Hi all, this is a beginner’s guide to installing quick disconnects on your Ultrasaber.

Before we begin, let me say that this is literally the first time I’ve done this. If you’re seeing this, it means it worked, but doesn’t mean it won’t fail in the future and leave me with a dead hilt. It shouldn’t do, but who can say?

It should go without saying, but this will invalidate your warranty. As mine are 4 or 5 months old, they’re out of warranty so it’s no difference to me.

I’m doing this because it’s cheaper for me to buy the parts and learn how do it myself then to ship it from the UK, have US do the work, and then have it shipped back. It’s a risk I’m taking, and until I’m positive it works and isn’t blowing up in my face, it’s one I’m a little nervous about.

If you follow this guide and it works, great! Please let me know.

If you follow this guide and melt your ‘sabre or burn your house down, well, I disclaim all responsibility. Practice, practice, practice until you’re sure, then go ahead and practice some more. That, or just have Ultrasabers install the quick disconnects when you buy your ‘sabre, or send it in for upgrades.

Whatever you do, read the guide first, research soldering yourself (especially soldering electronics) and above all else make sure to take all reasonable safety precautions. You can replace a busted LED. You cannot replace a finger!

Do not operate a soldering iron if feeling nauseous, tired, dizzy, giddy or woozy!

Do not operate a soldering iron if under the influence of medication, alcohol or illegal drugs!

Disclaimers and warnings aside, let’s move on.

I currently have three hilts I want to install these on, my Bellicose (Arctic Blue with Adegan Silver flash on clash), my Shock LE (Violet Amethyst with Bane’s Heart flash on clash) and my Manticore (Adegan Silver with Consular Green flash on clash).


All have flash on clash, and that means more wires to take account of. You should be able to use this guide on ‘sabres without flash on clash enabled - the main difference should be that you’ll have one less wire to cut and solder. Similarly, if you just want to swap out one MLS/LED unit for another, you can do that too - it’s the same principle, just without the quick disconnects.

I’ll try and take photographs of every step along the way for you to refer to.

First, though, what will you need?

- A ventilated room (soldering produces fumes, and sometimes they can be bad for your health. Open your windows!)
- A safe place to solder. Do not use an antique table for this. Use a workbench, put down a protective mat, or even get wire holders (Helping Hands, for example) to clasp the pieces you’re soldering together. I’m using my living room table, but I have a plastic cover on it so that my wife doesn’t yell at me.

As for the equipment...


1. A soldering iron
2. A soldering iron holder (Do not leave a hot soldering iron lying around!)
3. Solder (you’ll use this to join together the cut wires to the battery and LED with their new quick disconnects)
4. Heat shrink (a rubbery tube used to seal the exposed wire where you’ve applied the solder; I’m using 2.5mm diameter) or electrical tape (to be wound around the exposed soldered wire).
5. Wire strippers
6. A Stanley knife, which I used for cutting the wires. The wire strippers I bought have a cutting edge, but I found it easier to use the knife
7. A cigarette lighter (for shrinking the heat shrink) or heat gun (more professional but also more expensive, so not worth it for me and the one time I’m doing this)
8. Quick disconnects, which come with long wires attached. I’ve pre-trimmed mine somewhat to make them more manageable - I left about 6 inches (15 cm) of wire on the end of each plug
9. An Ultrasaber with room to add quick disconnects (as a guide, see if they’re offered on the product page at http://www.ultrasabers.com/category-s/59.htm. Contact Ultrasabers direct at [email protected] and ask if you’re not sure.)
10. A spare MLS or LED unit, if you’re not just doing this to be prepared with the ‘sabre(s) you already have

I also used a pair of scissors to cut the heat shrink to size, and a knitting needle to dislodge the Bellicose’ MLS unit, which is always reluctant to leave its nice, warm hilt...

For me, the total cost was as follows:

Soldering iron, holder with sponge, solder, solder pump - £15 - Amazon
Heat shrink - £2 for a bag with more than enough in - Maplin
Wire strippers/cutters - £6 - Maplin
Cigarette lighter - £1 for 4 - Poundland
Electrical tape - 50p - DIY store
And of course my Bellicose, Shock and Manticore, but you know how much they cost.

I didn’t bother with the heat gun as I won’t be using it enough to justify even a cheap one. The protective matting I’m using is just a box lid. I recommend using proper protective matting, but I can’t find mine so...

Before we get down to business:

- Remove the batteries from your ‘sabre.
- Open some windows.
- Consider putting on a pair of thin gloves to protect your hands. Most videos I’ve watched don’t bother with this, but exposed wires can be sharp. At least one guide advises against getting the moisture from your hands onto wires as well.
- Stop and think. Are you sure you want to do this? Once you start cutting wires, there’ll be no going back.

