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Author Topic: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3  (Read 10648 times)

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Offline erv

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Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« on: December 23, 2015, 04:18:22 AM »
CRYSTAL SHARD v3

The Crystal Shard series is another little brother of our Crystal Focus Board. It keeps the same spirit while not containing a LED driver using some more modest parts, making it a perfect mid range sound fx board. It was designed to meet the production demand of smiths of the industry. Its small size allows also to install it in the smallest hilts. Initiated in mid 2012, it combines direct drive and a small form factor, now with 3 color channels.




DISCLAIMER : that board isn't a retail item (sorry). So don't ask. Thank you.
(you can read up more about that topic in the CSv1 announcement thread here)

As usual, since this board will be used and installed into great sabers, I prefer to have it explained and detailed here even if not available to the DIY market. Feel free to discuss, ask questions etc. Just remain civil.

This isn't not a "huge" release, the Plecter Labs product line packs up quite a bit and those boards do a lot already. But there's always something to add or tweak.



SPECS :
- [NEW]16 bit sound. It sounds just like a PRIZM/PC/CF. Warmer, better defined, crystal clear sound.
- [NEW] Tridentâ„¢ support

Legacy features from v2.5:
- THREE (3) color channels and (simplified) color mixing.
- up to 6 sound fonts
- Lockup + 1 blaster sound + Aux switch
- Aux switch not mandatory, just no access to certain new features, but CSv1 compatible (for existing hilts, or just saving on the install budget)
- Accent LED pad that goes on and off with the blade (no mirror, no blinking, designed mostly for AV lit switches)
- Improved file fetching, up to 16 GB µSD card, drag and drop compliant (tested on PC at least)
- R.I.C.E. Support
- dimensions 31.5 x 21 mm (read it as frickin' small) - (Unchanged from CSv2.5)
- direct drive (no current regulator)
- can drive up to 2A load per color channel. FlexiDriveâ„¢ to avoid the resistor in certain cases.
- Ramp up / down effects
- header compliant
- blade flickering + shimmering. Pulse effect.
- input voltage 3.4V - 5.5V. Possible customization to work with a 2 cell pack but this is NOT the goal of that board. It's meant to be used with a single 18650, 17650 or alike. Extra cost to get it to work with 2 cells. Still, PC is really what you want in that case.
- Flash on Clashâ„¢
- [new] Special Flash on Clashâ„¢ mixing engine that allows various LEDs and color schemes to be implemented. That includes the Legacy FoC the way we defined it in the CFv5.
- 0.8 W audio power on an 8 ohm speaker. But it's actually louder than a PC1.x
- Regulated audio engine for improved sound quality
- 100% compatibility with CF sound fonts (no remix needed)
- Same motion sensing as PC2/CF
- 8 swings / 8 clashes / power on / power off / Lockup / 1 Blaster
- NO / NC / momentary / momentary solo switch configuration
- delay APOP
- Has the hum resume feature like PC/CF/PRIZM
- reduced idle current consumption. I was able to shrink this to 0.5 mA. When blade goes off, board goes in average sleep mode (like the PC) with a small current. After a configurable delay (deep sleep) it will go in deep sleep. It's woken up by the activation button and will make the board reset and reboot. Deep sleep is configurable between 20 ms and 994 days ;-)
default is 5 minutes.
With .5 mA in deep sleep mode, that's 2.5 month of shelf life with a 14500 and 7 months (ish) with a 18650.
User will be advised of course to remove the cell for long term storage time. Even MRs die after a while, if you don't remove the batteries.
This limits the use of a kill key. It's nothing specially complicated to achieve technology wise, just not possible on the PC or CF as they continue to "work" when in idle or even in deep sleep (Blinkies, WakeOnMoveâ„¢).



User's manual available soon in the Support section of the Plecter Labs website


Particulars
The Flash On Clashâ„¢ mixing system allows to define die per die which one is part of the blade color and which di(c)e is part of the FoC color. This avoid a static FoC, makes it organic and more realistic while still being totally coherent in terms of color mixing.

The momentary solo switch support has been introduced in version 2.5 : it allows to use a single switch (momentary) to still be able to browse / select the sound fonts even if a single (activation) switch is used (no aux).

The Tridentâ„¢ support I'm sure most of you can guess what it is, I'll detail it elsewhere  :angel:
« Last Edit: July 06, 2019, 07:54:49 AM by erv »

Offline MACE WINDU

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2015, 09:44:57 AM »
"Trident Support"  This is our Korbanth Kylo board :D

Offline TRDNiteLife

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2015, 10:16:29 AM »
I might have missed it, however, when will smiths start getting these new boards?

Offline CHEWBACCA

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2015, 12:01:34 PM »
I might have missed it, however, when will smiths start getting these new boards?

probably middle to end of January.

Offline IceSaber

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2016, 06:26:01 AM »
Can we sticky this please?

Offline CHEWBACCA

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2016, 07:17:55 AM »
I thought about doing that when you posted the other thread but he may not want it sticky since his sticky section is so long.  He has control over that though so I will leave it up to him.


Offline erv

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2016, 08:03:30 AM »
yes, thanks chewie, I have to clean up a bit the first page, will do that in a minute

Offline Kouri

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2016, 11:43:43 AM »
Any chance of a post here and/or an updated manual noting where the RICE contacts are on the Shard? They don't seem to be labeled on the board itself.

Offline CHEWBACCA

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Re: Please Welcome the CRYSTAL SHARDâ„¢ v3
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2016, 02:39:58 PM »
Same as the other boards but just circles instead of square pads.


 

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