Crystal Focus TROUBLESHOOTING thread...

[xwingband]

Yup, no difference, though I'd say most put the SD card down to the pommel because we want easier access (not always easy, but easier!).

[Novastar]

LukeSm... post a photo of your board and maybe I could "circle" what it is to check--or at least Erv or someone else could...

BTW, X-wing is right to the point that... you want your SD card facing the way that is best for easy access (if possible). In the cases of the Flange III sabers I made--yup, the orientation of the board is "strange" if there is such a thing... the LED contacts are closer to the speaker (in the back/pommel), but the SPK contacts are closer to the LED (nearer to the emitter). That is b/c my saber is easiest to access the SD via 4 screws up front... but the batteries, speaker and a bunch of other things would block that in the rear / at the pommel. However, this way, I'm able to change many things easily without having to completely dis-assemble!

Regarding what Madcow said... yup, that could be it--I've had similar things occur. Granted, if LukeSM just tries a totally new/different speaker and gets different results, that should tell him something.

[Luke-SkyMarcher]

PROBLEM SOLVED!
After reading madcow's post, I figured I'd better re-check the speaker. So I hooked up a different one, and it sounded fine. I guess the batteries were too low when I checked the speaker before. But I'm still going to need a new speaker. So, is the TCSS premium speaker the same as Erv's?
Thanks for your patience and help guys!

[Madcow]

PROBLEM SOLVED!
After reading madcow's post, I figured I'd better re-check the speaker. So I hooked up a different one, and it sounded fine. I guess the batteries were too low when I checked the speaker before. But I'm still going to need a new speaker. So, is the TCSS premium speaker the same as Erv's?
Thanks for your patience and help guys!

That it is.

I'm glad you got to the bottom of it! Feels good eh?

MC

[Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie]

Regarding orientation of the board, I put mine in backwards too. Like Novastar, with my design, it made it easier to get to the card. I e-mailed Erv at the time, and he said that, if anything, it might work better because it places the motion sensor near the pommel, even further from the point of rotation.

[erv]

yep, "my" speaker is identical. Great it works now !
orientation : no real matter, if at least the motion sensor is not centered on the rotation point of the hilt, the furthest, the the swing sensitivity.

[Novastar]

Regarding orientation of the board, I put mine in backwards too. Like Novastar, with my design, it made it easier to get to the card. I e-mailed Erv at the time, and he said that, if anything, it might work better because it places the motion sensor near the pommel, even further from the point of rotation.

Concur with this I do... getting the acc sensor a bit further from the center is helpful.

Also, glad all this helped LukeSM! And glad I'm not just "bringing on the 'suck'" (See above, hahahah).

Some good things to touch on for those coming to read:

GENERAL T-SHOOTING GUIDELINES (not just for CF either, really)

* If your device behaves strangely... meter/check/charge the cells
* If you can't meter/check/charge the cells... try some other cells. Doesn't even matter if they are the same cell chemistry--as long as they provide like 4.5v or more is a good test
* If it's a sound thing--check the speaker and REPLACE it if possible to test. There's no harm in trying 3 speakers!!
* If it's a light thing--check the LED and REPLACE it if possible to test. You could even quickly touch + & - from a battery to the + & - of the LED as long as the cells are below or = to the LED's fwd v. You'll know for almost CERTAIN if there is a CF (or device) problem if the cell lights up with the "direct to cell" setup... but not when hooked to CF.

* SO... whenever swapping out a part gives you DIFFERENT results (good or bad)... you know that this component is at least a part of the problem--or maybe the entire problem.

It's basically deductive reasoning coupled with repairing. I used to repair laserjet printers (fancy that, huh?), and although this is not totally the "method of attack" on repairs... it certainly becomes a huge portion of it (logic & deductive reasoning) once you get a "tough" repair that you can't deduce in 30 seconds.

Again... you are essentially ruling out EVERYTHING... until there are only one or two things left. At that point... as Holmes would have said--"it's elementary, my dear Watson".

[Evonacvhett]

So I have a CF 8 and one of the colors in my RGB led doesn't work. I tested the led with the battery and all the colors works fine! But not when it's hooked up to the CF. Also a bigger issue I'm having with it is when I turn it on an then hit something like I'm dueling, the saber cuts off. Anyone know what the issues could be? I'm not using a color xtender either. Any help is appreciated and sorry if this is posted in the wrong place!

[hapki]

I hooked up the CF 7.5 in my Sith hilt. All works fine except for the accent LEDs. Sound is good and main LEDs are good (using CEX). I hope there’s something I’m missing in a configuration file. I keep checking with the manual, but no luck so far. When I hook a coin battery up to the wires, the accent LEDs work fine. Suggestions? Thanks.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

I hooked up the CF 7.5 in my Sith hilt. All works fine except for the accent LEDs. Sound is good and main LEDs are good (using CEX). I hope there’s something I’m missing in a configuration file. I keep checking with the manual, but no luck so far. When I hook a coin battery up to the wires, the accent LEDs work fine. Suggestions? Thanks.

Did you bridge the pads right before the accent pad?