Saber Forum

8 months after receiving my Apprentice v5 with Diamond Controller the red light stopped working and the switch was not as responsive (had to press several times to register input).  My purple was now blue the yellow was green and the green was still green. 

I emailed UltraSabers customer service requesting details and confirmation that I could send it in under warranty.  I waited 7 days.  Then emailed again and waited more days.  Then I copied some contacts I had from previous correspondence.  Shortly after, 2 days max, I received a reply requesting me to video the saber in action and send it for review.  This was completed that same day.
The next day I received a reply with info on how to send in the saber with a form telling of the issue and a printout of the email correspondence. 

I stripped the hilt of all my custom goodies (in case it was lost in transit) and sent it out on the 5th of February.  I live 1 hour away from the destination so it arrived on the 8th - weekend got in the way. 
I was just thinking about it today (the 11th of February) and wondering if i would receive an email - i did not.  I went downstairs for break and saw a FedEx box waiting for me  :o

                 Was it out of warranty?  Not covered?  oh my grogu! 

In the box was a bubble-wrapped hilt and a printed paper summarizing with the following:
"Solution: I replaced your faulty Diamond Controller and AV switch
You're good to go."

Thanks to Repair Technician Bobby f.   ;D

I put in batteries, hit the switch and...it loudly informed me that it was indeed an idiot (Obsidian) again.  The red light works again so now purple is purple and yellow is yellow.  haha.
Too bad I forgot to dump my board configs before sending :(  but I do have most of them saved.   I was expecting a new LED module only.

I am really impressed with the quick turn around time, the fact they replaced the board (didn't think that was covered), and I really did not expect the switch to be replaced.

One concern I have is that this happened after 8 months with very little dueling (none of it heavy) and it happened to be the most expensive component as well as the most involved to install.

I am curious to know of other repair stories.  Was it similar?  Any recurrences?

Also, i just checked my orders on the UltraSabers site and found a new entry under the "Tracking Information" section
The shipping label was created on the 9th!  DAAAAAMMMNNN that's fast!

were they hanging out of the door waiting for it to arrive? 
(https://i.gifer.com/NPAP.gif)

Good you had a positive experience since those are rarely shared this way, but thankfully I haven't had to send anything for repair.

Update - i have been unable to get the new controller to connect to the UltraSaber configuration utility :(

Nothing has changed on my computer, the micro-USB cord works (accessed my phone just fine), and same UltraSaber software. 

I uninstalled then reinstalled the software - still not connecting.  Tried a different cord anyway - no success.  Changed to fully charged batteries - no success.  jiggled the cord and hilt - no success.  tried all the above on a different computer - no success.  Did i miss anything?

I will have to contact customer service and hope they will cover the shipping charges this time.

Update - Launcher Connection Issue Resolved

After the Diamond Controller was replaced, I was unable to connect to the controller from the Launcher software.
Nothing had changed on my local setup except the new card and neither the launcher nor the computer presented an error message after connecting and powering on the saber. 
With the saber on and connected to the computer, I checked "Device Manager" and looked under "Ports" to notice a "Diamond Controller" entry with a warning icon.  It indicated the registry entry was invalid and it seemed the driver did not want to work.
I removed the driver using Device Manager, uninstalled all parts of the launcher software (i had to restart then remove the root folder where the software was previously installed) and reinstalled once again.  I was then able to successfully connect to the saber.
Posting in case anyone else hits the same issue.

Point for reporting (in detail, no less!) how the issue was resolved!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so considerate of other members of the community!

That's cool that you were able to get it fixed under warranty. As for it breaking so soon after purchase, the only thing I can think of is that electronics sometimes just go bad. There can be faults that weren't known at the time of manufacture. I know dueling puts more stress on the components, but they are built for it. My guess is you just got a bad board. But, it's all better now. It's also good to know you got the software issue fixed. Sometimes, a good reinstall is all it takes.


Yeah, they're fast. Fastest smiths in the business. Plenty of times, I've gotten shipping notifications day of purchase, sometimes only a couple hours after ordering.  :o