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Author Topic: [SOLVED] Pico Crumble Light v2.5? Problem - Red LED always on  (Read 1787 times)

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Offline Cave Waverider

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I have received a beautiful, fully assembled RGB FX lightsaber I purchased from a saber fabricator/online store. It has an RGB LED with one red, one blue and one green and a Pico Crumble Light v2.5 (I believe) sound board.

The problem I have is that the saber's red LED is always on, even if it's turned off regularly or it's in deep sleep mode. If the saber is set to pure green or pure blue (which I understand should only have the respective single LED lit). The only way I can get the red LED to turn off is when I plug the charger into the recharge port or remove the battery from the Delrin chassis.
The blue and green LEDs seem to work properly.

I've already contacted the seller about it and they didn't know what could be the problem.

Since I ordered the lightsaber from another country and since Customs/Import tax here in the EU and shipping is very pricey and would cost more than half the new saber (I'd have to pay it again if I send it back for warranty repairs/replacement) which might not be worth it, I was wondering what the problem could be and if I could somehow easily fix this thing myself to have the red LED only turn on when it is supposed to and stay off otherwise.

I'm currently re-charging the included 18650 battery via the charge port to see if it might be a low power issue or something, but I thought I'd inquire about options just in case.
Is there a way to easily perform a factory reset on these sound boards to default settings that I could try?

I have no experience with things like soldering or electrical assembly (except for building PCs) whatsoever (which is why I bought a fully assembled saber to begin with so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassles of wiring, soldering, having to use my large hands to cram tiny things into a small hilt without breaking them etc.).
I don't suppose this sound board has coax connectors or similar for the wires so I can try to disconnect the red one and see if that helps, does it? Also, if I were to disconnect the red LED, would the rest of the saber still work and would the red one still suck power? If push comes to shove I could live with just the green and blue LED since I mainly want to use these colors and various mixes thereof anyway.

So I was wondering what my options were and if there are some detailed instructions to potentially execute such, perhaps some of the kind and knowledgeable saber gurus around here may have some ideas that could help.

Thanks in advance,

C.W.


PS.: Here is a link to a picture of the saber set to pure red, pure green and pure blue, the Red LED is on for all of them.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2018, 12:45:55 AM by Cave Waverider »

Offline erv

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Re: Pico Crumble Light v2.5? Problem - Red LED always on
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2018, 10:14:19 PM »
I I suspect that your first channel driver is fried this could be due to incorrect resistoring the die

What do you mention regarding the charging process looks suspicious for the recharge port as well but if at least the power is cut and the board is not powered when the charger plug is inserted then that should work.

Keep in mind that charging a battery can last a good 8 hours it depends of course of the current provided by the charger but at 500 milliamps it's usually in overnight process.

In any case if you are going to check the board I suggest you first rule out the driver output question and check if another dye stays on when wired to the first channel where the red is currently connected

Offline Cave Waverider

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Re: Pico Crumble Light v2.5? Problem - Red LED always on
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2018, 02:05:22 PM »
Thank you very much for your response, Erv. Your product support is truly great, even when though I'm not a direct customer. I'll definitely buy one of your more advanced boards if I delve into my own custom saber build in the future or at the very least look for products with Plecter Labs boards and technology in them. :)

It appears the first LED driver wasn't fried, there was just some wierdness going on with some of the cables. After a couple of chats with the customer support from the store I bought it from I managed to take their advice and fix it by twisting the chassis/cable strand into the opposite direction they had been twisted in (this dimmed the red LED down to not be visible to the naked eye when off, but the camera still showed some red activity) and put some insulator tape on a hole in the chassis opposite the charge port so some of the cables wouldn't protrude out of it and touch the metal of the hilt when screwing the pommel in (which apparently caused most of the issue as that finally managed to have the red LED off completely when the saber is off or in deep sleep).
I'm quite baffled as to why that fixed it since the cables are insulated and no wires are bare, but it certainly did the trick and the red LED is off now when it should be.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2018, 12:46:20 AM by Cave Waverider »

Offline Cave Waverider

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Re: Pico Crumble Light v2.5? Problem - Red LED always on
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2018, 12:09:40 AM »
I guess I spoke to soon. When I woke up tonight, I noticed the RED Led was on again and bright enough to illuminate the room. When I pushed the AV Switch to wake the saber from deep sleep, I noticed right away that the AV Switch LED no longer worked and when I turned the saber on, the green LED no longer worked. I went to cycle through the colors and sure enough, the red and blue LEDs work, but the green one remains off no matter what.
I first thought the battery might have been empty, so I charged it to see if it helped. This morning I checked the charger and it said the battery was fully recharged, so I tried to turn on the saber again, sadly with the same result.

I'll be sending it back to the seller tomorrow, so I'll mark the thread as solved.


I'm rather curious what could cause such a thing to happen, however, so if anybody has any ideas, feel free to share. :)
« Last Edit: April 29, 2018, 12:44:27 AM by Cave Waverider »

Offline erv

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Re: [SOLVED] Pico Crumble Light v2.5? Problem - Red LED always on
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2018, 11:31:01 AM »
I think it is a classic situation of ground leak you have current passing through the led bypassing the driver's I'm almost sure it is confirmed by the fact you had to twist the chassis to make it work there is a contact somehow between the LED and either the hilt or some metallic part.
It seems the board is fine though. Probably easy to fix by just reviewing or redoing the wiring

 

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