TOPIC: Initiate Redeemer 12W+ with Custom Spark 2 Install

The REDEEMER.....

Get ready for some typos...I can barely type straight.

There are a lot of great Redeemers out there. This one is neither the first, nor the best. However, there is something that makes it special. This is my Redeemer. And by that I mean this is my first saber build.

And honestly, before I dive into a review of what "I" did, this was really a group effort. It was this community, who jumped in and helped answer so many of my questions. This is as much your saber as it is mine. Kouri, Jaden Korr, BoostinIX, RyanRising, Borommakot, SublimeDelusions, RichellM, Ottomatix, Brax, DarthMario95 (Shameem), OvrcAHst, Andi-Jae EL, and so many, many more (sorry if I didn't name you and you assisted me). I just want you guys to know much I appreciated the continued help. If you are new here and reading this, please know that there is a community out there than enjoys this hobby and wants to help.

Okay, on to the build. So my saber started out with a Spark 2 that now looks like this:





I did wire it before I got the hilt and I should not have, but I got excited. What can I say. You may remember that thread here: Spark 2 Soundboard with Saberforge LED

I made quick connects using Micro Deans plugs for the switch, recharge port, and LED (both main and flash on clash).







And I know many people want to know how to wire up those recharge ports. Here is mine:





As you can see, starting from the left, the negative battery is on the bottom left (yellow), the negative to the board is in the upper middle (black), and both the positive to both the board and battery go on the arm on the right (RED).

There is a great thread on this here: HERE

And here is the silly little quick connect I made for the single negative for the flash on clash from the board




I just cut the extra pins off. The one from the LED will have an exposed prong, but this way I don't have to pull or rewire the board to change the LED.

Finally, here is everything with 2w Bass speaker and shielding.





I then went on eBay and procured a 12mm raised AV momentary switch. Finally a trip to Home Depot for Magnetic Tape (not strips) and tiny 9.5mm magnetic discs (branded as "SuperMagnets" according to the packaging) and I was set. I also used Loctite Ultracontrol gel to glue my switch and recharge port in as the "ultra control" part was easy to use. 2 broken connections on a switch, some desoldering, and a bit of apprentice level Cram-Fu later, I have a finished hilt.

I glued the tiny magnet to the top of the AV switch and put the magnetic tape on the back of the control card. This allows the card to slide but it remains in place until I want it to move. The magnetic strips are stronger, but actually resulted a the AV switch being slightly depressed even at rest and reduced the action causing issues. The tape is not stronger, but works better overall.



You may be wondering about my kill key. Well, I pulled the post out of the kill key (using Saberforge's new kill key) and it proved to be REALLY tough to get out. So, I just sanded the top down until the entire kill key fit under the card. This works really well and is very easy to get to. The new kill key works great for this!





I finally glued the rails on the sides and applied a bit of plumbers seal tape to the thin-neck where it screws into the grenade section to prevent rattling. I will LocTite this when I decide on my LED.

Right now, we have a 12w+ Deep blue in here. I really want to go to a Medium Blue (giving me Royal Blue on one Channel and Light Blue on the other) or Arctic Blue (giving me Deep Blue on one Channel and Green on the other). I guess I could make my own LED with Royal Blue, Blue, and Green FoC, but I still haven't figured out how the wiring on the star works (yet). More to come there.

Well, I have run out of room on pictures so in the next section, I'll discuss the saber itself....

Pictures are worth a thousand words....

Here is the (almost) finished product. It's worth noting that I did not receive the Mylar insert for the thin-neck with the hilt. CS has already told me they will be sending this to me and it need not be glued in because it will eat away at the Mylar. So I am guessing it can only get brighter.

As you can see, you can't see the kill key unless you look at the control box from the back. This seems to work very well.







This hilt surprised me in a lot of ways. I LOVE the single button activation box in that it feels like a hidden button instead of an obvious AV switch. I expected the box to get in the way of spinning, but it's not as bad as I expected. I can spin at the neck with no problems. The box was also not as sharp as I thought it would be. I am not saying it is not somewhat of a hinderance, but it was not as bad in my experience as some of the reports I had read. You mileage may vary.

The weight and length are awesome. This is probably now a tie for my favorite hilt along with my Monarch. I spent all my life wanting a Luke Skywalker saber for ROTJ. Now with this one in hand, I might like it better. I definitely prefer it to my Hasbro ROTJ saber.





The Spark 2 is awesome for a single button 3 font Saber. I just twist to change between fonts with the Flash on Clash just being the hit of a button.