To start:

Take your quick disconnects and put a piece of heat sink over the end of each exposed wire. May as well do this now, but I’ll remind you later, too.


My quick disconnects comprised a black and a red set of plugs, each with a black and red wire coming out either end. You’ll want to trim the red wire from the red plug – it serves no purpose.

You also may want to trim the excess wires down as there’s only so much space in the hilt, after all. However, be careful – too short a wire, and you don’t have much room for mistakes. And you can trigger the heat shrink just by the proximity of the soldering iron...


...just like I did. About six inches of wire on the end of each plug/socket should be fine.


Unscrew your Ultrasaber’s emitter and extract the LED module. You may need to tap the bottom of the hilt to work the LED loose. Do this gently. The palm of your hand should be fine – there’s no need to break out the sledgehammers.

Pull out the LED module as far as you’re comfortable doing so. The cutting point we’re looking for is where the wires narrow down to three – one red, one black, and one brown. Eerock has provided the following diagram:


On my Shock, you can see the point here:


Check, double check and triple check. You want to cut three wires, no more!

Are you sure you want to continue? Yes?

*Deep breath...*

*Snip*

*Snip*

*Snip*


A horrible sight – but we can’t linger. It’s time to get to work.

Strip the wires. You want to take off about a half-inch (1.25 centimetres) of insulation from both ends of each wire.


The exposed wire you’ve created will be wound into the exposed wires of each quick disconnect. The bulk of the additional two pairs of plugs and the additional lengths of wire can make it a bit of a tight squeeze inside the hilt. That’s why it’s important to check first about how much space there is in the hilt.

(You did do that, didn’t you?)

Match up the wires to the plugs. I’m using my Emerald Green MLS as a guide. I bought this with quick disconnects installed, and together with Eerock’s diagram it’s a useful reference.


The red and black wires go to the black plug.

The brown wire goes to the red plug. You’ll have to imagine that the wires actually attached to the plug are brown - but note that the wire to MLS itself is brown.

It’s important to get the plugs the right way around, otherwise they’re not going to connect to anything except themselves. Not much point in having quick disconnects if they won’t reconnect. Follow the way that Ultrasabers have done it, and you can use your LEDs in any ‘sabre with quick disconnects fitted the same way.

For the avoidance of doubt, let’s look closely at the MLS’ quick disconnects.


The LED end has the sockets.

The hilt end has the plugs.

Like any connection, there’s a male end (the plug) and a female end (the socket). Get these the right way around!

Everything together? All lined up? Are you sure?

Break out the heat shrink, if you’re using it, and haven’t done so already. As each piece in a complete cylinder, you can’t put it on afterwards so slip it over one end of each wire. Obviously, if you’re using electrical tape, you can skip this step – you’ll just apply it once the wires are finished.


Heat shrink will shrink under heat (might be where the name comes from...) to about half its original diameter. You’ll want to use a piece where the diameter is just under twice the diameter of the wire, then. This should leave room for any bobbles on the soldered wire.

You’ll want six pieces, each a bit longer than the exposed wires will be when they’re twisted together. Something around 1.5-2 inches (4-5 cm) should do.


With the heat shrink in place, twist or mesh the first wire together. We want this to be nice and smooth, and looking something like this.



Over, under, over, under... You may want to do them all now to limit the amount of time you have the soldering iron on for. I found it easier to do one at a time, as usually by the time I did the second, I’d pulled the first one apart.

Time to warm up the soldering iron.


This takes a few minutes, depending on the make of iron. Use the time to make sure your workspace is clear of mess and distractions and your windows are open. If you’re Eerock, chase your cat away. If you have kids, wait until they’re asleep or out before starting to solder.

I cannot stress this enough. The tip of a 25W soldering iron (the type I’m using, and a cheap one designed for home use) can reach temperatures in excess of 400 degrees Celsius (about 800 degrees Fahrenheit). Whether you want to work in metric or imperial, that’s hot enough to strip skin, melt flesh and leave smouldering holes in you or anyone else it touches.


Rant over, iron hot, let’s get soldering. Wipe the tip of the heated iron on a damp sponge to remove any excess solder from last time. Put a little new solder on the tip of the iron to ensure a clean connection.

This isn’t a how-to guide on soldering, incidentally, although there’s links to some below. This is me soldering properly for the first time since I was 12 or 13 years old, in school, and spending more time melting holes in my eraser rather than learning something useful.

I suggest using holders to keep the wire off your work surface. Taking my lead from one of the videos I’ve linked below, I’m using my wire cutters.


