Crystal Focus TROUBLESHOOTING thread...

[eastern57]

check battery next.

[MaverickJsmith]

Yes, always check the battery if abnormal performance appears.

I was going to show off my Ultra converted Anakin EPIII one night and I threw the batteries in. I thought it was broken, it would start then die in the span of a strobe light, turn off and on many times a second.

We threw new batteries in and voila! (that was for you Loreen )

Always check batteries, even if you don't think it is. You might be surprised.

Maverick

[Novastar]

When you put it away:

* did you disconnect the cells? Either physically, or essentially via a "kill switch"?

if not, CF was pretty much "on" the whole time (albeit only draining something like 5mA, if that)... and your cells are completely exhausted.

Crystal Focus PRETTY much has a "brown out" voltage of <3.3v or around there. So as long as the batteries provide more voltage than that, it will go ON... but... the cells may be so far drained that... sure, it goes ON... but performance is completely wrecked.

With the audio amp, CF needs some power to give the speaker what it needs (especially when the audio potentiometer/trimmer is turned way the heck UP). It's another reason why I recommend using something like 6v to 9v to power it.

My big hint here was "I put it away for most of the summer"...

I'm having a bit of trouble with a CF 3.1. When I first got it, it sounded great. I did a simple setup to test some resonation chambers. It has been put away for most of the summer, as I have been working on and off on the saber it will be going into. I finally got it back out this week to test a new resonation chamber, and it sounded horrible! (As in, the font "Novastar" sounded almost like a Hasbro!) This is what I have checked/tested thus far, to no avail:
1. solder connections
2. Speaker
3. potentiometer
4. SD card
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
-Luke

[erv]

time zone difference, couldn't add my words to that in time
yes, battery voltage, sort of fine until you reach 4.5V, crappy and distorded under that.
Check also that the potentiometer hasn't been turned in the meanwhile, too high input signal leads to audio saturation.
Matt, about the "I put it away for most of the summer", it's normal, everybody needs a vacation break CF builder and CF themselves !

[Luke-SkyMarcher]

Thanks for the response guys. After re-soldering the speaker (again) and using fresh batteries (7.4v) the sound quality improved, but it's still not quite normal. (This is most noticeable in the menu and isaber modes) Sometimes, even when the board is quite still, the sound will cut out to a very low level (regardless of how high or low the potentiometer is). There is also static at times ( even with the pot turned down) Any more ideas?

[Novastar]

Luke... mmm... if I had to take a GUESS (based on what we've been confirming here so far)... it could indeed be that the audio amp cap is:

* no longer seated correctly (whether by usage/damage/otherwise)
* somewhat faulty
* just not making good connection

This would not have to do with ANY of the wires YOU'D be messing with... it's basically a cap on the board. Am I wrong Erv??? As... I SEEM to recall that back in the v1.2 days (my God, has it been that long), you had a tantallum cap attached to a chip in a fairly innocuous way... and I DID have an issue where the pins to the cap had come loose. I fixed them thanks to your help!

Now... since LukeSMer's is a v3.1... I can't envision in my mind how it's set up now. Hmm, I wonder. I don't have any "project CF" boards sitting here that I can look at--I'd have to pull apart my sabers to have a look, but... hmm, I will look at some CF photos.

Luke, it would help if you took a photo of the board... we might be able to point to a (possible) part that could be the culprit.

REMEMBER: This is a guess. It's an EDUCATED guess, but... understand that we're essentially fumbling around in the dark here. It's like me trying to find my saber when it's off and the room is pitch black...

... ....IRONIC, isn't it??!?!?

[erv]

Checking the output capacitor is an idea, me I'm guessing for bad wires if the sound tends to disapear (an "almost broken stranded wire").
Or the pot wiper is damaged.
Erv'

[Luke-SkyMarcher]

After more testing, it's almost always on the lower volume (though it still jumps back and forth) - and it only seems to have static when it's on the loud (normal) volume. I don't think it's the potentiometer, because turning it still adjusts the volume - it's just at a lower level.
I have checked and re-checked all wiring, I am sure it is not that, and nothing on the board appears to be abnormal. "Output capacitor" sounds promising. How would one check that? Thanks for all your help guys.

[Madcow]

Two ideas..

1. Are you using a red lux 3? I noticed when I had a red lux 3 hooked up with an aggressive flicker setting - it made for interference in the sound.

2. The speaker is a magnet - once I had a small peice of metal stuck to the cone of the speaker - that was my whole problem!

MC

[DizzyKungFu]

Does the vertical orientation of the Crystal Focus Saber Core 4.1 in the saber hilt matter at all? In other words, can the microSD card face either the pommel or the blade without making a difference?