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The S.A.B.E.R. GUILD: Saber Manufacturers => Plecter Labs => Sound boards technical issues / questions / problems => Topic started by: Darth Father on November 10, 2019, 06:03:15 PM

Title: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 10, 2019, 06:03:15 PM
Hi everyone. I am trying to put together a Vader saber with a Crystal Shard 3.0. I cannot for the life of me get the white led to work as my FOC. Actually I can’t get it to work at all. I am pretty sure that there is not a problem with the led as it was a pre owned saber when I got it and it worked but with issues. The issue was the previous owner install the battery backwards and from then on it would power up but the volume was very low and the board got extremely hot. The board it had in the saber was a NBV4. I figured that he fried the board hence why I am trying to install the crystal shard. I have wired it correctly according to Plecter labs pdf for this board. My only variables are I have a 1.2 ohm 3 watt resistor wired in line with my positive and one in line with my negative. I have all three of the positives bridged on the led itself. It was like that previous to my install . I resoldered the positive wire going to the board. I have tried tying all of my negatives together and running them to the board but still no luck. The only thing I can get out of it is both red dies working. They flicker when FOC is supposed to happen. Someone please try to help. It won’t let me post pictures.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on November 11, 2019, 04:20:08 AM
Did you set your colors and focmix config correctly?
Ie make sure the 3rd channel has drive for the foc color
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 11, 2019, 04:45:03 AM
I have not messed with any of the settings in the sd card. It is stock. I’m pretty sure that I put the foc on the L3 and it still didn’t work. I forgot to add that I have both of my red negatives tied together going to the L2 on the board. If I wire them to the L1 pad they only come on when the card does foc.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: QUI-GON JINN on November 11, 2019, 07:20:29 AM
That sounds like a setting issue in the override.txt file or the individual soundfont config.txt file. You'll have to edit those to turn on all three led's as this board does color mixing, so you'll have to tell it what colors you want to use.  Also,  I would recommend putting the reds on L1 and L2, then the white for FoC on L3,  with resistors on the negatives, and a single shared positive, just like the diagram in the manual.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 11, 2019, 08:17:47 AM
How do I change the setting on the sd card to make the foc work?
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on November 11, 2019, 09:30:57 PM
ensure the FoC channel is getting some drive in the color definition (probably set as profiles in override.txt). As Jay suggested, rewire it this way, not that it changes much but is more "logical" to have FoC drive as the last item of the color (drive) list
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 12, 2019, 04:12:51 AM
Sorry for my ignorance. Could someone explain how to change the parameters in the files to make the foc work?
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: QUI-GON JINN on November 12, 2019, 06:01:47 PM
Sorry for my ignorance. Could someone explain how to change the parameters in the files to make the foc work?
Remove the sd card from the saber and insert it into a pc using a card reader or adapter.  Then,  open the override.txt file.  The default file looks like this:
Quote
## Override File

vol=4

beep=40

valsnd=1

switch=2

offp=0

offd=200

lc=400
hs=220
ls=70
i=53
swing=200

clash=150

lockup=200

deep=15000


## Color profiles

color0=0,940,0
fcolor0=940,430,0

color1=0,0,940
fcolor1=900,0,940

color2=940,0,0
fcolor2=0,630,400

color3=0,830,400
fcolor3=700,940,0

color4=840,0,630
fcolor4=0,0,940

color5=940,430,0
fcolor5=0,940,0

color6=740,930,0
fcolor6=0,740,600
The lines in the "color profiles" section are what you're after...the first set of numbers is the blade color in the line "color=." The three numbers are in order from the led pads L1,L2,L3. The default settings are for an RGB led,  not an RRW, so some editing will have to be done to get it to work like you want.

If you have the white die on the L3 pad,  and the reds on L1 and L2,  you'll want to set the color setting to 1023,1023,0 for each "color=" line in the profile. For the FoC,  you'll adjust the "fcolor=" profiles to 0,0,1023. This will turn on the white die during FoC/blade lock up events. Once you've edited the lines, save the changes to override.txt file and reinstall it in the saber. Make sense?  :smiley:
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 14, 2019, 06:57:25 PM
I wired it up like suggested ,and configured the sd card properly ,but when the saber goes to do FoC the white led does nothing. the reds go off for a split second and come back on. I am guessing they do that to allow the white led to shine through the blade. What could be the problem? Is the white led bad on the tri-cree? I have my two negatives from my reds going to L1 & L2 the negative from the white is on pad L3 I have each of the red negatives with their own 1.2 Ohm 3W resistor. The saber seems like it it functioning like it should only the white led is not working for FoC. If I need to replace the tri-cree that's fine I just want to make sure that is indeed the problem before I buy one.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on November 14, 2019, 11:58:40 PM
Yes, ideally rule the LED itself out by testing each die with a small battery + resistor or, ideally, a bench PSU set on current limitation (50 mA)

