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Author Topic: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series  (Read 2971 times)

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Offline Dewy

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Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« on: December 17, 2019, 07:59:07 AM »
Is this the correct way to run two SCW connector PCBs in series to have a removable chassis on a skinny neck neopixel saber? Will this resistor and blade detection setup work? Sound board is a Crystal Focus X.

Thank you very much!

« Last Edit: December 17, 2019, 08:04:44 AM by Dewy »

Offline ShtokyD

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2019, 09:27:32 AM »
First of all - always connect the 20-22 AWG (or two leads of 24 AWG) Positive wire from the Neopixel blade (connector) directly to the battery Positive terminal (or same Positive contact on the recharge port), but not to the sound board Positive (because it's easier and more efficient for current flow).
2) you need a 330-470 Ohm Data resistor on R2 pads for the 1st connector Hilt side pcb on-board 5 pixels as shown in the manual.
3) you must never bridge the Data pad with GND (Blade ID pads) with solder on the Blade side pcb, because nothing will work this way (you add a "Blade ID" resistor or just leave the pads open)
4) on the 2nd Hilt side pcb just bridge the "BP" pad with the neighbor "-" pad, you don't need a purple wire
5) you don't need 2 Data resistors for the blade (1 on Hilt pcb and 1 on Blade pcb), so you can just bridge the R1 pads on the 2nd Hilt side pcb (but you can also keep them both, it will still work)
6) "Blade ID" resistor on your 2nd Blade side pcb (your actual blade) is not required in CFX build, it only works with Proffieboard
7) Blade detection won't work in this build, because the resistor must be in the hilt on that purple wire "accessory resistor" (as shown in the CFX manual) and because you have another pair of connectors between the sound board and the blade. So CFX will only detect the connection inside the hilt (chassis), but not the connection of the blade

Offline Dewy

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2019, 11:16:34 AM »
First of all - always connect the 20-22 AWG (or two leads of 24 AWG) Positive wire from the Neopixel blade (connector) directly to the battery Positive terminal (or same Positive contact on the recharge port), but not to the sound board Positive (because it's easier and more efficient for current flow).
2) you need a 330-470 Ohm Data resistor on R2 pads for the 1st connector Hilt side pcb on-board 5 pixels as shown in the manual.
3) you must never bridge the Data pad with GND (Blade ID pads) with solder on the Blade side pcb, because nothing will work this way (you add a "Blade ID" resistor or just leave the pads open)
4) on the 2nd Hilt side pcb just bridge the "BP" pad with the neighbor "-" pad, you don't need a purple wire
5) you don't need 2 Data resistors for the blade (1 on Hilt pcb and 1 on Blade pcb), so you can just bridge the R1 pads on the 2nd Hilt side pcb (but you can also keep them both, it will still work)
6) "Blade ID" resistor on your 2nd Blade side pcb (your actual blade) is not required in CFX build, it only works with Proffieboard
7) Blade detection won't work in this build, because the resistor must be in the hilt on that purple wire "accessory resistor" (as shown in the CFX manual) and because you have another pair of connectors between the sound board and the blade. So CFX will only detect the connection inside the hilt (chassis), but not the connection of the blade

Thank you very much for the help! In response to your comments:

1) Done
2) Done
3) That wasn’t my intent, I meant each resistor position was bridged to itself, not to each other. Either way, I have added a resistor to the Blade ID slot of the 1st Blade Side PCB.
4) Done
5) I think I understand.
6) Removed.
7) Understood.

How does this look:

« Last Edit: December 17, 2019, 11:24:16 AM by Dewy »

Offline ShtokyD

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2019, 02:03:13 PM »
As I said previously Blade ID resistor won't work in your build, so no need to add it to the Blade ID pads on the Blade side pcbs.

Offline Dewy

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2019, 02:35:41 PM »
As I said previously Blade ID resistor won't work in your build, so no need to add it to the Blade ID pads on the Blade side pcbs.

Does having the blade ID resistor on the first blade side PCB not allow the CFX to determine that the chassis is connected to the hilt, and not directly to a blade?

Offline ShtokyD

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2019, 01:11:34 AM »
Exactly, it doesn't work with CFX. Please look at CFX PDF manual Blade detection section for more info on how it's done with CFX.

Offline Dewy

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Re: Skinny Neck Saber w/ Two Sets of Connector PCBs in Series
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2020, 09:34:56 AM »
ShtokyD - I am resurrecting this thread, because I have finally ordered parts and have some additional questions. Additionally, for various reasons my build has switched to a ProffieBoard v2.2 and a KR sabers Pixel Stick.

