stunt to sound upgrade, wiring check?

[TwinMill]

First off, a word of thanks is in order to Tim, for making such an addictive hobby possible with the MHS parts / builder and also to FJK and Silver Serpent for their advice / help with wiring questions during the initial phase of building my first saber.

Ive decided to upgrade my stunt saber to having sound via NB v2 (when they are back in stock) and have created this diagram with just one open spot that I'm unsure what to do.
wiring.jpg

Page 12 of the manual shows a power indicator led connected to a 3.3v pad (next to motion sensor) but goes on to say "This is only recommended if the saber is equipped with a main power switch." Don't all sabers have a power switch? I'm confused. Also, the neg terminal of the pictured led is going to the main sound card neg, which would be occupied by the MWS harness.

(I'm trying to minimize soldering and keep this as much plug & play as possible.)

-- edit to add --
the mws nb v2 & speaker+battery holder would be replacing my current momentary to latching converter and standard dual AA battery holder.

[Gnar-Gnar Gin]

the main power switch means kill key recharge port, as you need a way to cut power to the accent led, or your battery will run out faster...(In this setup the accent LED is on at all times, even when the saber is off, so having a recharge port with kill key allows you to cut all power to the board and accent led for storage)(otherwise when your NB goes into deep sleep, the accent led will remain on at all times drawing power)

You could always wire the accent led in with the main led, but your accent led will only come on when the saber is on.

(a recharge port is technically a switch as it redirects power during charging)

Hope I saved SS and FJK a bit of work

[Silver Serpent]

GGG is correct. I believe Erv has stated there are locations to solder on the board that will turn off when the board goes into deep sleep mode, but I don't recall where they are.

If you just want the LED to turn on and off with the blade, then you'll need to wire the accent LED in with the blue and white wires for the main LED, as GGG said above. That would be the least tricky for soldering.

[TwinMill]

Thx again guys. Awesome info, just what I was looking for.
I think I'm going to add a couple JST connector kits to my shopping list, and 1' each of blue & white wires,
make my own custom Y connector.

[Silver Serpent]

That should do the job nicely.

[TwinMill]

Small update, doing a bit of mock up with my new speaker / bat holder
( http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/MH...lder-P766.aspx )
I seem to have hit a bit of a snag. The holder slid into my hilt about 93% of where I wanted it to be then hit a dead stop. I tried attaching my
pommel, but it stopped threading in about half way and left I'm guessing a 1/4" gap between itself and the hilt with some threads visible.
I wasn't about to try and force it together.

When I went to take the holder out again, I found it to be wedged in fairly well. A light tapping of the hilt against the palm of my hand didn't
drop it. I instead had to insert an unsharpened pencil into the blade holder end of the hilt and push it out.

I was hoping it would be a tight enough fit to not rattle if I want to practice my saber swinging, but still loose enough to slide out when I
need to recharge the 14500 battery. Would a light sanding of the speaker holder lip accomplish my goal or even be advisable? Is a trim
ring to hide the gap between pommel and hilt a better idea?

Another idea I wouldn't rule out might be moving the speaker into the v4 holder on the chassis parts page, and maybe get a couple custom
chassis disks made to mount my original 2x AA holder and the NB board I want to eventually buy.
(Assuming of course, if the disks are big enough to accommodate those 2 items, along with the threaded rods needed to hold it all together.)

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

It sounds to me like something was blocking the battery holder on the other end. The speaker holder lips usually do not catch on anything. You could try to sand it a little, but I would first make sure that's the real problem, and not your battery holder getting stuck on something. The chassis disks are NOT made for use with the battery holder.

[TwinMill]

I'll try pulling everything out, and double checking.
Saber_1_render.jpg


----
Update: removed the switch, wires, etc... tried putting the speaker / bat holder in again. Same issue with pommel
not wanting to close, although with very slight improvement in how far it went before stopping. I shined a
flashlight beam down the hilt and saw a corner of the battery holder was pushing hard against the hilt.

I proceeded with my original plan of sanding the lip completely off the speaker holder. I'm glad I did, as it now
fits perfectly and I only have to remove the pommel when it's time to pull the battery for recharging.

On a side note, when ever, if ever I manage to acquire a sound board, I'm going to be shortening some of my
wires and see if I can improve my "cram-fu". My biggest assembly headache seems to be getting the switch
mounted. There's only so far the nut can turn before the corners start grabbing the hilt, and at that point the
switch still wobbles a bit. My solution so far has been to grab the threaded part of the switch with a needle
nose pliers and turn that when the nut cannot move any further. I'm just a bit concerned that doing this could
at some point damage the wires.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I've had similar issues with that battery holder in the past, and I can tell you with 99% certainty that it was the extra bundle of wiring pushing the battery pack into an angle causing it to bind in the pommel threads. Shortening of the wiring and ensuring there's no snarls of wire will correct the condition without having to sand off the retention lip.

[TwinMill]

Oddly enough, I had thought of that Sun. night which led to the tear down and empty hilt test yesterday.
(see edit to previous post) However, I forgot to mention I was holding the wires (gently) taut to eliminate
that kind of pinching as a possible cause of the issue. Also did a quick visual & tactile inspection of the wires
after the initial failed install to make sure they weren't damaged.

I don't mean to suggest everyone should sand the lip off, only that it worked for me. My best guess is that
maybe the battery holder was glued to the speaker part at a slightly odd angle.