Is it worth it to upgrade a stunt saber???

[Leon35]

New to the forum and the hobby.

My first saber was a Dark Apprentice LE V4 with a red LED. I love the little guy. No sounds or sfx though. It has a cool button switch for the LED, and a standard battery pack.

For $200, I snagged a slightly used Electrum Remnant. I am pretty excited about it. But now I want to upgrade my dark apprentice and I am finding that it isn't cost effective at all as compared to buying a new saber


I want a basic sound system, basic sfx and I would like to replace the red LED for a color changing one???

According to my research, these upgrades + installation range from $250-$300. For that much money, I could BUY another saber with these features.

What are my options? I have a basic soldering background, but I am not especially good at making joints. And I dont have the know how or tools to make alterations to the hilt of my saber, like drilling holes for switches. Advice?

[Racona Nova]

First of all - welcome Hope you already had fun with your Apprentice so far!

Now, your questions: If you're able to solder and read a wiring diagram, you can try to get the components from Ultrasabers and do the upgrade yourself. Improve your joint soldering, then you should be fine

The things you need are:

- Battery pack for 2x 14500 Li-Ion batteries (suitable batteries available in the Ultrasabers shop)
- Momentary switch (use the same switch type you currently have on your saber - if it's plastic, then you have a "Guarded Switch". A metal switch means you have the "AV Switch". Changing from Guarded to AV would require a slightly larger hole, so I don't recommend that change when you don't have the tools and know-how for drilling.)
- RGBW/A multi-die LED (depending on your personal preferences - White gives brighter colours, Amber produces better orange-yellow shades and overall warmer colours)
- Diamond Controller

Why Diamond? Well, it's one board for everything - sound, light and effects. It's the most expensive board, but it's the only one that can be installed in an Apprentice. There is Emerald as well, but that's only light effects, and Obsidian, which is sound. However, the Apprentice can only have one of them - either Emerald or Obsidian, but not both. That's why I mentioned Diamond because this gives you light, effects and sound on your Apprentice!

All the raw material you need should be around 200$, depending on how much US charges you for the stand-alone Diamond and RGBW/A multi-die LED.

More questions? Post them, we'll try to find an answer for them as well

[Karmack]

The Dark Apprentice LE V4 stunt saber is ... $75 dollars with windows and no other upgrades.  If it has the AV switch, that would push it up to $90.

You're looking at adding sound and color-changing LED.   So, to do a parts upgrade you would need:
A switch (Momentary, to replace the latching switch you currently have) ($15)
sound card ($125)
Emerald card (Unavailable from US)
LED Module ($35)
Lithium-Ion battery pack w/speaker ($19)
2xLiIon Batteries ($10)
Charger for said batteries ($13)
1000mA Wired Buckpuck ($14)
supplies* (wire, solder, shrink-wrap, etc) - various

I've added prices for what is available from US.  The Emerald Driver is not currently available from US, you would need to find and purchase an LED driver from a third party.  Lets use $100 as an estimate for that cost...

So, to upgrade, not counting shipping and misc supplies, would cost you ... around $320 dollars.   And you would still need to put it together.

Now...  To order a Dark Apprentice LE V4 with sound and color-switching option on the LED.   Two options: Emerald/Obsidian combo or Diamond controller...
(Assuming LE, windows, non-lit AV, and standard blade and pommel options)
E/O combo - $382 + S/H
Diamond    -  $412 + S/H

So, you can save some $$$ doing it yourself, but you will have some work to do.  :-)  

Now, one other option...   If you stick with the red LED and go with basic sound, you can get a new one for...
O-Lite - $190

Dropping the LED driver card from the custom build list drops that cost to $220, so in THIS scenario, its actually cheaper to go ahead and order another one!   You can even add a coupler, still be below the upgrade cost, and you now have a very nice Blazing Red staff!

Anyway, I hope this helps a little.  I imagine you can shop around and find components from various sources for less (or more) money, so a lot depends on how much effort you want to put into it and how custom you really want it to be.  But if you're not sure you want to mess with it, its probably cheaper and far, far faster and easier to order another hilt.

As for me?   I don't solder and when I try to do more than very basic things I cause more damage than its worth.  I'd buy a new one.  But that's me.  :-)

[Leon35]

Thank you both for the reply

1) It has a metal switch. I assume this is an AV?

2) Why DO I need rechargable batteries? Its not an issue but are they required?

3) So do multi-LEDS produce one unique color or any combination? How do you cycle through the colors???


BIG QUESTION

4) I want a saber staff that is cyan/teal/artic blue and green. If I JUST buy a new LED for my apprentice, is that hard/easy to install??? How much? That means forgoing sound.

If I JUST get an LED that can change colors,  same question and conditions as the above?

[Racona Nova]

1) Yes, it's the AV.

2) Diamond, Emerald and all Obsidian boards (except Obsidian Lite) require a 7.4v setup which you can only achieve by using said Li-Ion batteries. Obsidian Lite only needs 4x 1.5v (which can be achieved through regular AAA batteries), but then you can't power any other board.

