Well, I got the saber. I ran out to the nearest big electronics shop and bought a battery pack, speaker, and other odds and ends, and, with low expectations, set about trying to revive the seemingly dead 2003 Vader saber...and it worked! This was my first serious electronics project (not counting an Ultrasabers Darth Maul conversion that simply required me to follow directions), and it was quite a thrill to put the batteries in, flip the switch, and see the saber fire up. Now I just need an LED, lens, holder, heatsink, and some kind of blade holder, not to mention a hilt. I'm thinking of using the Vader hilt and making it look a lot less Vader-esque by removing the MPP clamp (which, in this 2003 edition, looks pretty cheesy) and improvising a different emitter.
One thing I'm still not clear on, after searching the forums and looking through the various wiring diagrams, is how precisely to add a charger port. Eventually I'll have the MR FX sound board, 4 AAA battery pack (using 1000 aM NiHM batteries), an LED, speaker, and latching switch. I'd be grateful if someone could fill me in on exactly how to wire the charge port in, or point me in the direction of a wiring diagram I may have overlooked. Thanks in advance.