Wiring a Crystal Focus v.8 with a RGB led WITHOUT a color xtender.....HELP

[Evonacvhett]

Hey Everyone!!
So I built my own saber with the prizm 4.0 sound board, colors change fine and all that, it's AWESOME!!! My friend is trying to build one and I was wiring it up for him. He bought a CF V8, my problem is I was trying to get the whole RGB thing going with his saber on the CF, just like my Prizm. First off can that be done without the color xtender? I wired it up and the red works great! But the green and blue don't work at all. when you hit it against something it just flashes on and off with the red. I have a diagram of how I wired it but I also tested the LEDs after that with some wire and the battery and the only one that was working was the red. I tested them all before I started putting it together and they all worked fine! Could it be a faulty LED? Here is how I wired it...


crystal focus diagram.jpg

Hope that's not too confusing, LOL!

[alcadude]

I personally don't have a crystal focus but from what I know the crystal focus needs a color xtender to color change.I can't completely understand the wiring daigram because like I said I don't have a crystal focus.Te reason they made the prizm (I think)was so that you could color change without a color xtender.

[.: SparrowHawk :.]

Greetings Evonacvhett, sorry to hear about your Crystal Focus trouble. I'll offer what advice I can!

First off can that be done without the color xtender?

Yes, you can use a R/G/B LED with the CFv8 without using a Color Extender. If you haven't already, I would highly recommend reading pages 39-41 in the CFv8 manual.

I wired it up and the red works great! But the green and blue don't work at all. when you hit it against something it just flashes on and off with the red.

First question for you, what battery pack are you using? If it's a 7.4v pack, you'll need to use different resistors for the blue and green LEDs than you would on a PRIZM board, which uses the 3.7v battery pack. If you used the resistor values that a 3.7v pack would need, but are actually using a 7.4v pack, you could have fried your LEDs on channels 2 and 3. Generally, Erv' at Plecter Labs recommends using a single cell battery (which is 3.7v) when doing "pseudo color mixing" on a Crystal Focus, but this requires a bit of modification to the board. However, you can use 7.4v battery packs for "pseudo color mixing", it's just less efficient (you need larger resistors on channels 2 and 3).

Check your stored color profiles, and the Flash on Clash ("fcolor") settings in the override.txt file. Make sure you have defined values for your LEDs on channels 2 and 3, e.g.:

"The board is provided with 7 default color profiles:
## Color profiles
color0=0,740,0,0
fcolor0=740,230,0,0
lcolor0=740,230,0,0
xcolor0=0,1023,0,0
..."

Could you copy and paste your entire override.txt file here? That way we can see the settings you are running.

Some things to highlight when using resistors in "pseudo color mixing":

• Check the the drive settings for each LED color profile in the override.txt file
• When using resistors, you must set the drive setting (the current going to your LEDs on channel 2 and 3, in milliamps) to max (1,500 mA). You then use resistors to regulate the current so you don't over-drive the LED.
• Double check your resistor values, using 1,500 mA as your source current, and double check your LED's forward voltage and max current.
• Remember, if you are using a 7.4v battery pack, the source voltage going to the green and blue LEDs on channels 2 and 3 is 7.4v. So use 7.4v as the source voltage for calculating resistor values.

I have a diagram of how I wired it but I also tested the LEDs after that with some wire and the battery and the only one that was working was the red. I tested them all before I started putting it together and they all worked fine! [...] Could it be a faulty LED?

Possibly. If you didn't use the right resistor, there's a chance you could have fried your LEDs on channel 2 and 3. Can you test the blue and green LEDs by briefly touching wires from a AA battery pack (2 batteries in series) to the LED pads? Be careful of your eyes, cover the LEDs with some paper to diffuse the light as you test it.

Here is how I wired it...

Looks good to me. Generally, though, black is used to represent negative, but if it works for you, go for it

I hope this helps start your troubleshooting process, and I'll stick around this thread to see how things go. Good luck!

[alcadude]

Sorry for miss leading you -Evonacvhett

[Ty_Bomber]

You will first need to hack the CF for Single Cell Use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm3lA1BuhsI

You will then need to follow the simple color mixing tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZD7o0m-kQ

[Evonacvhett]

You're totally good man!!

[Evonacvhett]

-Ty_Bomber
Thanks, I will definitely watch those and figure out what I did wrong!

[Evonacvhett]

SparrowHawk

Thanks so much for the help! I didn't realize that with the onboard color mixing that it was supposed to use a single cell...I'm pretty sure that I burnt out the green and blue LEDs...because I tested them after I found out something was wrong and neither worked. So would it be better to use a two cell with bigger resistors or just a single cell with the same resistors I have on it now? (I believe they are .5 ohm 3watt resistors.)

Here is the override.txt file

## Override File
menuvol=4
menupli=0
menugest=0
beep=40
muteb=0
vol=4
sleep=50000
grav=-500
valsnd=1
switch=2
offp=0
offd=200
onp=0
swing=%30
clash=%25
spin=200
lockup=150
gtsl=192
gtsh=250
plil=5.60
plih=7.30

## Motion
gate=50
hclash=550
hswing=250
hstab=90
hspin=950
field=-10,10,10
tcombo=500
combo0=[empty]
combo1=[empty]
combo2=[empty]
combo3=[empty]

## Glyph (12 banks + iSaber)
glyph00=00000001
glyph01=00000010
glyph02=00000100
glyph03=00001000
glyph04=00010000
glyph05=00100000
glyph06=01000000
glyph07=10000000
glyph08=10000001
glyph09=10000010
glyph10=10000100
glyph11=10001000
glyph12=10101010

## Color profiles
color0=0,740,0,0
fcolor0=740,230,0,0
lcolor0=740,230,0,0
xcolor0=0,1023,0,0
color1=0,0,740,0
fcolor1=700,0,740,0
lcolor1=700,0,740,0
xcolor1=0,0,1023,0
color2=740,0,0,0
fcolor2=0,430,200,0
lcolor2=0,430,200,0
xcolor2=1023,0,0,0
color3=100,630,200,0
fcolor3=500,740,0,0
lcolor3=500,740,0,0
xcolor3=300,850,350,0
color4=640,0,430,0
fcolor4=0,0,740,0
lcolor4=0,0,740,0
xcolor4=900,0,550,0
color5=740,230,0,0
fcolor5=0,740,0,0
lcolor5=0,740,0,0
xcolor5=1023,350,0,0
color6=540,730,0,0
fcolor6=0,740,400,0
lcolor6=0,740,400,0
xcolor6=0,1023,550,0


Thanks again for all the help!!