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Thread: speaker hiss...premium speaker?

  1. #21

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    LED choices:
    1. Luxeon 3 all colors white/blue/green (1000mah)
    2. Luxeon 3 red/amber/red-orange (1400mah)
    3. Luxeon 5 (850mah)
    4. Luxeon K2 (1500mah)
    5. Luxeon 3 Overdrive (1200mah)
    IMPORTANT! (be sure to select the correct LED type installed in your saber)

    Battery input voltage:
    Maximum for board = 9.6V
    Minimum/Maximum for Luxeon 3, K2, P4 = 4.5V / 7.2V (6V recommended)
    Minimum/Maximum for Luxeon 3,P4 Red/Amber = 4.8V / 6.0V

    Minimum for Luxeon 5 = 7.2V
    IMPORTANT! (be sure to use the correct voltage/power with corresponding LED type)

    And notice the max board voltage is 9.6 so I should be well under. It has to be something else. Which is the correct setting for a blue p4?
    This is just not adding up maybe I'm missing something like my wires to the p4 touch the star or possible bridge in the accent led aside from that I'm stumped.

  2. #22

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    While I am by no means qualified to debate the effects of RF in a metal tube on audio quality. Nor am i able to tell anyone how much voltage through a regulator you can have and what if any effects that would have on sound quality. I still feel that A LOT of people use 7.4 volt Li-Ion setups with U.S. boards and do not see the same problems. I have 2 U.S. 2.1's both with 7.4V Li-Ion power cells, neither creates a hissing noise. One is a lux 3 Gree the other a lux 3 Red Orange.

    I think we may be barking up the wrong tree on the over voltage diagnosis.
    I was referring more to the heat than the hiss but the hiss could be a side effect as well. Yes that is the recommended voltage on the board but you are still 3v over what the led needs, thus the heat....not sure what else to do...

    Heaven knows i could be wrong...but it makes sense to me that the heat would come from over voltage, not that you would fry the board....yes that is the recommended, you just wanted to know why it heated up that fast...
    Every time Tim ships an order... an angel gets its wings



    "Just get one and go nuts, that's how this hobby works. Get stuff. Go nuts. Period." ~FenderBender~

  3. #23
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    One thing I have found on the US 2.5 is if you use a single 3.7V li-Ion it does not output enough voltage for blue and green LEDs. With 3.7 V in it puts out around 2.85V which is enough voltage for a red and amber LED. That said you lose about 1V across the board. I have used 6V on the US 2.5 several times and have not had any problems. Lately I have been using 4.8V (4 NiMH batteries) and they work fine too. If you are concerned that the excess voltage being what is causing the problem, use 4 NiMH batteries. That will give you 4.8Volts to the card and output around 3.8V which is barely over the LED forward voltage. Let me know how this works out for you.

    Live long and...I mean May the force be with you. http://saberconcepts.50.forumer.com/index.php

  4. #24

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    thanks!....sounds promising.

    So to recap I try 4 nimh AA 1.2 volts each total 4.8.....I now realise the minimum is 4.5 for p4 blue.

    For a lux 3 red/orange...my second saber in the works. I would like to run the same set-up but that would end up with 1V extra right?

  5. #25
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    One extra volt should not generate too much heat. It is when you get 3 - 5 and above volts extra that you will run into problems.

    Live long and...I mean May the force be with you. http://saberconcepts.50.forumer.com/index.php

  6. #26

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    Thanks again! Solved my overheating issue but not my speaker. I'm gonna have to do some testing to get this worked out it seems...

  7. #27

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    Audio hisses like you're describing often are generated by an induced voltage of some kind on the wires running between speaker and audio source, or by a faulty connection at either the speaker or source.

    I would take another look at your solder joints at both the speaker and the board for sure, if there's even a remote chance that the joint might be bad redo it.

    As far as a possible induced voltage...the easiest way to check that is to pull the guts of your saber, move the speaker (and wires) as far away from any other component as possible and switch it on. If the hiss goes away, you've got an induced voltage. Simplest solution is to replace your existing audio wires with a shielded twisted pair, and make sure you ground the shield on both ends.

    As a general rule, it's best to keep wires carrying audio signals away from higher voltage lines. Most audio signals are much lower voltage, and thus can be washed out or pick up unwanted sounds from the induction. Typically you hear a steady hiss from a DC induction, and a steady high pitched tone (like you hear when you take a hearing test) from an AC induction.

    Jagahati, just for your own knowledge, the induction problem is typically caused by the magnetic field generated by an electric current. That's how generators and motors work. A generator spins a magnet inside a giant conductor, creating voltage as the magnetic field pass through it, while a motor does the opposite, the current generates a magnetic field which spins a magnet. RF most definitely can induce voltages as well, but in the case of a saber all but the most potent RF signals would either be reflected away or dispersed on the hilt. If you DID happen to put your saber into a strong enough RF signal to induce a voltage, you'd have other problems...

    Like a microwaved hand
    Last edited by Ovlos; 12-07-2009 at 09:34 PM.

  8. #28

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    OK...sigh

    Thanks for the excellent advice. I have learned so much lately and everyone has been so helpful. No more over heating but the slight hiss is still there. After investigating I couldn't see any reason for this. I picked up a magnifying stand with the handy little alligator clips and I can confidently say my solders are decent. Some have a little "mud" but are dominantly good. Clean, with no bridges or any means of shorting out. I have tried everything I can imagine. Inside and out of the hilt and then...yeah the solder pad tore off the speaker from exercising too much cram-fu. I managed to re-attach it as there was a small bit of pad left to solder to. After this I noticed a strange volume boost like a two tone doubled clash (for lack of a better description) and then all was good till I tried to put it back in the hilt and it went silent. I try to wire up another speaker but it appears to be toast..and no it is definitely not buttered.

    Unless the sound is messed on my board, and I hope not for REALLY obvious reasons it seems I need a new speaker. Anyone know the specs or atleast something the US 2.5 will run that fits in MHS?

    I'm really bummed. My hilt is super sweet with all the bells and whistles and the blade looks so bright. When I over come this I will have a seriously nice saber.
    Last edited by Crystal Chambers; 12-16-2009 at 11:43 AM.

  9. #29

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    Hmmm...

    My first thought is that the broken solder pad on the speaker caused it to go bad when you turned the saber back on in the hilt. Repairing a pad is tricky at best, most of the time it's not worth the effort. So my first suggestion would be to get a new speaker from Tim to test that out. I'm assuming of course during reassembly that one of the speaker wires didn't come off the card, might get lucky

    It is POSSIBLE that when you turned on your saber with the repaired speaker it spiked and fried the sound circuit on the card. Personally though I think it's more likely that the repaired speaker solder pad gave out on you. Some speakers have goofy requirements, so that may be why the speaker you tried didn't work.

    I don't have any idea what the audio outputs on a US operate at unfortunately, but if you want to make sure the card isn't bad and know someone who has access to an oscilloscope it's easy enough to check. Audio signals typically look like a varying AC wave on an o-scope kind of like this:



    Just unhook your speaker and connect the o-scope probe to the positive speaker wire and turn the saber on.

    Wish I could help you more...

  10. #30

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    Be patient relax .. oooooommmm .. now try to repair the board you could drill a small hole in the pcb where the pad tore off (&make sure there's nothing on the bottom side in the way). Get an axial lead part put through hole solder both ends & cut off. Ohm out broken trace to IC pin & connect a 32 gauge wire from the pin to the new pad. Take time to inspect all & try again. Any old computers laying around with a speaker?

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