Swapping Innards and I Broke Something

[jfusco]

I have a Menace CE with Obsidian sound and the Emerald driver. I decided to swap the electronics with a Prophecy V3 stunt saber. I pulled the illuminated AV switch out of the Menace and clipped the four wires going to it, giving me enough room to strip them and solder them back together. I also marked the gray wire with the orange dot so I could match it back up.

I had some trouble getting the battery/electronics package into the Prophecy hilt because of the way it was taped together. It had a slight bend to it which would not allow it to get past a ridge inside. I undid the electrical tape and kind-of straightened everything. To give it some rigidity I split open a couple lengths of 13mm heat shrink, placed them around the wire bundle above the boards, and put a small piece of electrical tape around the bottom to hold them in place while I stiffened everything up with the heat gun (on low, 572° F). I re-wrapped the bundle with electrical tape, then proceeded to re-wire the switch. Everything appeared to go fine but when I put the batteries in I didn't hear the sound board initialize by saying, "Obsidian." I pushed the switch and got nothin'.

In the way of troubleshooting, I have checked the batteries - the original TrustFire batteries, which I took straight out of the charger - and they were producing just North of 4V each. I cut off the heat shrink/tape at the top of the electronics and I don't see anything disconnected or anything. I took the heat shrink off my wire joins and they seem solid.

If I somehow killed the resistor on the white wire would that shut everything down? Anything else I should check? Like something I might have bent or dislodged in the electronics package when I unwrapped or re-wrapped it?

Thanks

[Dauntless Seven]

Hi.  Sounds like you know what you are doing... but hopefully Racona or someone else will respond in a day or two.  If memory serves me... for the Prophecy there is not enough internal diameter space for both the Emerald driver and the Obs. board without a DIY modification.  If you check the ordering specifics it should say one or the other.

Hope you haven't damaged any electronics but it doesn't seem like it.  Have a visual of the connection ports.  The soundboard is the one closest to the pommel and the color driver is closer to mid-hilt.  Perhaps see if you have a computer connection for both.  Please give us an update.  

[jfusco]

I troubleshoot computers for a living and know my way around a soldering gun well enough. Wiring up the stunt electronics in the Menace was a cake walk. I just can’t think of anything I did that would have damaged anything. I was told at Fan Expo Dallas that the electronics should fit fine but they didn’t say anything about modifications. It all fit okay except for that slight bend. I’ll see if I can post some pics since the boards are mounted around the battery pack. I’ll check the USB but I don’t think they respond without power.

[jfusco]

I did a visual inspection today. Nothing seems untoward. All the connections are tight. The connectors are held in place with hot glue and none of that appears loose. The heat gun might have softened the glue but none of the connectors look like they slipped. It's acting like nothing is getting power. Maybe the switch is bad? I can't imagine how it would have gotten damaged. Would that keep the sound board from initializing?

[Therion Jinn]

Shouldn't stop the board from initializing.
My last custom initialized without the switch even being wired in, and it's using an Obsidian V4.
Something's got to be losing a connection somewhere. Or there's a problem in one of the boards

[jfusco]

Okay... I traced where the power wires go and was able to scrape the glue off the connector that goes to the Emerald board. I popped the batteries in and wasn't really getting any voltage to the connector. I took out the batteries and did a connectivity test. To the positive (red) side I'm good to go. To the negative side I got no movement on the meter. I tested at the connector and at the switch (connector connected and connector unplugged but it shouldn't have mattered). Again, everything looks solid. If I want to do any more testing on that I'll need to strip off the heat shrink tubing tying all the grounds together to take one more step back. It does appear I'm getting voltage across the battery.

[Rapine]

I was reading this from the start, and you've already done everything I would jfusco.  I've had issues with power wires before, so thought of that.

Check your speaker wires. (?)

[jfusco]

I think I may have found the problem. I was clipping the heat shrink off the negative/ground bundle and two of the wires popped out with only little nubs of wiring exposed.

[Dauntless Seven]

Hopefully positive news... seems good and what you are doing and the eventual outcome will be helpful learning for other saber installers. 

point for your progress 

[jfusco]

That was it! The part of the negative side of the battery pack wire closest to the insulation must have been weak and broke off. It's a pretty small gauge wire anyway. Once I got that stripped back and connected to the leads from the Obsidian and the Emerald I popped the batteries in and heard that lovely sound. I soldered them back together then attached the main switch lead and wrapped it all up with heat shrink. I hand-wired the switch back into the circuit and the LED is glowing away! I've got it all into the Prophecy hilt and made sure I could get the battery pack in far enough for the pommel to screw on completely. Now all I have left is soldering the switch back together (again) and mounting it in the hole. Thanks for the support.

The moral of the story: Always test your electronics before making any final connections.

[Therion Jinn]

Glad to hear you figured things out.
Also glad to hear it was something relatively simple

[Rapine]

AND glad to hear that you now have an operational Emerald Prophecy. 

+1 jfusco

[Lady Agana Kath]

Great that you got it working, have a point.