Kenner saber sound boards?

[Marsupial]

I've been given a sound board from a collector friend of mine, he says its from a Kenner toy saber.

I'd like to know if any of you tried them in custom work before as I am wanting to use it in experimenting with speaker placement and resonance chamber in my saber.

The board is rectangular - 2 wires for power, 1 for light, 2 for speaker and 2 for impact sensor.

The impact sensor really is a rod with a spring around it.
the speaker is a tad bit bigger then 1.5 inch. Bummer, won't fit in most sabers.

I'd like to know how durable these boards are. experimenting with it, I know it seams to support 4AAs not so bad. I tried to power my 3W luxeon out of that and it seams to hold.

The ignition/retraction is made by blinking the light, there's also some flash on impact.
There isn't really any swing effects, sometimes you hear one after a clash.

the speaker has written specs of 0.25W 8ohm. I changed it for a MR speaker for a louder sound, but different tone. sounds OK.


I'm wondering if I can use this setup on a long period with no damage or if I'd end up frying the board. I never had Kenner toy sabers, but I assume it used 2 or 3 D battery.

[Novastar]

If the board originally handled "X" volts on whatever batteries... it can still handle "X" volts even with a Luxeon setup.

Remember, A, AA, AAA, C and D cells--are all 1.5 volt battery cells. The trick may be determining if the board was wired for the battery life @ 1.5v or for the voltage at 3.0v.

I doubt you could run 5v+ into it for too long, so I wouldn't try it. 4.5v might be a stretch too... that I don't know.

Finally, a slightly-larger-than-1.5" speaker can fit into a 1.5" sink tube that has a "screw-on" end-cap.

[Marsupial]

When my friend gave it to me, he tough it was fried. He was powering it with a 9V square battery - it doesn't work with 9V. I believe the board was made for 3 or 4.5 volts, but have no big knowledge of the kenner sabers. I only assume it used 2 or 3 batteries.
Nevertheless, I'd run 4 rechargeable AA batteries (4.8 volts) so far it seams to accept it.


As far as the speaker goes, I had hoped to fit it in my king-sol twist-on pommel, but it won't fit.

But it seams to fit in a shower-tap so I still have hope to use it somewhere.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Kenner's are the same as Hasbro's so Id say yes, people have used them before. Don't go any higher than 4.5 or 6 volts. You'll fry it. You can replace the speaker with the one from store and it will work fine. I used a similar board in my custom saber for years until I finally upraded to an MR board. I also ran a Lux III from the board with no problems. The older toys used two C cells for 3.0volts, and a flashlight bulb. The newer ones used three AA's for 4.5volts and led's to light the blade. It says lamp on the board, right? It proabaly came from a 3 volt toy, so I wouldn't go much higher than 4.5 volts on it. I'd go with the 4.8 rechargeables.

[erv]

without thinking immediatly to the use of a voltage regulator (which would scare easily non electronic geeks), you can use one or two diodes to lower the voltage from the main batteries.
Power the luxeon with the normal voltage (are you using a simple resistor to limit the current in the luxeon ?). Take the positive wire out of the batteries and put the diode(s) in serie. The positive side of the diode is the one without a bar on it. Each diode will lower the voltage of about .7 volt. After the diodes, you'll have a lowered voltage that can go to the sound board.
The current used by such a board might be under 100 mA, but prefer anyway to use of "power" diodes like 1N4001, 1N4004 or any regular silicium 1A diode (generally black, 2 or 3 mm OD, kathode marked as a white stripe).
Don't forget that a fully charged 4.8 pack easily goes up to 5.2 or 5.4V
Erv'

[Marsupial]

It is not written lamp on the board. In fact, very little info is written on the board. I think its from the very early models, but haven't experience with Hasbro boards either. Maybe I should take it in pics for the benefits of others...

Thanks for the tips erv, but I'm more scared about killing the board then damaging the luxeon; I already had a circuit on that same saber that I would replicate using the board instead of a switch. My main concerns are really about the kenner board; I have no specs...

If I can run it at 4.8V without problem for a while, can I assume I won't fry it?


I plan on making adjustments inside my hilt using this board untill you come up with the V2, then use this board in another saber in parallel with a corbin driver. This way the current saber will be fully ready to accept the V2 when time comes.

(lots of experimenting at low cost without destroying any functionnal technology )

[erv]

Have fun with the kenner saber, it's really great to experiment ! I've made sabers with combination of personnal luxeon driver and old sound boards, this is great, it makes a nice saber !

[Marsupial]

Thanks! I agree they are fun.

plus it gives me time to work on all the internals before I have the actual sound board I intend it to have, so quicker fun when I have the real deal.

I need to do some measurments about the inside of the hilt, I think I might have to change my pommel to have room for a resonance chamber for my speaker

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Hey, Mars, here's a pic of the Hasbro board I recently replaced with an MR. It might help:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...oard_alone.jpg

[Marsupial]

its a different board.

I'd say the board itself is about the same width but twice as long. Plus, the clash sensor isn't soldered on the board, but loose with wires. Also, the sensor is about 1.25 inch long. I still have to figure how I'll put that in the saber ^_^

but seing how its made, I'm most certain I could make something similar if I find a suitable spring.