Hey Gang,
I've been recently relieved of the burden of employment and got off my rear end to finish a neo-pixel saber I bought the parts, and then some more parts, then the right parts for. (I'm sure most of you have been there.) This was about 4 years ago and Through Pixel Charging didn't exist then. (At least I don't think.) My question is, does setting the saber up for TSC eliminate the need for a kill key? My first instinct says it wouldn't as it doesn't seem to sever the circuit, that I can tell. I looks like the board just gets attached between the blade wires and board.

Anyway, it was something I was thinking of doing as it's only bout $30 for the plug an board. I have a charger already.

I have some more questions if you all will indulge me.
I'm using 1x Sony Li-Ion 18650 3.7V 15A 3120mAh PCB Protected Rechargeable Battery and it starts to die and crackle pretty quickly. I've tried lowering all of my blade colors to no more than half and I really don't see any reduction in brightness. I barley notice a difference between 50% and 25%. (I just did the math of dividing 1023. Using percentages is just easier.) I've tried a few different resistors and capacitors (as recommended by the manual) with results either being unnoticeable or blocking too much power and the blade not lighting. The speaker also squeals a little when the blade is on. I though it may have been the fonts but if I power up without the blade it's not there but starts as soon as I hook the blade up. Would getting the https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/D...ery-P1717.aspx be better as it has more milliamp hours, or should I just get another 18650 and wire them together?

To be fair, I have a lot of wiring clean up to do. I left myself a lot of room to work with because, even though I thought I had a plan, I seem to be planning this on the fly. So I am considering that some of the extra length in the wires could be causing some of the issues.

I'm using a PRIZM5.5 now and have a CFX MK3 arriving tomorrow. (And another hilt side pixel disc because I thought I messed mine up, but I cleaned it and rewired it and it started working. I also have an activation box coming as I might want to use it to give me more room inside the saber.)

It was working on this saber that I realized my near sighted vision was starting to give out and when I went back to start working on this saber at the beginning of last week, I was startled to see what an awful job I had done. I had to rewire everything but the blade. I did manage to knock that out pretty well. (I could have made the profile a little lower. I'm thinking about getting a different emitter because you can see the dead space where the electronics is in the vents. It's barely noticeable really, and it may even have something to do with my settings. Now that I know I have things "working" correctly, I can start messing with some of the setting. But, I notice the dark spot at the bottom.)

I've also tried a few different blade timings (ls0, ls1 on the PRIZM) and I really haven't seen any difference other than, it works or it doesn't. I feel like having the correct timing would spare my saber from unnecessary electrical shinanigans. I believe running at the wrong timing(s) could shorten the life of the LEDs. Do anyone have any insight they could share on this subject. (Does anyone even have or use PRIZM anymore?)

Well thanks for reading this and thank you in advance for any help or advice you all may be able to offer.