Helping hands, which are a set of crocodile clips on extendable arms with a magnifying glass attached, will make this much easier – but I didn’t have them so had to make do with getting in really close to see what I was doing as the wires are pretty thin. If you have to do that, make sure you don’t breathe in the smoke coming off the heated areas, right?

The solder will bind the wires together. Hold the tip of the iron under the middle of the joined wires, because heat rises and this will make the wires heat up without waste. Once the wire is hot enough – this is a bit of guesswork, but the ‘sabre wires are thin so won’t take long – then run the solder along the exposed wire. You don’t need to move the soldering iron at all – just the solder. The solder will melt and be absorbed into the meshed/twisted wires. Stop when you have a smooth, shining, silvery finish.


An alternative that I ‘discovered’ (read: did by accident) is to move the soldering iron along the wire with the solder between the wire and tip. This melts the solder that bit quicker, and it’s still absorbed into the wire, but without gravity helping it, I don’t know for certain how well it works. Something to consider.

We’re aiming for a smooth join that’s shiny, and not bulky or messy. Too much solder will increase resistance, and make your ‘sabre function poorly. Rest assured, of the eighteen (nineteen, as I connected one wire incorrectly, but who’s counting?) connections I made, only about half were ‘good’ first time. On others, I had to redo them, either by remelting the solder, or by hacking at it with a Stanley knife – the latter is not recommended!


The solder cools quickly – in a matter of seconds it’s solidified. Try and avoid getting it on your hands (is it too late to say that?).

While you have the iron going, continue to solder the remaining five wires.


Looking good? It may be tempting to pop your batteries back in, connect the plugs, and see if it works, but with exposed wires I’m not going to do that.

Onto the heat shrink. Slide this down the wire so it covers the exposed and soldered wire. Hopefully it’ll be long enough to cover up as exposed wires carrying a charge inside a metal hilt aren’t a good idea. Aluminium is conductive – you could get a nasty shock (not the good sort of Shock) if it goes wrong.


Good kind of Shock.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQU2K6KlsA" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">Ònv</a>

Nasty shock

You can unsolder if needs be, but let’s assume it’s going to work, all right?

If it isn’t long enough, that’s when to break out the electrical tape. Thank heavens for plan B, right?


Success!

Heat shrink will shrink under heat (Gee, you don’t say?) so to make a nice, tight, insulating cover you need to heat it up.


Hold the wire over the flame (or hot air gun – I assume it’s similar, but don’t complain to me if you burn the wire clean through if the proper tool is much hotter than a cheap lighter. Use your own judgment and be careful). Make sure the flame doesn’t touch the heat shrink itself – you want it hot, not alight.

Everyone using electrical tape is laughing right now.


Not bad for a first attempt. Just five more to go...


Done.


Plugs in, pop everything back in the hilt, batteries included, and emitter back on. Moment of truth...


It’s alive!

*Phew*

Good work!

Now, I have a Manticore and Bellicose to do as well....


And are they compatible with my US-built MLS?


Yep.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the guide, and picked up a little know-how. It’s good to know that the possibility exists to do this, even if I’m going to be ordering quick disconnects on all my ‘sabres from now on.

If you decide to give this a try, I’d love to hear about it and see the results. In the meantime, take care, don’t put a soldering iron through your finger, and thanks again to eerock for all his help, and to davidvorves for giving me the idea to try this myself.

Useful links:

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=14541.0 – davidvorves’ guide on ‘How to Install "Quick Disconnect" for FREE’

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0RdPTsTQ8" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY0RdPTsTQ8</a>

– eerock’s guide to installing quick disconnects on a Guardian

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Soldering/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Guide-to-field-Soldering/

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9G9gaokqvM" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9G9gaokqvM</a>

– Introductory guide on soldering; I really recommend watching this 2 or 3 times to get a feel for the process.
http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=14816.0 – Rewiring an LED to a different colour, if you’re in the mood to experiment

Nice tutorial!!

This definitely deserves a sticky for the exteremely high degree of thouroughness. Point(s), JC! Thanks for the shout-outs too! You aced this project! 

Hey I was wondering if the quick disconnect came with both the female ends and male ends or if I need to order one of them seperately?

Just a quick update to say that I've been experimenting a little recently. I've now added QDs to an Aeon v3, Liberator v3 and Dominix v3 so all of them have the space to do this. Next up are my various Standard Issues and maybe my Prophecy as well.

Go for it! It really is pretty easy - just fiddly more than anything

Also can you buy the quick disconnects from a hardware store or would you recommend just getting them from an LED from US

Finally installed my own quick disconnects on my prophecy. This thread was a huge help. Thanks alot guys.