So, I decided to add a recharge port to my ASP saber. This is a slightly awkward process, so I'm documenting it.
Apologies in advance; the forum thinks I have too many images/links for one post, so this will be split into sections. Also, I kinda bumbled through the process without much of a plan, just figuring it out as I went. So, my writeup is also pretty disorganized.
Parts needed:
-
recharge port
- lighted switch from TCSS or SF's ASP site
-
resistor for lighted switch (required if you want the switch light not to burn out)
- kill key(s)
-
external charger or 2.1mm charger
- (optional) adapter wired to a homemade fake battery
- some extra wire and soldering tools
- (optional) quick-connect adapters
- (optional) O-rings
- (optional) alligator clips
My charge port install should be pretty standard, with the only caveat being that my hilt is pretty cramped so I'm skipping the quick-connect parts. However, my charge setup is a bit odd. I want to use a nice li-ion charger and be able to check voltage with a DMM, so I'm going to create a fake external battery instead of plugging a charger directly into the hilt.
Layout / accessing the driver and battery
Here's the bare board, with the relevant connectors labelled "PWR + -".
Here's the same board installed in an ASP chassis:
The parts I need to get to are covered in liquid electrical tape. So, that's going to be in the way. The internet tells me to just pry it off with a knife, fingernail, tweezers, or whatever is handy. So, I tried that and it seems to work. It does require a very gentle touch though, since these components are fragile.
That red wire at the edge seems to be the BAT+ wire, so at least it's accessible. But what I really need access to is BAT-. Here's the tiny black wire going from BAT- to the PWR- connector on the driver:
In my case, it looks like the wire is actually partially exposed direct from SaberForge, since they seem to have scraped its casing off in one spot. Oops.
In any case, that short wire is a bit harder to tap into. And, according to
JeffVader's schematic, the BAT- wire actually needs to be fully interrupted:
So, I need to insert the switch between BAT- and PWR-, and I need to tap into the BAT+ wire too. One wire from BAT- to the charge port, one wire from PWR- to the charge port, and one wire from BAT+/PWR+ to the charge port.
I took the BAT- to PWR- wire off entirely.
Also, I didn't follow the diagram exactly. I want my switch to indicate whether power is connected, so I attached it to the same wires which power the driver. The diagram above shows how to make the switch light up in patterns identical to the blade instead, pulsing as the blade pulses and lighting only when the blade lights. That's a neat effect, but I'm more concerned about being able to tell when the saber is truly off versus merely being in standby mode.
So here's the layout for what I actually did: (created after doing the mod and posting about it, sorry)
Motivation
I want a kill key because the SaberCore 2 board uses a lot of power in standby mode, meaning I'd otherwise have to take the battery out at all times while the saber isn't in use. Also, since it works as a charge port, there is no longer any need to remove the battery at all or otherwise open up the hilt. Cram it all in once and it's done. No more risking damage every time I open it.
I tested power use with the saber on and then in standby mode. It seems to idle at about 200-240mA, depending on which battery I use, and although I assume it must go down a bit from there, it still sleeps at a pretty high power level. Leaving the cell in drains the battery in 2-3 days. Here's how it behaves in the first two minutes -- I connected power, turned the blade on, turned the blade off, then just let it idle. It stayed at 200mA until I stopped the test ten minutes later.
So, the charge/kill port mostly fixes that. And as long as I was upgrading the switch from an "outie" to an "innie", I decided to make it light up too.
Update 2016-08-15: After sending an ASP driver unit in for RMA repairs (damaged speaker), I got a new unit back today and it appears to fix the lack of a sleep mode. I'm calling it a "SaberCore 2.1" board, and here's its power graph with a 3.64V NCR18650B cell. (I was too impatient to charge it, but the blade-on power would be higher on a full cell)
It's now going into sleep mode immediately after the sound and/or blade stops, and it idles at an average of about 4.5mA. This eliminates the overheating issue and extends the standby time to about a month. So, with an updated driver board it's now safe to leave the battery in while the saber isn't being used, but you should still remove the battery if the saber will be unused for more than a couple weeks.
Update: I got some new kill keys, 3D-printed with an on/off slot. Click to find out more:
https://saberforgeforum.com/forum/open-topics/11898-review-darthryo-rotating-kill-keys