Then, ensure that your color settings have the 3rd channel with drive (usually maxed out to 1023) in the fcolor (foc color). Check also that your FoC duration is set to something long enough (250 = 500ms on the CS)

The defaults should "just work". Here's the URL if you'd want to DL the default package for your card
Article Info - Plecter Labs - Props Electronics (http://www.plecterlabs.com/shop/article_info.php?articles_id=1)
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 15, 2019, 05:51:13 AM
I had the default settings in the sd card and it didn’t work properly. Another member on here gave me some settings to put on the card and it made the saber function  correctly from what I can tell. I just think that the white led is bad. I am just not 100% about that.  Should I just replace the led or is there more settings that I am missing in the override config? Like I mentioned before from what I can tell the saber is doing what it is supposed to but it seems like the white led is not functioning.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on November 15, 2019, 07:54:47 AM
Can someone tell me exactly what the override file should look like line by line number by number. Also is there anything I should be changing in the config file in the different banks? If so could someone tell that line for line too?
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: QUI-GON JINN on November 16, 2019, 06:32:15 AM
I'd follow erv's suggestion first and test the white led on the tri-cree to ensure it isn't blown. Setting up the override.txt is easey....just change the lines to match what you need. Your color profile should be this:

color0=1023,1023,0
fcolor0=0,0,1023
Like so:
Quote
## Override File

vol=4
beep=40
valsnd=1
switch=2
offp=0
offd=200
lc=400
hs=220
ls=70
i=53
swing=200
clash=150
lockup=200
deep=15000

## Color profiles

color0=1023,1023,0
fcolor0=0,0,1023

color1=1023,1023,0
fcolor1=0,0,1023

color2=1023,1023,0
fcolor2=0,0,1023

color3=1023,1023,0
fcolor3=0,0,1023

color4=1023,1023,0
fcolor4=0,0,1023

color5=1023,1023,0
fcolor5=0,0,1023

color6=1023,1023,0
fcolor6=0,0,1023

You don'r really need to change this in the configuration file, as the override.txt file overrides the color settings in the config file,  but here you go anyway:
Quote
//Crystal Shard 3.0
drive=1023,1023,0
fdrive=0,0,1023
focmix=001
tridenton=0
tridentoff=0
tridentm=0000
tridentfx=0
tridentflk=0
tridentquick=0
resume=0
shmrd=210
shmrp=6
shmrr=13
shmr%=0,50
focd=200
focp=10
focr=10
foc%=0,80
qon=0
qoff=0
flks=3
flkd=20
pulsed=0
pulsel=0
fade=0
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on November 16, 2019, 06:42:00 AM
slightly disagree, I'd rather have fcolor=1023,1023,1023 and focmix=100 to have an on-top kind of FoC
Also, if you plan to use a single color profile, you can keep #0 but as a start, just edit them all
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: QUI-GON JINN on November 16, 2019, 06:50:19 AM
slightly disagree, I'd rather have fcolor=1023,1023,1023 and focmix=100 to have an on-top kind of FoC
Also, if you plan to use a single color profile, you can keep #0 but as a start, just edit them all
I agree,  but i got the impression he wanted a purely white FoC. In an RGB set up I usually had the focmix set to 111 to get a white FoC....have I been doing wrong all these years?  :shocked:  :wink:
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on November 16, 2019, 06:58:57 AM
focmix full mix is used for when blade color and foc colors are totally different. It can also be used to switch between the 2 colors during foc but on-top flash look better with pure blade color like here. Removing the main blade color during FoC usually looks dim and "empty"
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: QUI-GON JINN on November 16, 2019, 07:14:10 AM
focmix full mix is used for when blade color and foc colors are totally different. It can also be used to switch between the 2 colors during foc but on-top flash look better with pure blade color like here. Removing the main blade color during FoC usually looks dim and "empty"
Gotcha...I've never actually used a CS 2.5 and up with anything other than an RGB,  so that's what my mind always goes to when setting one up.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on March 09, 2020, 12:27:39 PM
Hi guys. I finally figured out what the problem was. I had a bad white die on my led. Replaced it and now it works great. I would like to know if there is a way to use only one switch for both ignition and lock up though. Can this be done or do I have to use two separate switches? For people just redwing this thread I have a crystal shard 3.0 with one momentary switch.
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: erv on March 09, 2020, 12:36:36 PM
No single switch support on a cs3
Title: Re: Crystal Shard 3.0 wiring
Post by: Darth Father on March 09, 2020, 12:52:45 PM
Ok cool. Thanks.