Saber Forum

So, two years ago, my Saber broke completely after I accidentally damaged the speaker and had to fiddle around with the board, I had an extensive thread with the support, didn't do anything about it because shipping it from Germany to the US while including customs would have been as expensive as buying a new saber, one year ago, my warranty ended, and now I'm stuck with a dead lightsaber. Currently, there are 4 things I can think of that might be the reason it broke. Ranked from most to least likely:

1. I might have damaged the board because of how often I had to take out the battery tray which the board is glued onto.

2. One or both of the NiMH batteries died for some reason, one of them doesn't get recognised correctly in my charger.

3. The connection between battery tray and board was severed

4. The switch broke.

Any suggestions for what might have actually happened and if there's any chance I can redeem the saber? I wrote an e-mail to Ultrasabers but they won't reply.

I'm sorry you find yourself in that situation.

My advice is to be optimistic!
I would start with the small stuff and work up from there.
Batteries end up being the problem 90% of the time. They are not that expensive and really easy to change out. Do that first. Brand new,  fully charged batteries and you still have a problem? Then you just spent $10 on a spare set of batteries.  No big deal! Move on to the next thing.

The button. Also not very expensive to replace. If one wire to the button is disconnected,  then nothing works. I would check that next. You might find it easier to remove everything from the hilt first.  If it's not working any ways, what do you have to lose?  If the LED, switch and board are removed and then reconnected, you will be able to trouble shoot easily. 

 Next is the wire connection from the batteries to the board. You will have to remove the electrical tape to see that clearly or do anything about it. Remove everything from the hilt, remove the tape slowly so you don't rip more wires out. Just look and see if anything is disconnected or loosely touching.

The board itself being damaged.  I would be shocked! Not likely that's the case, but totally possible.
 Again you need to visually inspect it for damage. So remove everything from the hilt. If it is obviously damaged, Ultrasabers sells v3 and v4 boards. Sorry, I know that answer sucks.

 That is what I would do in your position.  I hope it is just the batteries!

If you typed that correctly and are usingu NiMH batteries, that's already one issue. Nickel metal hydride batteries are normal AA replacements and only output 1.2 volts each. The obsidian board uses Lithium ion batteries that output 3.4 volts each. You also said one or both so that tells me its premium sound and should have come with 2 LiIon installed. If you have changed those out and are indeed using NiMH get the right ones and try it again before anything else.

It's 3.7v for the Li-Ions, but you're right anyway. NiMH is the wrong battery typ to use for a Premium sound/Emerald/Diamond saber. They always need 3.7v Li-Ions (size 14500, PCB protected).

Check the connections as well to rule out a wire issue. The board can take quite a bit, so I don't really think it got damaged by just taking out the battery pack. Checking the switch is the most difficult thing, if you suspect a damage, the best solution is just replacing it.

It can take a while for Ultrasabers to reply, they just finished a raffle an are currently running another deal. Did you write to info@ultrasabers.com? I'd try marlena@ultrasabers.com instead, she normally answers quickly.

What everyone said from buying new batteries to contacting Marlena.  Points to all!

I didn't write it correctly. As it turns out, the battery that isn't recognised correctly is the one that gets recognised as NiMH, which is strange, because that means at the beginning they were both being shown as NiMH but now the charger says one of them is Li-Ion, which is apparently the right kind. I will buy new batteries and if it still doesn't work maybe come back to this thread. Thanks for the information so far!

Please do keep us posted; this is interesting.

Is there any way I can test if its the batteries before buying new ones?

Much belated Update: I bought new batteries, and the light actually turned on! ...automatically. I can't turn it off. Speaker remains broken, looks like the board is busted, either that or the button is. Kind of an anticlimactic ending

Your commitment to posting an update on this thread should be lauded across the globe!  Since you are in Germany, consider that achieved.

You get light (lit?) with batteries so the LED and batteries are okay. 
Do you have a latching or momentary switch?  Could be a short either by switch stuck closed, short across the switch ports on the board, or chip malfunction.
"Speaker remains broken" means no sound? visible damage to the membrane? both?

At this point, i recommend to gut the saber and explore all possible connections to identify the source(s) of the problem.   You may want to take this opportunity to upgrade the components. 

Also, be sure to join the Nintendo Fun Club today!