Dead saber questions

[scotchy]

Hello fellow saber fans!

Last summer I ordered my very first lightsaber for my birthday. It's a Prophecy v3 with basic sound set-up, I believe. It's very likely the Obsidian soundboard. How I found out, I'll tell you in a moment. Anyway, it's the model working on AAA size batteries I have to replace myself once they run out. Back then, I wasn't aware there was the option to have rechargeable lightsabers too, which you have to plug in kind of like your phone. It doesn't have LED controls. It's a silver/white blade, in combination with colour discs.

The saber has always worked great for me. No trouble, lots of fun. It sat on my shelf for a good while as a cool decoration prop until in November I decided I wanted to take it with me to a comic con as a part of my Jedi costume. It worked perfectly fine! Batteries, no problem. I didn't think I would have to take spare ones because I didn't use it that intensively before I took it along. Eventually, halfway through the day, the batteries did give up on me. I would turn it on, it would work perfectly fine, and then shut down after about 5-10 seconds. I was like "Okay, well, when I get home, I'll have to replace the batteries."

I let that sit around and didn't touch my saber once until today, because I finally had the time to put my head on this task. I watched the ultrasabers tutorial on how to remove batteries before I began my attempts, and this might also just be where it went wrong at the same time...

It took me a lot of trying to get them out. It didn't work at first. I got annoyed, put the saber aside for a little while and told myself to try again later, which I did. Just to make sure the batteries were actually dead, I wanted to turn it on once more (the saber hilt completely assembled), but...

The light didn't turn on and all I got from the soundboard was this hideous, unnatural, continuous beeping sound. It sounded terrifying. So I felt like the only way to get it to stop was by taking out the batteries. I tried again, and lucky for me! I got the battery pack out! I did as the ultrasabers instructions told me, and didn't pull it out too far or didn't put too much strain on the wires either and removed the batteries. The hideous screeching stopped.

I replaced the AAA batteries with new ones. Though, I'm not sure if the lightsabers require a specific kind of batteries in this case? The ones I put in were from ALDI (a supermarket). I checked if I didn't accidentally damage any wires, couldn't spot anything hanging loose or broken. I could, however, hear something rattling but couldn't for the life of me find what it was. I decided to put everything back together and hope for the best.

Until I tried to turn it back on...

A little bit of hideous screeching, then a swoosh and a 'obsidian', before it goes silent. The light flickered on for maybe not even a second. When I tried a second time, the screeching was gone, but everything else remains the same.

So, I came to the conclusion that maybe...Obi-Wan is going to kill me.

I hope that someone can help me on this issue I'm having with my saber. It's a really lovely thing and even if it's beyond saving, I probably won't get rid of it and keep it as a prop on my shelf. But of course it's be even better if I can bring it back to life!

[Infinit01]

Hey there, Scotchy. The Lite soundboard is infamous for the AAA batteries to pop out which sounds exactly like what you're describing. Look carefully at the batteries and you will see that one of them is slightly out. Just use electrical tape and velcro to keep the batteries in place so it won't pop back out.  I use both for my stunt sabers and lite sound sabers with the AAA battery set up and sure, I have to remove the tape each time I change out the batteries but they do keep the batteries from popping out

[scotchy]

Hey there, Scotchy. The Lite soundboard is infamous for the AAA batteries to pop out which sounds exactly like what you're describing. Look carefully at the batteries and you will see that one of them is slightly out. Just use electrical tape and velcro to keep the batteries in place so it won't pop back out.  I use both for my stunt sabers and lite sound sabers with the AAA battery set up and sure, I have to remove the tape each time I change out the batteries but they do keep the batteries from popping out

I noticed how secure the batteries were tucked away once I got them out, so I made sure to keep that close in mind for when I would have to put it all back together afterwards. I double checked for you, and they all sit secure and in place.

I was back at a brief moment of screeching, and the 'obsidian' with a flash of light. So, not much of a difference.

[Cyclops942]

Honestly, if the knowledgeable folks here don't have any other ideas that work, send an email to marlena@ultrasabers.com listing everything you've told us (copy/paste is SUCH a great tool!), and see what they can do to help.  If by "last summer" you mean the most recent summer, the summer of 2019, it's still in warranty.  And if by "last summer" you mean the summer of last calendar year, then Ultrasabers themselves will still be the best place to seek help if the user community has no other ideas.

Don't be afraid to ask the maker for help... they're nice folks there.

[Infinit01]

Just getting back but Cyclops is right, contact Marlena, she's wicked fast to respond and is always a joy to work with!

[Sakura No Kaze]

While I love Marlena, and know how great she is, there are other customer service people at US. You can also use customerservice@ultrasabers.com or info@ultrasabers.com.

I suggest the first, especially this time of year, as, you know, Marlena may take some time off for the holidays. And we don't want to send ALL of our support issues to her, because then she'll be buried, and the rest of the CS staff will be just sitting around.


Next up, the saber. Yes, you have an Obsidian LITE sound card, as the Obsidian v3 and v4 cannot run on AAA batteries. However, any AAA batteries should work for you, even ones from Aldi (we have those where I am too). I do suggest trying some name brand batteries, mostly because sometimes "new" generic batteries don't have a full charge.

One thing I've had happen is the ends of the battery pack can crack, and so the batteries actually aren't in as tightly as they might look. Check the ends to make sure they aren't bent outward slightly.

There are only two things I can think of that would rattle with the battery pack out, neither one of which should be loose enough to rattle. They are the switch (if it's loose), or the LED (if the blade isn't in all the way).

That's all I can think of. Maybe someone else will have an idea?