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Author Topic: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board  (Read 91624 times)

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Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #330 on: June 10, 2017, 07:01:11 PM »
If you remove the blade ID resistor, don't tie the remaining leads together, that creates the short we're trying to avoid.

Let me clarify.  Here's what I'm talking about in a modified version of your circuit diagram...


As you can see all I did was complete the circuit from the negative side of the battery to the LiPower input negative connection.


Ah, that makes sense.

Offline Obi-Ken Wanobi

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #331 on: June 10, 2017, 11:43:17 PM »
If you remove the blade ID resistor, don't tie the remaining leads together, that creates the short we're trying to avoid.

Let me clarify.  Here's what I'm talking about in a modified version of your circuit diagram...


As you can see all I did was complete the circuit from the negative side of the battery to the LiPower input negative connection.


Ah, that makes sense.

Well... if you're anything like me you understand why it 2:38 am and I'm posting on this forum.  I spent the last several hours rebuilding the electronics of my saber.  I have excellent news to report.  My rebuilt saber works PERFECTLY!  The issue must have been the Teensy all along and the more I fussed with it the worse it got until it wouldn't work at all.  You should also note that I didn't need the level shifter in the circuit.  Everything follows the diagram I provided with the exception that I'm using all momentary buttons (no touch button) and the blade pin 3 to DataIn on the LED strip does not have a resister in line.

Thanks again for all your help.

Offline gmcivor

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #332 on: June 14, 2017, 02:37:20 PM »
Well, I got the V2 board yesterday, we (student and I) wired it up today (about an hour) and sure enough bam it works! This makes making the Teensysaber super easy, and alot less wiring. I cant wait for my other boards to arrive.

Regards,

GMcIvor

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #333 on: August 31, 2017, 12:48:40 PM »
This interests me a lot. I am currently using a pair of Nano Biscotte inside some ultrasabers. So some questions. Why do we need the 5v Booster? Can a Teensy not work on 3.7v?
Which is the more economical version to build? I already have a speaker, a 18650, a bag of tactile buttons, and an RGBW led star.

Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #334 on: August 31, 2017, 03:36:02 PM »
This interests me a lot. I am currently using a pair of Nano Biscotte inside some ultrasabers. So some questions. Why do we need the 5v Booster? Can a Teensy not work on 3.7v?
Which is the more economical version to build? I already have a speaker, a 18650, a bag of tactile buttons, and an RGBW led star.

Originally I added the booster because of paranoia; I wasn't sure that the battery voltage would be enough.
However, it turns out you really want to drive the amplifier at 5 volts to get the maximum volume out of it, so having a booster turns out to be a good thing. The booster also isolates the cpu and audio circuitry from battery ripple, which can otherwise cause some problems.

As for the economics:

NB costs $67 (at TCSS)

teensysaber V1 costs something like $20 for the teensy, $20 for the prop shield, $8 for the SD card, $15 for the booster + $5 for the FETs = $68, but is much larger, doesn't fit most hilts and requires a lot more work to put together.

teensysaber V2 costs sometning like $60, plus $20 for the teensy = $80, so it's a little more expensive, but fits in most hilts. I don't have any teensysaber V2 for sale right now, I should have more in a couple of weeks though.

I hope to get the price of teensysabers down in the future, but that is dependent on volume of sales and will take a while.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #335 on: September 01, 2017, 10:24:33 AM »
I may have to jump on a V2 then. For a bit more would you add a 4th FET?

Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #336 on: September 01, 2017, 10:33:52 AM »
I may have to jump on a V2 then. For a bit more would you add a 4th FET?

Are you worried about your soldering skills for adding the FETs to the bottom of the teensysaber?
It's really quite easy, basically:

1. apply liquid flux to the area where the FET(s) are going to go
2. put the FETs in place with tweezers or similar
3. melt a small amount of solder onto the tip of your soldering iron
4. While holding the FET in place with something (like maybe a sharpened chopstick) touch one of the pads with the soldering iron for a few seconds, the solder should fairly quickly settle into place
5. repeat for all the other pads

It might look fiddly, but it's actually pretty hard to fail. Liquid flux is pretty much a requirement though.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #337 on: September 01, 2017, 12:05:35 PM »
My eyes and hands aren't what they used to be. Took a chunk out of my knuckle last week soldering a led star. And finding a single FET that matches the rest is a hassle for less than 7$. Everyone wants you to order 20 of any component.

Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #338 on: September 01, 2017, 12:24:18 PM »
My eyes and hands aren't what they used to be. Took a chunk out of my knuckle last week soldering a led star. And finding a single FET that matches the rest is a hassle for less than 7$. Everyone wants you to order 20 of any component.

First of all, the FETs don't have to match. Secondly, I sell FETs as well as teensysaber boards.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #339 on: September 01, 2017, 12:31:33 PM »
Well that makes it simpler then. I'll have to remember to order an additional get then. Thank ye.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #340 on: September 21, 2017, 03:26:49 PM »
So, some troubleshooting. The amber LED on the Teensy just flickers and the device keeps plugging/unplugging itself in windows.

Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #341 on: September 21, 2017, 03:35:33 PM »
So, some troubleshooting. The amber LED on the Teensy just flickers and the device keeps plugging/unplugging itself in windows.

The plugging/unplugging sounds bad, I don't think that's supposed to happen.

The amber led however, is not supposed to stay lit.
The first time you power up a teensy, it will go directly into "program me" mode, and the amber LED should blink steadily. Once you put put the teensysaber program on there, the amber LED will only light up dimly when teensysaber is reading from the SD card. (Because pin 13, which controls the LED, is also the clock signal for the SD card.)

It's possible that the problem is related to the MTP functionality, and you can try selecting serial emulation instaed of MTP Disk from the usb type menu and see if that makes a difference.  Also, check if there are any messages in the serial monitor.

If none of this helps, I need more information about what you're doing in order to provide more help. Pictures can also be very helpful.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #342 on: September 21, 2017, 05:47:47 PM »
Well, i made sure the batteries were charged and resoldered the power lines. I lost the leads on the board doing so and had to solder both to the other side. Fun times. I did get it to flash the Teensy, and now it tries to boot up as MTP, but then losses connection. Not sure if still power, or if it's just a shitty USB port on the Teensy. Until I get my button parts in the mail, I can't really boot it up to find out.

Offline profezzorn

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #343 on: September 21, 2017, 07:08:04 PM »
Well, i made sure the batteries were charged and resoldered the power lines. I lost the leads on the board doing so and had to solder both to the other side. Fun times. I did get it to flash the Teensy, and now it tries to boot up as MTP, but then losses connection. Not sure if still power, or if it's just a shitty USB port on the Teensy. Until I get my button parts in the mail, I can't really boot it up to find out.

You really don't need the buttons to test things. You can just type "pow" in the serial console.

Offline arusiasotto

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Re: Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board
« Reply #344 on: September 21, 2017, 07:36:56 PM »
Can't use the serial console, as the Teensy can't stay connected to my system for more than a second. I don't know if the teensy itself is constantly rebooting, or if the port can't maintain a connection. It seems to do odd things if i wiggle the cable.

 

retrousse