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Thread: Darth Vader ANH MPP 2.0 Kit + NBv4 + Tri Cree DR/R/W - First Build!

  1. #11

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    So I see an override.txt in the root - but I do not see a config.txt in the root. But I see the confix.txt file in the bank 1/2/3 folders.

    Should there be an override in the root folder or only in the bank folders? The manual is not clear on that.

    I was very careful or at least tried to not bridge solder. I am checking the connections.

  2. #12

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    there should be a config file in each bank folder You need to make sure each pad you have wired is turned on. Can you cut and paste your config files here from each bank? Also, can you tell me which pads you soldered each wire to?

    Tom

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

  3. #13

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    I took apart the hilt in the middle. I pulled the led holder out and saw that several leads came off the led. I am re-wiring and will try it before putting it back together. The led part was my first soldering in a while and i became better as I went down the hilt the NBv4 does not look too bad. Will post pics soon.

  4. #14

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    that would probably be the culprit.

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

  5. #15

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    when soldering on the led star, especially if its already mounted on the heat sink, it will take more heat to solder the wires on the pcb.

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

  6. #16

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    Thanks for that tip. It seems that my solder iron temp was not hot enough to keep set the solder on the pads. I am trying again this week and will post the install pics. Thanks!

  7. #17

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    Full build up until the leds became unconnected.

    Build Kit

    I assembled the kit which is pretty straight forward. I shot a video that I will upload soon on the build. I switched out the hex screws for the MPP Accuracy kit slotted screws.










    Battery holder
    Wire lead to +/- and shaving off corners for the holder to fit into the V6 Speaker mount then add battery remover ribbon












    Wiring speaker





    Inserting speaker into V6 speaker mount.
    Per the YouTube vids from Rob/TCSS Channel - I used a dremel to channel groves on the inner sides so the speaker and solder will fit. Then used the credit card corner trick to seat the speaker into the mount securely.





    LEDs
    I am using a Tri-cree DR/R/W led. You might find the led is larger than the KR Sabers heating opening. I had to follow their advise on their website and dremel sand off the edges so it would fit. I seated the led on the thermal pad then onto the heatsink and screwed into the holder with the led lens on top. The holder has a lip to keep everything in place. On this heatsink, there was one center hole instead of a circle of holes around the outside for the led wires.








    Wiring LED
    After watching videos from TCSS over and over, I felt I understood the wiring layout and how to connect the +/- of the 3 leds.

    I will come back to wiring the led later, but for the most part, all wires were soldered correctly along with the appropriate resistors.










    Ohm’s Law
    Make sure you are up on your electrical wiring and Ohm’s Law. I have included my calculations here. 3.7 is the volts of my battery


    Deep Red Cree Part# XPEEPRD-L1-0000-00C01
    425 Radiant Flux @ 350mA
    Forward Voltage @1000mA = 2.5v

    R <Ohms> = (3.7 - (2.5)) / 1A
    R = 1.2
    P <Watts> = 1.2 * 1A
    P = 1.2
    1.2 ohm, 3W watt resistor


    Red Cree Part# XPEBRD-L1-0000-00901
    80.6 Minimum Luminous Flux @ 350mA
    Forward Voltage @1000mA = 2.59v

    R <Ohms> = (3.7 - (2.59)) / 1A
    R = 1.11
    P <Watts> = 1.11 * 1A
    P = 1.11
    1.2 ohm, 3W watt resistor


    White Cree Part# XPEBWT-L1-0000-00F51
    266 Minimum Luminous Flux @ 1000mA
    Forward Voltage @1000mA = 3.15v

    R <Ohms> = (3.7 - (3.15)) / 1A
    R = 0.55
    P <Watts> = 0.55 * 1A
    P = 0.55
    0.5 ohm, 3W watt resistor







    Blade Plug
    The hilt has a pass-through screw to secure the blade plug. The problem is the screw that comes with the kit is too short. I used the new screw that came with the accuracy kit and it was long enough to secure the plug.





    LED Retention
    I could not find online how to secure the led holder inside the hilt. On the Etsy webpage for the MPP screw accuracy kit it mentioned that since I replaced the silver hex screw with the accuracy kit’s black hex screw, you can use that silver screw as a led retention screw. After looking at the hilt, I found a screw opening under the bulb release button that I could use the silver hex screw. The issue I found was that screw was too tall and the button would not seat correctly for the button to click on/off. I had to dremel the screw down so it would be flush. With the screw in, the led holder was secure right behind the side vents of the hilt.





