I bought a kit to install a proffieboard to my lightsaber, which is about 5 years old. used to be an in hilt LED standard blade. It already has a battery, which matched the specs of the kit. So I wired everything up, and tested it, and everything worked fine. I was using the old battery. After getting the “low battery” warning, I swapped to the battery from the kit. Upon inserting the battery, the board sparked up and fizzled. I then bought a new board, re-wired everything. I double checked, and then triple checked. Upon verification that everything was correct, I tested it out. Again I used my original battery first, having charged it from waiting for the new board to ship. The saber worked, and everything was good. Then, same story, low battery. I swapped batteries again, not knowing why the last one fizzled. This time, the U3 Voltage Regulator piece, thankfully, was the only part to get damaged. Now, the board is still readable through the usb, and I can still program it, so I’m pretty sure just that one piece is bad. Unfortunately, it does render the board useless unless i can get that part. But I cant find it in stock anywhere sadly.
Anyway, any reason as to why a battery would cause this?
U3 isn’t a voltage regulator, it’s a voltage booster.
It shouldn’t be possible to kill it unless you have a short somewhere, like on the 5v pad, or in the speaker. A poor battery can put more pressure on the booster, but it shouldn’t just die.
Where/when did you get these boards?
I’m wondering if maybe you can get a warranty replacement?
I got them in a diy kit from Saberbay, unfortunately the seller doesn’t have much anything in the way of customer service, and denied any help. I had shown my wiring and a video of it working with my battery, because I was excited when it was working and took a video. But no, he refuses to lend any sort of helping hand
Also I said voltage regulator, because that’s how the part is described by Texas Instruments when you go through the parts list to try to replace it, but yes I know it’s the voltage booster
Lack of help is unfortunate, but not entirely surprising, as it can take a lot of work to help with DIY projects. However, I do ask that people who sell proffieboards explain their warranties clearly so that users will know what to expect when they buy a board.
Yes, unfortunately his policy is just, if it was even opened then no refunds/ returns. He has no policy regarding faulty equipment at all and didn’t seem willing to talk about it. BUT! One of the GURUs on a proffie support page reached out to me and explained he has extra parts from left over scrap boards, and is willing to replace my part, and hopefully it fixes it. I told him he can keep anything from my first board that is still in operability. Hopefully it finds it’s way to helping others as well! So fingers crossed on this one!
we’ll see.