2010 General Grievous Hasbro Economy Board Guide

[cardcollector]

Hey Fellow Saber Builders!

The other day I was at target and found the new General Grievous Lightsabers Hasbro has made. I decided to get one and make up a guide.
Most of the information is in the video I put together, It has a review of the toy itself, How to break it down, and How to wire it up in a saber.

Video is Here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBnmGx960lQ

Some members have criticized the mixing of the board and I agree, it is pretty bad with the motion sensor, but if you cut that out, the sound is pretty good!

One thing that is super cool about this saber is it has two sound fonts. Let me say that again… TWO SOUND FONTS!!! It has a light side and dark side font. The way this works is a separate momentary switch is attached to the board. When you press the switch down (and hold it) the sound goes from light to dark. Replace this with a latching switch and you have a dual sound saber!
With a little modifying, you could rig it up so the blade goes from one color to the other…

On the same little board, there is another MOM switch that makes a different swing sound. It is mixed beautifully, but can only be used with the dark font…

Anyway, here is a pic of how the board is wired up…

The red wire is the momentary sensor switch... Sorry I didn't label that...

You will have to use the PNP transistor setup with this board, just like the 2010 economy DVD boards…

Questions? Comments? Adding your own feedback and experimentation results is desired!

Major edit!!

OK, so after a few days of testing and wiring, I have come up with a diagram that will not only allow you to change in between the two sound fonts at will, but also change the color of the LED if you use a RGB setup.

This circuit allows you to turn on and off the saber on any sound font (SF1, SF2) setting.

so, here is the diagram, I used publisher for this one because I wanted it to be as clear as possible... I know, it looks bubbly.


You can add a recharge port to this, just look it up in the older thread.
Keep in mind you may/may not need a resistor depending on your power supply.
The LED I used was from dealextreme.com
The motion sensor 2 is optional, you don't have to use it if you don't like it. It only works on SF2 (the dark font)

I spent many hours figuring this out, so I probably won't be to happy if you ask n00bish questions, especially since pretty much everything is answered for you above.

Oh, you will have to solder onto the switch traces for the main power switch like so...


Hope that helps someone...