    Activation button
    I used the built in Bulb Release button in the Kit. I immediately noticed that there was not much room under the metal tongs under the button and the plastic black sleeve inside the hilt. I could either sand a groove in the plastic hilt or shave off some height of the actual button. I decided to thin the button’s outer ring and make its profile thinner so the button could be clicked. If someone has a better way - please share!





    Recharge port
    I was not planning to add a 2.1mm recharge port at least in my first build. But after watching numerous YouTube videos, I decided to add it so I could have a kill key (plastic plug) in place to save sending power to the NBv4. The recharge port is wired to the battery holder and too the sound board. I will post later the wiring setup. Since the hilt or my inner holder does not have a built in place to add the port, I just set if in the back of the holder and will be accessible when I pull out the speaker holder. Not pretty but functional since this is not a reveal saber.











    NBv4
    This is a great soundboard that offers a lot of options and is priced competitively. I again turned to youtube for wiring guidance as there are some pads that will have two wires attached. This was the most delicate of my soldering parts but with patience and tinning the wire, it went smoothly.





    Moment of truth
    With everything wired, I put the kill key in the recharge port and added the battery. Pulling the kill key will sent power to the board and you should hear a boot sound, after that pushing the button will fire up the less and sound font.


    I pulled the key, boot sound happened - great!
    I pushed the activation button - I heard the saber sound font - awesome! But no LEDs! The board reacted to me tapping the board for the FOC but no light.

    After a short moment of depression, I decided to review the config file on the SD card. Everything looked ok. Each sound font has a folder on the card, inside is the config.txt file where you can set a lot of options.

    I then decided to open the LED holder and see if there was an issue with the led wiring. Low and behold, some of the wires came off the pad when I was installing the bottom hilt. I thing it was me screwing the hilt on twisted the wires and possibility pulled off the wires.





    So here I am with the build. I will be focused on re-wiring and try again. I was told in another forum that when the LED is on a heatsink, it takes more heat to solder the wires on the pads. I think that was one of the reasons for the connection breaks.


    More soon.
    Last edited by DarthVTX; 07-18-2017 at 09:27 AM.

  8. #18

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    The 2 yellow wires coming off the + to each of your red diodes (Deep Red and Red) you commoned up and then put on your resistor. This will divide the resistance between the 2 diodes. I would resistor each red diode independently, then tie them together to common them up through the hilt.

    Diode + Red--------1.2 ohm 3 watt resistor---------Join with other Red LED +-----------Join with + from recharge port------Board
    Diode + Deep Red----1.2 ohm 3 watt resistor-------Join with other Red LED+------------Join with + from recharge port------Board
    Diode + White------.5 ohm resistor------------Join with above wires----------------Join with + from recharge port---------Board

    or you could put the resistors on each negative leg. IMHO they will work properly either way, as they regulate the current flow no matter which side of the diode they are on, I could be wrong, but to me, this is 6 of one 1/2 dozen of the other.

    The reason I do mine that way is this: I solder bridges between on the + pads on the LED, and I only run one single red wire out of LED that is the positive for all of the diodes. Of course, how you did will work too, except for only having one resistor for both red diodes.

    Tom

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

  9. #19

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    So I will take your advise and bridge the neg & pos pads. That will reduce the wires through the hole to 4 instead of 6. Since I have to use 26AWG wire, space through the heatsink hold is limited.

    Here is the setup I will use.

    index.jpg

  10. #20

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    Kind of. Leave your negative leads off the reds separate coming out of the star. Resistor them independently. No need for a resistor on positive line, your scrubbing off voltage to all 3 LED's that way.

    Bridge ONLY the positives to a single wire coming out of star. Then have a wire for each red - LED pad, and one for white - LED pad. So, you should have a common red positive which feeds all 3 diodes on the star with NO RESISTOR. A wire feeding Deep Red Negative Pad and a 1.2 ohm 3 w resistor under star. Then a wire feeding negative red pad and a 1.2 ohm resistor. then a wire feeding your white negative pad with a .47 ohm resistor. You can double up the red negative feeds after you resistor them. You will have a total of 3 resistors! One for each LED Diode. One for red, one for deep red, and one for white.

    Negative Red LED Line-------------------------------Resistor------join with other red negative feed------board.

    My first post above was confusing, as I was talking about fixing how you had it initially. So again, yes you will have 4 wires coming off LED Star. One wire feeds all positive pads on LED star. Your positive pads are all bridged to that one wire.

    Then each LED NEgative gets its own wire and its own resistor. You can join the red LED negative wires after you resistor them independently.

    The only photo I have of an LED wired this way is bridged internally with an internal resistor. I need to take a picture of the next tri cree.

    Tom
    Last edited by Tom Tilmon; 07-18-2017 at 04:19 PM.

    "Mistakes are our greatest teacher."

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