Crystal Focus 4.x and beyond Bug list & Fix

[Sunrider]

You might try the old continuity tester on beep & move it around to find an inter mitten.

[Novastar]

Phil... (and all!)... I *LITERALLY* just somehow caught this disease, lol... in other words... yup, very suddenly--my Red Rebel Flange III saber (RRW) has suddenly done this as well.

However, when I've noted this in the past, using a non-conductive washer on the recharge port between the hilt itself and the nut that holds the port down (on the 2.1mm port at least).... can solve the problem.

In a nutshell--try a rubber washer! It can help.

As to "matching" ports and plugs... sometimes THAT doesn't even work. Again, they can be finicky no matter what. That's what I'VE found. It gets even worse with kill plugs, since they are generally hand-made and not "machined to spec".

[erv]

That's not because it has worked so far that everything is good.
Thermal paste tends to be isolating at the begining when it's pasty and creates some thickness between the backplate the and holder. Then with heat, it liquifies and problem appears. That's why I've kept saying for years the led has to be isolated with thermal tape.

As for nova's saber, and the isolating washers, reason was the very same, it's just that fixing wasn't at the right place (sorry nova ). Flange red had... a red luxeon which are known to have a real isolation failure between the backplate and the led itself. I'm not totally sure, but I think I put cool tape on the Amber Amber White setup I wired and sent back, but I can't guaranty the RRW is isolated.

The recharge port sleeve is a the ground when you insert the charger, means that the whole hilt is at the ground. And that's ok. What is not ok is having a GROUND PATH from another spot of the hilt to the electronics, for instance thru the luxeon. Board's negative IS cut in the recharge port, BUT find its way to the board thru the luxeon, and can fry the board.

Isolating the recharge port sort of fixes the problem since it's isolating the thing from the hilt, but the problem is somewhere else.
I use cool tape and build a chassis each time I build a saber and I never have this sort of problem. I experienced it only once, that's when I built my first commission saber with an amber led.


I believe that if you try to charge the saber without the pommel or by removing the recharge port so that it doesn't touch the hilt anymore, the problem will disapear.
Try also by removing the blade holder and get the led out of the hilt, still wired to the board but not touching the hilt.
Try now with the recharge port / pommel in place. If problem isn't there, it's the led + hilt.

As for nova / machined killkey : custom machined ones are great unless a n00b machinist like Erwie Malmschmuck machines them. Back in 2006 - 2007. My bad, I had centering troubles when machining those little piece of plastic, so the center hole isn't perfectly centered.
Add to that the fact there *IS* some ID differences between recharge ports (that's another side of the problem). TCSS ones seemed to be tigher, the one I got slightly larger (or the opposite).

[Novastar]

To be perfectly honest too... these past few posts regarding the recharge ports... are *NOT* bugs concerning CF. Erv is telling it like it is... it is indeed a grounding issue.

I've found it to be a common thing too--especially with the 2.1mm setups.

Hmm... all this being said, I used to use a "stereo jack" system which was NOT ideal as a port... but very ideal in that you could cut BOTH + and - ... so... that is a thought there.

The point being... ok--let's say ONE of the lines is shorting to ground... well with the other cut... still no power can flow. I guess though if BOTH short to ground... that could be worse, lol...

So, whatever the case--the lesson for all who are reading = do your very best to:

* Isolate your LED from the heatsink, and thus, the hilt (THERMAL TAPE!!!)
* Isolate your recharge port as best you can from the hilt (use rubber washers, and you might even "coat" the porthole with some paint that is non-conductive + coat the port itself (threaded portion) if possible. ANYTHING to get less contact with the hilt.
* Use a plastic-housed recharge port if possible (2.1mm ones are indeed metal, so... it can be tough!)

Hard to accomplish the last two I list there... believe me, I know.

[killphil]

Yeah, you were right, Erv. My "fix" was short lived.

I troubleshot just like you said to do. I removed pommel, heat-sink, and even the LED from the heat-sink, and nothing worked. I tested them all individually as well as every combination.

Only when I remove all the electronics from the hilt will it work properly.

I insulated the entirety of the inner diameter of the hilt with electrical tape, as well as the recharge port.

I checked all my wiring, patched up some suspect spots, and knit it all back up again. Seems fine now. Operative word is "seems". I'm not holding my breath.

Just put in an order for some thermal tape.

Sorry to hear you have had the same problem too, Nova. Very frustrating this is.

[Novastar]

The thermal tape will help quite a bit--if not solve the problem.

The rubber gasket/ring/nut and/or insulation of the port (and the hilt) will be helpful as well.

When you get right down to it... MANY people will run into this issue over time, simply because "GND" (ground) here... is essentially the negative line in the case of sabers... whereas in certain other electronics... there is an actual "ground path" for current to flow--for many reasons.

This is precisely why newer (I say that in a relative sense) electrical outlets have 3 prongs: pos, neg... and ground. In this case, the ground plug is not 'truly just plain negative', as it will handle shorts or spikes in some cases, and transfer the current to... I don't know... something like a metal frame or ground wire or whatever. AWAY from the main circuits. This is partially why your home/apartment won't "explode" your devices if lightning strikes the structure!!

In the case of sabers... well... they are handheld... there really *IS* no such thing as "ground" (well... technically).

Anyhow... I believe these things WILL solve your problem Phil. Remember to "pay it forward" and help others as well. And to remind anyone that this is *NOT* a Crystal Focus bug. Far from it. It's just basic electronic current + physics of that current.

[killphil]

Yeah, I hear you. I'm always ready to help with any limited knowledge I take in (still relatively new at this). I appreciate all the help I've gotten thus far.

And yeah, I see that it is not a bug in the board, though I didn't know that when I posted and didn't know where else to post it, short of starting a new topic.

Again, thanks for the help, and I'll keep you all updated when I get my tape in.

[killphil]

There is never any end to this.

My red saber has an issue that I cannot troubleshoot.

I swear I'm doing nothing to these sabers. It just started happening yesterday for no apparent reason.

The saber is turned on, the sound gets more and more distorted until it stops completely. I turn it off and then the retraction sound comes back on. Menu sound is just fine.

I have replaced the speaker and also the speaker quick disconnect. Something with the board, maybe? Send it out to be upgraded?

[erv]

recharge your saber...

on another note, this is a bug list for the CF firmware, not trouble shooting for built sabers. We're trying to update a list of known bugs, not to discuss individual issues that are not "bugs" per say.
thanks.

[grayven]

I noticed what sounded like a bunch of killer bees in one of my fonts
Are these the bug's you are talking about.

So I noticed this new star wars mind control game. Any chances of you incorporating a mind control circuit to the CFv5? I would love to think about turning on my saber and it just happens. I would also like to see the CF turn my Lux V into a metal cutting laser.Think you up the LED output to about 1gigajoule?

Back to the bug thing. Can we seriously get read of the crabs? Every time I play with my saber I go though a week of scratching and watching them do a trapeze act using my eyebrows.