Lightsaber Recharge Ports : Everything You Needed to Know
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
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Today we present everything you need to know about recharge ports and kill keys. We cover concept, method of operation and pin-outs.
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Hands down the best explanation of these on the internet. Thank you sir!
This is a wonderful explanation. Great video.
Thanks Victor. Glad you liked it!
Excellent this was the video that actually made me understand it. Cheers
Wow. Fantastic video. Thank you SO SO much!
Highly informative video; thank you for the clarification! Now then, two quick questions please: How can you tell the difference between the two negative terminals? Why not just solder the positive wire to your already existing positive terminal on the circuit board?
Both the Switchcraft & the Saberforge style recharge ports are made to consistent specs. You'd either refer to the manufacturers spec sheet or the terminals are explained at the end of this vid.
Pads on sound boards tend to be quite small, so rather than try and solder multiple wires to that small +ve pad, plan your circuit so that the bulk of the +ve wires all attach to the largest 'target' which is usually the +ve terminal on the cell.
GREAT VIDEO im stripping an old saber to make a ghv3 build (first time). All making more sense now thanks to ur vid BUT both my recharge ports only have 2 pins. Can you try to explain ty
Great Explanation and video!! Thanks!!
You're welcome, Andrew :)
Wait is kill key installation have to be a lever or its hard wire for Both and still kill key.
Perhaps I could get some information from you. I recently just acquired a Saber forge Arbiter Mark II and it is lovely... My problem is I purchased some kill keys off a seller on Etsy and within 10 minutes of me put it into the lightsaber, I went to remove it and it broke off in half and I was not able to get out the remaining parts, but when I was trying to I saw a couple of Sparks and now I have no power for my lightsaber. Will I need to purchase an entirely new plug and play kit from saberforge for $250?
any assistance you could give me would be greatly appreciated sir. Your videos are great and I am a happy new subscriber
Hi Dave. Did you manage to get the kill key out?
If you've sparked something in the recharge port best case scenario, you've tripped the protection PCB on the battery (.... if there is one. SF can be a bit hit n miss with protection on their cells). If the PCB is tripped, it can sometimes be reset by putting the saber on charge and everything is good again. Worst case scenario .... you've fried the board.
If you haven't got the kill key out yet, try again but don't jam anything metallic deep into the port (sparky sparky). I've seen people get broken kill keys out by applying a TINY amount of super glue to the extracted part, seating it back in, letting it set overnight and then slowly trying to pull the stuck part out. make sure only the upper and lower faces of the kill key gets glue on it, otherwise you'll never get the broken part out ..i.e. just scrape a thin smear of glue on with a small tool.
Then try the PCB reset thing. Let me know the result. What version PnP kit was it?
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 thank you for all that information. It was the champion electronics soundboard installed
@@Evadious-2022 One of these with the micro USB recharge ports? saberforge.com/collections/plug-and-play/products/champion-kit
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 yes these are ones
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 Sadly I did use a small screwdriver to chip away at the plastic still in the charging port 😢
I'm hoping you are right and I may have tripped something.
Two questions. 1. Where would a person install a PLI into this circuit? And 2. In the absence of a kill key, will an unplugged smart charger work as a kill key while I install the rest of the components on the saber?
1) PLI?
2) Yes, though obviously you want to get in the habit of wiring the cell in last anyway :)
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 PLI (power level indicator) mostly for fun but also function. It's a simple circuit board with positive and negative pads and 10 LED's that detect the voltage from the battery. And I forgot to purchase an actual kill key so it's just for precaution that I asked about the smart charger substitute
@@rodneymiller9439 assuming it's self powered, via just 2x pads , you'd want to hook the +ve pad up to the +ve of the cell and the -ve to the RCP pin that goes to the board. PLI would only indicate when the KK is pulled. You wouldn't want it on all the time as it would drain the cell.
Hi. Thanks so much for the video. My charge port is not working properly though... the smart charger accuses the battery to be full and does not charge. The charge port works fine as a kill switch, but the multimeter accuses continuity all the way from the negative of the charge port, connected to the negative of the battery through the other end of the negative on the board, is this normal? the negative on the charge port that goes to the battery is working properly and swiches off when the the charging plug is inserted on the charge port.... can someone help?
(IF I UNDERSTAND YOUR EXPLANATION) Sounds like you may have the -ve pin for the board and the -ve pin for the battery mixed up.
When the charging plug is inserted, the -ve from the board should be disconnected, not the -ve from the battery. Check your wiring :)
This was Great i would like to see how to wire a switch that has an LED .
Hi Andrew, thanks for the comment. I have a vid planned showing a basic stunt installation. Just have to find a few hours to shoot and edit it :)
I can't find this information anywhere.
How long does a full charge take in a saberforge in-hilt recharge? I'm a bit anxious charging it for too long.
Depending on how much charge current the charger delivers to the cell (I'm assuming something similar to a 3400mAh Panasonic cell). I'd guesstimate anywhere between 5 hours (1000mA charger) and 9 hours (500mA charger). If you're using a proper 4.2V li-ion smart charger (and that's the only thing you should use), there's usually an indicator that changes from red (charging) to green (charged). The charger takes care of cutting-off at full charge.
Do you need a recharge port with your Saber or do you don’t
Hi Josh. Some sabers have the ability for a removable battery to be installed. A removable battery can be pulled from the saber and charged in a conventional, exterior charger. Take a look at this vid: ua-cam.com/video/re-kzrQynVM/v-deo.html. That can be a bit of a faff tho'. I personally prefer an in-hilt recharge via a recharge port.
