CF4 sound and current but no light

[Count Malik]

Alrighty then I don't know if my guess it right or not but here it goes... CFv4 sounds work but has a little crackling and has the LED is not on. (lux. III royal blue and cyan) I am using a 4 AAA battery pack. But here is the catch the led isn't lighting up but the board says its has a voltage of 3.34v going into a lux. III (I tested it).
But the board is fine (got back from repaires) and my wiring is correct (thanks to Novastar!) But I think it's that the batteries I used were regular none rechargeable (although it will be!) I just used them to test the board, so thats why I think the crackling and the low led current/voltage was happening. But then again I do not know! any help, advice, or opinions would be great!

[Roy's Blues]

Try a different speaker. Try a different LED. Test all connections,and make sure there are no crossovers.
Turn down the sound on the potentiometer

[Count Malik]

now i'm down to 2.25 for my battery and led current. and I need to solder down my speaker connection and positve LED connection better. So that and some new AAA Rechargeables I should be good! thanks

[Novastar]

What Roys said is a good idea, but... one of the very first things to try when CF behaves "oddly" (but isn't totally useless)... are the batteries.

Even briefly connecting "known to be good" Alkalines... whether 3v, 4.5 or 6v should be good for testing.

Additionally, with only 3.3v--the board is either close to or AT its "brownout voltage". CF is going to need:

* AT LEAST the fwd voltage of your LED to light the LED!!
* PROBABLY at least +1v to cover the board's inner workings itself + speaker + extras (LED indicators, etc.)

In general, I recommend that CF is never powered by less than 4.5v since most LEDs will require at least 4v just on their own.

3.34v is not enough to light most high-current Luxeons... except for Red, Red-O, Amber. Even then... the board eats some of that current too, along with the speaker.

Give CF 7.2v??? Oh yeah... now THAT will make her happy!

[Count Malik]

I'm afraid I just don't have the space for a 7.2v pack. Update check I fixed my wires and got new batteries and then Every thing worked great! Nice loud sound and a very bright LED(s)!But I have another problem I have a tiny micro momentary switch (the same thing erv used on his Telum Infensus II saber) I made the slot for it but I don't know how to install this into the saber without grounding it out?

[Novastar]

Malik... glad the new cells and wiring check solved it. Also, I wasn't saying that you should KEEP a 7.2v setup... only that testing it with something as such would guarantee that CF should have enough V to light the LED, run the board's hardware/software, the speaker, etc. etc.

Ok, let's see... you're concerned a switch will ground out? Well, this should be OK if you isolate the leads from touching metal. A little buffer of something non-metal (tape, drop of glue, etc.) should help here.

Also--as far as I know, you won't harm CF if the switch somehow gets bypassed... it will just mean the switch will remain open (or closed, depending) all the time. So for testing... you should be OK.

[Count Malik]

Thanks nova. I just finished the saber today. Man I love this thing! Never had this much fun with a lightsaber before! Now I want to make a video sometime. Now I might build a different blade instead of a stunt saber (ultra) blade, and my main blade which is a CSS upgraded blade (poly-p). I want to make an "Erv-style" blade. Or something that is bright/realictic and lightwaight/durable. Oh and thanks bunches Novastar your vids inspired me and helped me build my dream saber.

[Novastar]

No problem... glad to help.