3) Yes, multi-die LEDs produce any colour in the spectrum. You can use a single die, for example Red, but you can also mix in Green to get Yellow or Blue to get Violet. Depending on the power driven to the LEDs they can produce uncountable shades of colours. For colour-changing, you need some kind of controller which can regulate the power of each die. It's not possible to do this without any kind of controller board! Cycling and changing of yolours occurs either through connection with a PC (Emerald) or on-the-fly (Diamond, but this also changes your active font). For any major change on colours, effects and fonts, you always need a PC and the Ultrasabers Launcher software.

4) That's quite easy. You order the LEDs (standard module, NOT the MLS version), label each wire leading to the old LED (positives/negatives), cut all wires on the old LED, solder the new LEDs in, and that's it. You need resistors, but AFAIK if you order a complete LED module, Ultrasabers already equips the LED with the proper resistor. But keep in mind, these will NOT be able to change colours! They're fixed colours.

As I said in 3), there's no way to change colours without any controlling device. A multi-die LED can't change colours on its own, it always needs a controller and a software for communication.

[Karmack]

Thank you both for the reply

1) It has a metal switch. I assume this is an AV?

2) Why DO I need rechargable batteries? Its not an issue but are they required?

3) So do multi-LEDS produce one unique color or any combination? How do you cycle through the colors???


BIG QUESTION

4) I want a saber staff that is cyan/teal/artic blue and green. If I JUST buy a new LED for my apprentice, is that hard/easy to install??? How much? That means forgoing sound.

If I JUST get an LED that can change colors,  same question and conditions as the above?

Racona Nova already replied, but I will add this: I would replace the red LED with green, as these are both "base" colors so you won't have to worry about resistors or anything.  Just positive/negative matchup and you're good.   And then order your second hilt for the staff with SRD, which is a great blue/green and will go well with the green LED.  :-) 

[Rapine]

I have to add that an Apprentice can in fact accommodate both an Emerald and an Obsidian.  You can order one...

Other than that, an upgrade wouldn't be very tough, but not exactly free.  Some of the cost will reflect the satisfaction you'd get from doing it yourself. 

If you're already pretty much set-up for soldering, etc, you'd be good though.

I mean; got a soldering gun, wire, heat shrink, and such?  Good to go - buy a board and an LED. 

Need that stuff?  Be prepared to spend a bit...

 

[Maestro Jones]

I debated the same thing with my Dark Sentinel LE v4 stunt saber.  While it was a raffle prize, to have US do the upgrades I wanted (TRI blazing red, the obsidian LITE sound, and a new vented pommel) it was going to be $210.  For an extra $5 I could buy a second DS LE v4 with all of that included.  Not really much of a savings.  Now, that was to have US do the upgrades.  It would be less to get the parts and do it myself, but I still don't know if it would be that cost effective.  I will probably just get the LED swapped out (it is an adegan silver right now) and put the rest towards another saber.

[scifidude79]

Before deciding to do an upgrade like this yourself, you need to consider the following:

1. Do you know how to solder?
2. Do you have soldering equipment?
3. If you don't, will you have use for soldering equipment after this?
4. You will void your warranty if you tamper with the electronics.

Aside from the components from Ultrasabers, you need to buy the following if you don't have it already:

1. Soldering equipment. This includes a sodering iron, solder and a stand for the iron, at the least. A desoldering pump may come in handy too. You can usually get all this in a kit from Amazon.
2. High gauge (super thin) wire. Personally, I use 26 gauge.
3. Thin heat shrink tubing. You can use electrical tape, but heat shrink is better.
4. Heat gun or something else to shrink the heat shrink. A hair dryer on high may work.
5. Helping hands. These aren't, strictly speaking, necessary, but you'll love life much more if you use them.
6. Any other tools you need, like wire snips, pliers, etc.

Total cost: Depends what all you have to buy and where you buy this stuff. If you don't own any of this and only plan to do this one thing with it, it's kind of a waste of money.

Now, on the soldering front, the Obsidian V3/V4 (the only versions available in the store) come with a wiring harness, so no soldering to the board itself is required. You just have to solder wires together.

[Racona Nova]

I have to add that an Apprentice can in fact accommodate both an Emerald and an Obsidian.  You can order one...

Best option then. Completely forgot that the new v4 can actually have both...

[ThreadJack]

You can also buy a Hasbro and gut the soundboard, for like $30.... Not the best quality, but for basic sound effects, it's the cheapest option.

[scifidude79]

You can also buy a Hasbro and gut the soundboard, for like $30.... Not the best quality, but for basic sound effects, it's the cheapest option.

Just get used to two swings and two clashes.

[ThreadJack]

Just get used to two swings and two clashes.

You get what you pay for, but it is a budget friendly option if you just want to have some sound effects.

[scifidude79]

You get what you pay for, but it is a budget friendly option if you just want to have some sound effects.

For sure. I have a Black Series saber, that's why I said that. It literally has OK sound, but it's actually a really nice shelf queen. If I want something better, that's why I have Ultrasabers.

[Xamon]

One option no one has mentioned is ultra sabers sells quick connectors for the led modules. With this installed you can have several led modules with it installed and easily change them out. This would allow you to get light sound, you would still replace the switch but not the battery pack, and get whatever colours you want with the ability to swap them.