signal you want the LED to mimic.

BUT there is an easier method: say you have 2 LEDs of the same color on your PCB. One you use as a normal blade LED without the flickering, the other one you use like shown on the diagram. You will have an even brighter blade, and the flickering will be there as well.

Just consider that even 1 of such LEDs is VERY bright, 2 of them...I hope your brother is not a small kid any more and knows how to handle such a saber responsibly...

One more idea: if you do not want to forfeit FoC and have a 3rd LED on the PCB (most of the units nowadays come with up to 4 dice), you can even have FoC, look here:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...OC-like-effect

[Dethlore]

I'm adding a constant flickering on my setup which is also driven off the speaker. So I have 2 LEDs on full and 1 that flickers. The circuit isn't done and perfected yet; it's a work in progress, but you can see what I've got so far on that thread -> http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ustom-Circuits.

It contains an LM3914 voltmeter measuring voltage from 6V to 8.4V, a 555 timer connected the transistor and mosfet to one LED for a pulsing effect, volt regulator for the hasbro soundboard and other 2 LEDs controlled through transistor and mosfets via the speaker.

For brightness, I basically have the speaker go to the base of an N type transistor, battery (+) to collector, emitter goes to mosfet gate (should allow a higher voltage to fully 'open' it). Batt (+) to LED (+), LED(-) to resistor to mosfet drain, mosfet source to ground. My circuit has some small differences because of some of the other components I have... but... that should do it.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Also keep in mind that with the board on the right you will have to solder where the switch made contact. If you look close there is a circle with traces in it. You have solder a wire to each side of the traces. It has been so long since I have used one of these boards but I think you can actually follow the trace and find a better place to solder it at.

[Dethlore]

also, just curious, do they have different sounds and or features from each other?

[Gnar-Gnar Gin]

Also keep in mind that with the board on the right you will have to solder where the switch made contact. If you look close there is a circle with traces in it. You have solder a wire to each side of the traces. It has been so long since I have used one of these boards but I think you can actually follow the trace and find a better place to solder it at.

Theres a dot just below the swing sensor you can solder to, along with one just beside the switch area... stuck using the board on the right, mostly because of ID of PVC

[Gnar-Gnar Gin]

also, just curious, do they have different sounds and or features from each other?

Sounds are the same, boards are slightly different configuration, but identical in performance.

[Dethlore]

Sounds are the same, boards are slightly different configuration, but identical in performance.

Good to know, thanks! Once my circuit is done (I think I've got the tweaking perfected now), I'm going to build some for my wife and kids. I wondered if the other boards were all similar or sounded different etc. Looks like I'll be picking up the Mace Windu blades.