Sulphur City Foundry ah thanks for clearing that up
Hey I was wondering how to fix one of these charging ports. A little while back, I had messed up the port. It looks crooked and I think it might have disconnected from the battery. I'm not a very technical person, but any amount of help would be great. Have a great day to whoever sees this!
Considering that there are live +ve and -ve wires straight from the battery running to the RCP, it's highly advisable to seek out an experienced saber installer to repair the RCP.
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 why not use an usb-c port for recharge and a separe method to cut the power?, like a switch
Hi, so i have a lightsaber and i think i might've shorted it somehow by using a higher voltage charger, and now it wont turn on. How would I fix something like this?
1) Protection circuit on the cell may have tripped. Try resetting it by plugging in the correct voltage charger for a few secs and try again
2) [best case scenario] Protection circuit on the board may have friend. Get a saber installer to replace cell.
3 [likely scenario] Board is fried. Cell has been overvoltaged. Get a saber installer to replace cell & board.
I'm going to assume it's an oldr saber with a 3 pin recharge port and SaberCore board and not one of their newer Golden Harvest V3 installs?
@@sulphurcityfoundry5009 yeah, I’ve had it for about 5 years. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have needed to send it in for repairs, I was hoping I could replace the battery and it’ll be alright. But thank you so much, I really appreciate it
How would you connect it to a stunt (no sound) saber without a board?
The wiring diagram including the RCP shows a circuit that delivers a +ve and a -ve wire to the rest of the circuit (which is the board).
Doesn't matter if it's powering a board or a simple stunt setup. One wire is +ve... one is -ve. Design the rest of the circuit from that :)
Do you need a switched charge port ? Or would a 2 prong non switched do
Hi. Thanks for the comment. It's considered good practice to use a three pin switched model in order to isolate the board when the charger is plugged in. I've never had the time to dig into why exactly, but expect that having a load (other than the cell under charge) across the charger can cause issues. Some of the cheaper Chinese boards use a 2 pin RCP with charge management built onto the board.
Sulphur City Foundry yeah I read up on a few boards with the battery protection on-board but awesome thank you this helps out a lot !
Is there a way to make a kill key plug complete the circuit when plugged in instead? I’m trying to find a fix for mine and can’t think of an easier way to do it.
Nope. What's the issue with yours? If the RCP is faulty, just replace it?
Sulphur City Foundry, WOW!First let me say thanks for replying!
My problem is hard to explain, but the band of metal that completes the circuit is bent. I can bend it with paper clips and it will turn on. But without pressure against it doesn’t reach the post/pin to complete the circuit. I’ve messed with it to see if I could replace it but i believe it is glued and I don’t want to break anything attempting to fix it.
That’s why I thought maybe getting something that was the same size as the kill plug but was a conductor instead of being plastic; maybe it would complete the circuit while technically having a “kill” plug in it?
@@TREEMEISTER. Ideally you want to retain that circuit isolation / charging functionality, so a RCP replacement is really your only option. It's a common fault and luckily a fairly easy fix for a sabersmith. If you're not electrical savvy, I suggest you find a decent local smith (where are you based?). If you're competent with soldering and know how to safely work with simple electrical circuits, pop the switch and RCP as per this vid. ua-cam.com/video/hH944JEuDw4/v-deo.html, replace the recharge port (3 solder points) and refix the switch and RCP as per this vid. ua-cam.com/video/mhjecFOwke0/v-deo.html. Just make sure you isolate as you go to prevent unwanted shorts.
Sulphur City Foundry oh okay, thanks for the help. I’m located in SF area in California. I would not say I am learned electrical wise, only tried soldering once or twice when I was younger. Maybe this will be a good reason to learn! I actually just managed to pop the charge port out and I have 4 wires, total, attached. I’m assuming pos neg taped together for power? And light/sound are the other 2? I’m just guessing lol
Does anyone know if an micro SD charger can be swapped out with a standard "kill key" charger? I have a saberforge champion kit that the recharge part took a dump and I can't charge it but I can't find any others. I can remove the sd card to change fonts i just need something to charge it and I wanna make sure it will work and which wire color they use for the data wire
Although Saberforge do not list them on their website, if you contact them, they'll be able to arrange a replacement (may take a while for them to respond, but they will. When you contact them, just inc original order number / address / explanation of issue inc photo etc to save any long turnarounds too-ing and fro-ing).
Also, sometimes the ribbon cable just comes loose. so you can just try re-seating. Ensure that the ribbon cables don't flip over when you do this as if you insert them upside down .... could kill the board.
How would I reseat them? And unfortunalty they have not been very forthcoming hence my pursuing other options. Also sorry for all the questions I'm new at this lol
@@runningcoyoteflynn They have a small sliding clamp. If you email the store, I'll send you a photo of the clamp open and closed. It's not a strong clamp, so there is potential for the ribbon cable to wiggle free.
To answer your original Q, yes you can swap the port for a standard 12mm recharge port. I also suggest swapping the cell for a decent protected cell at the same time, as the V3.0 builds used an unprotected 18650 cell, overdischarge of which is a common reason for charging issues.
I do like the Saberforge stuff, but the V3.0 electronics install is a bit of a lemon.
Considering the risks of shorting your cell / frying the board when swapping out RCPs, I also suggest you find a decent, well reviewed saber-smith to make any repairs. I'd offer, but New Zealand will have a fair shipping component to consider if you're in the US.
OK I shot you a fb message