Background info:
  • Thin Neck Saber w/ 2 pairs of SCW short pin hilt/blade PCBs in series
  • Proffieboard v2.2 sound board with 2 independent control box accent LEDs and 2 crystal chamber Neopixel LEDs in series with each other (driven by SCW hilt PCB mounted to chassis).
Desired functionality:
  • Control box accent LEDs act independently from each other and act differently based on whether saber is on or off
  • Crystal chamber LEDs do not need to be independent of blade or SCW PCB LEDs
  • Blade detection functionality ONLY required to detect if first SCW PCB set connecting chassis and hilt (i.e, determine if showing off crystal chamber or if saber is fully assembled). Do not need any blade ID or detection of whether or not an actual NPXL blade is in the emitter.
I do not have access to my wire diagram at the moment so I am going to try and walk through my circuit layout in words starting at the hilt PCB closes to the soundboard and working outwards:

HILT PCB #1 (hard wired to soundboard)
    Configuration
    • Configured for V3 (blade + PCB in series) w/ jumper J bridged, and R2 w/ 330 Ohm 0603 resistor
    Main Positive Connections
    • 2x 24 AWG wires soldered to 2 separate positive pads on the PCB and connected directly to battery positive
    Main Negative Connections
    • 2x 24 AWG wires soldered to 2 separate negative pads on the PCB, one connected to (18) LED 3 , the other connected to (19) LED 2 pads on the Proffieboard
    Data & Crystal Chamber Connections
    • Blade Present/Detection: 1x 30 AWG wire soldered to the BP PCB pad and to the Data2 (1) pad on the Proffieboard
    • Crystal Chamber Data: 1x 30 AWG wire soldered to D2 PCB pad and DIN on CC Neopixel 1, another similar wire from DOUT of CC Neopixel 1 to DIN of CC Neopixel 2, then another similar wire from DOUT of CC Neopixel 2 to (16) Data1/ID on Proffieboard
    • Crystal Chamber Power: 2x 30 AWG wire, one soldered to empty Positive pad on PCB and to VDD on CC Neopixels 1 & 2, one soldered to empty negative pad on PCB and to GND on CC Neopixels 1 & 2

BLADE PCB #1 and HILT PCB #2
    Configuration
    • BLADE PCB #1: SCW PCB without onboard LEDs, Data Resistor Pad = Solder Bridge (previously resisted on Hilt PCB #1 and KR Sabers Pixel Stick features onboard data resistor, Blade ID Resistor Pad = Empty (no bridge or connections)
    • HILT PCB #2: Configured for V3 (blade + PCB in series) w/ jumper J bridged, and R2 bridged (again previously resisted, and Pixel Stick features onboard data resistor)(
    Main Positive Connections
    • [2x 24 AWG wires soldered to 2 separate positive pads on each PCB
    Main Negative Connections
    • 2x 24 AWG wires soldered to 2 separate negative pads on each PCB
    Data Connections
    • 1x 30 AWG wire soldered to Data Pad on BLADE PCB #1 and D2 on HILT PCB #2

BLADE PCB #2
    Configuration
    • SCW PCB with onboard LEDs, Data Resistor Pad = Solder Bridge (previously resisted on Hilt PCB #1 and KR Sabers Pixel Stick features onboard data resistor, Blade ID Resistor Pad = Empty (no bridge or connections)
    Main Positive Connections
    • 1x 14 AWG (that is what I have laying around) wire soldered from a positive pad on PCB to VDD pad on Pixel Stick
    Main Negative Connections
    • 1x 14 AWG wire soldered from a negative pad on PCB to GND pad on Pixel Stick
    Data Connections
    • 1x 30 AWG wire soldered from data pad on PCB to DIN on Pixel Stick

Questions
  • Since the Pixel Stick has the data resistor onboard, should I eliminate the resistor on R2 of HILT PCB #1, or is it needed for the CC Neopixels? In general I am a little unsure of my resistor & data connection layout as I am not sure exactly how those circuits work on the PCBs.
  • General accent LED question: The control box has 2 standard LEDs and tactile switches with their own PCB, for the LEDs this PCB has a common LED Negative, then 2x independent positive LED connections. In order to control these LEDs separately I have one positive going to the LED 5 (5) connection on the Proffieboard, and the other going to the LED4 (10) connection. Where should the common LED Negative connect to, the 3.3V pad on the Proffieboard? Direct to Battery Positive? Battery Positive on the Proffieboard? I would like it such that as soon as you flip the kill switch from saber = dead to saber = alive, the control box LEDs have functionality
  • With the setup I%u2019ve outlined are the crystal chamber Neopixels in series or parallel with the PCB & blade LEDs? I would like it such that the crystal chamber LEDs are only active when the connection between HILT PCB #1 and BLADE PCB #1 is broken. I believe with this wiring scheme I can handle all of that in the configuration files, but I want to make sure that is true.

As always thank you very much for the help!
« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 09:53:04 AM by Dewy »

 

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