US 2.0 Operational Clarification.

[Lord Leximus]

So I've posted this on the TCSS forums as well and so far every person to wire up the new US 2.0 has had the same issue.

The board is having trouble recognizing the batteries and thusly has issues booting up.  It will also shut itself off mid setup and either reboot or just go dead.

Anybody here experiencing something similiar...or has anybody gotten one to work %100 effectively??

[SHAAK TI]

Have you contacted Ultrasabers itself? You may get an answer a lot faster... Where are those to Liasons when you need them! lol

Hang tight everyone, I'm sure an answer will be found and posted. I know it must be very frustrating considering how much you all have had to wait for your boards. Please take the holiday into consideration and how it may lengthen the time before one of our Ultrasabers Liasons read and send you a reply. I wish I could be of more help and give more info, Leximus...   

[vex]

Uh oh! Even Tim ran into this problem? I'm going to try to hook mine up now to  see what happens..

[darth morbius]

Okay...

This is the issue.

Shutting off (kicking out of the menu) is caused by the sensitivity of the motion sensor.  You cannot enter the menu if the board and switch is not secured to something.

It works just fine if you have the board and switch secured.

I mean here I am on Thanksgiving posting this information.  I don't even HAVE my boards yet, and everyone is jumping the gun before I can get the information posted.

Once again. the board and switch have to be secured.

There should be no issue after the board is secured in a hilt.  As far as batteries go. What do you MEAN that these are not recognized.  The board should make a sound when the batteries are inserted...

I'll bet that everyone just needs to chill. 

How are you trying to get into the menu?  VIDEO? VIDEO? ANYONE?

[Lord Leximus]

What I meant by it not recognizing the batteries, is pretty much exactly what I said.

When you put batteries in.....nothing happens.  Until you pop one in and out 3 or 4 times then I finally get a boot sound, but usually it will reset itself or turn off during setup.

I understand how securing the board would help it not register motion and kick out of the setup, but I've had a board completely set up and functioning, but still turn off or reset itself in mid function.

After a fair amount of testing I'd say that the motion sensitivity is definately and issue, but I don't believe it's the only thing going on here.

DT---Thank you for taking time out of your holiday to post a response to this issue.

[Ultra]

Everyone sit tight, I've let the manufacturer know of these issues and pointed them to this thread. After the holiday, we'll get right to work on a solution. We always stand behind our products, so no worries, your investment is protected.

In the mean time, we have some workarounds: we've only seen the battery non-bootup issue when using Alkalines and holders, when using our Lithium-Ions, it boots up every time. I'd suggest Li-Ion packs or higher quality battery holders. The board kicking you out of the menu seems to be linked to a non-mounted board. Once the board was securely mounted, we were able to program without issue.

I deeply apologize for these issues and will be doing everything I can to make sure these issues are resolved. Thanks for your patience.

[Kyp Durron]

The problem with that solution is that I'm having mine put into my Vader ESB using the stock battery holder...would Ultrafire batteries help?



-Joclad

[darth morbius]

The problem with that solution is that I'm having mine put into my Vader ESB using the stock battery holder...



-Joclad

Joclad,  Let me talk to Jango about it. Perhaps I can practice some Lathe-Fu to make a holder for Li-Ions for this.

[Kyp Durron]

I edited my post, would Ultrafires help?



-Joclad

[Ultra]

I edited my post, would Ultrafires help?



-Joclad

Yes, but only use two of them and fill the other cell bank with a blank.

[Goodman]

MANY THANKS to Ultra and DT for dealing with this issue on the Thanksgiving weekend. That really shows some top notch customer service, if I say so myself.

I've got my finger on ordering one next week. I'll be using Ultrafires and Tim's twin AA cell holder, so I *believe* I'll be alright.

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

I just got my shipping notice and came here yesterday only to see this thread, but I wasn't too concerned because I know the good people associated with Ultrasabers will always make things right in the end...I do admit that with the holiday at hand I thought it might quite understandably take a bit longer for an answer as Shaak Ti suggested but once again Ultrasabers' people show they are a 'cut above' for taking good care of its customers.

Kudos to Darth Tyranus and Ultra for such prompt attention to this.

Happy Thanksgiving! [even if yours is 'late'    ]

[QUI-GON JINN]

Let's not be hasty here in asking to return the boards or putting them up for sale...Ultra is working on a solution to the issue,  so let's be patient and give the Ultra Team some time....today IS a Holiday,  after all....

[darth morbius]

Okay here's the scoop!

Ultra has gotten ahold of Jesse about this problem.  Here's the cause.


**EMAIL FROM JESSE**

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am aware of the cause for these issues.

The processor has a power on reset timer.... meaning, it will wait a short amount of time before the power supply stabilizes. But, if the battery or power supply does not stabilize within this period, the system will not boot. The solution is to:

make sure the battery pack is solidly wired, if the batteries are making contact intermittently it will be unreliable. Also, some types of batteries have problems supplying power appropriately... and might take a while to catch up once a load is first applied. I was using lithium ion batteries for most of the testing...

Also, the onboard power regulator has capacitors which help regulate variations in power, however, since these capacitors can maintain a voltage after the battery is removed it can interfere with the processor's power on reset timer. If batteries need to be replaced just after being removed, the device might not start up. BUT... all you have to do is momentarily discharge the capacitors. This can be done either by waiting a minute after power is removed, or directly shorting out the leads of the power connector (which can be done even with the battery attached). This should work 100% of the time.

The button switch wires must be kept short, a good quality (low bounce) switch should also be used.

Perhaps I could make some connection guidelines to help people install it correctly.

Also, the board worked perfectly for me. I think the best solution would be a reset button. Then, even if the user had power supply problems, or the system locked up, a simple reset could be triggered to fix the problem.

Let me know what happens,

Jesse Randall
Design Coordinator

[Ultra]

Good news, yall, there's actually nothing wrong with the board's battery solutions.  You can use a min of 4.5 volts, even alkalines and the board will work fine.  The early reports of boot-up problems are not bugs, you just have to apply power to the board properly.  I made a video which will be on my channel soon that explains this.

Some people are also reporting problems with the setup menu kicking the user out.  This is an issue with low-quality switches, not the board.  The board needs a good switch with low bounce.  The tactile switch at TCSS works well.  If you already have a mom switch in mind, don't fret, it may take a couple of tries to get through the setup menu, but once the board is set, it works just fine.  Again, low quality mom switches are only an issue during initial setup, they work fine during normal operation.

Please subscribe to my channel and watch my video for a good explanation on the proper method of changing batteries.  Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/user/UltraSWG