Overall, it's really the experience here that is what counted for me. This saber is incredibly special. If you are thinking of getting this in a Champion / Hero tier, or a DIY saber, I would HIGHLY recommend it! I do not think you will be disappointed.

Thank you Saberforge for making such an amazing hilt!

Nice work in the install! Good to see someone so happy with their Redeemer, especially since another forum user was so disappointed with theirs. This hilt is definitely on my wish list for canon designs.

I think using a medium blue LED would be a good idea; that way you can have a ROTS blue, a ANH blue, and something in between. Though artic blue would work well too, so you could have a FoC color that's not too close to the main blade color.

I noticed you have a silver covertec knob; did you request that, or did it come like that? Usually Redeemers come with brass ones. Either would look good on this hilt.

What soundfonts are you using (or plan to)? My plan for a future Redeemer is to have an episode III one (I'd replace the boot sound with Ewan's "Hello There!"), an episode IV one (with the boot sound being Alec saying the same line), and the third being Shammem's "Sacrifice" (with the boot sound being the "If you strike me down" line). I figure that would cover the "career" of Obi-Wan's third lightsaber.

Jaden Korr wrote:
Thanks! You were a big part of it.

It came with that silver Covertech wheel. I noticed that too. I was thinking about ordering a brass one, but the silver grew on me.

Right now, I've Graflex V, Father's Son, and ANH Legends (which makes no sense). These were really just place holders. I was shopping the internet this afternoon for good fonts and it sounds like you named a few. I saw Shameem's Sacrifice and was really thinking about that one. I really wanted one that started with "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine".

I also am glad you confirmed Medium Blue as I was really leaning that way over the Arctic blue.

Is there any special procedure I should do for charging? Honestly, I am a bit weirded out by plugging something into the wall that I wired, ha!

Noticed this ^^ also. Interestingly on the Brass one inclusion, I had actually thought they were Black.

HotRod, Congratulations with receipt of Redeemer and with completing your first Build. You document well and with following your Post's from DIY to news of the Empty getting closer and even the troubleshoot with the Thin Neck, glad it has been overcome. Thank you for sharing. Your applied interpretation of the AV/Kill Key and Switch Card improvement needs to be highlighted, Well Done.

Really great work on the install HotRod! I really like the mod you did for the card given saberforge's redesign. I also thought that the covertech knob usually black, but honestly it would look good with any color.

So jealous! This is the same setup I tried to put in my ASP, but it was too tight to fit. Great job; between your subtle mods and the install, that's an awesome hilt.

HotRod wrote:
Luckily with NEC boards it's a bit easier to swap specific sounds out with others. You should be able to find that quote on YouTube, and extract it using a YouTube to MP3 website or by recording your computer's audio using a program like Audacity (it's free). From there you should just have to clear any metadata, make sure it's mono and at the correct bit rate, and save it as a WAV file. If I recall correctly, the NEC Ignitor config editor got an update that allowed it to check and fix any problem audio files, but I'm not sure if the Spark 2 one got it as well.

I know the feeling. I recommend plugging into a surge protector instead of straight into the wall. It's not saber specific, but I do this for all of my electronics to help protect them. You can get them for pretty cheap, but the slighty higher quality ones even come with insurance if it fails to protect you stuff during a power surge.

As for charging habits, don't "top it off," so to speak, after every use. And keep the kill key in when not in use if you don't have deep sleep enabled on the board so you can get the maximum life out of your battery. The less you have to charge it, the longer it will be before you have to replace it.

Damn HotRod that is one sweet piece! Great job on your build! That is definitely something to be proud of!.....seeing your review just makes me want my Redeemer even more (im only in week 3 of the wait!)....Congrats & Enjoy!

jonnys95s10 wrote:
I believe you are right, I think it's supposed to be black. Honestly, I like the silver. Seems like another accidental change by Saberforge worked in my favor (see my 90 degree clockwise Juggernaut review).
Borommakot wrote:
Just out of curiosity, what hilt was it? I've got 2 Bastions and an Oracle coming and I was assuming it would fit....but we know about assuming.

Jaden Korr wrote:
Thank you. I found a web site a few weeks back that I was using to convert MP4's from iTunes into wav files at the right mhz and in mono. I then just select "convert wav files" in NEC's config editor and it worked. I love the little editor for both the Spark 2 and Spark Color 2.

I have some bad news about my saber, though. I am an IT guy so EVERYTHING must go in a surge protector. I've got them all over the house. I plugged my saber into a surge protector in my office, left it for a while, came back, unplugged it, fired it up, took some pics, plugged it back in, let it charge some more....it's dead now. I've got the board back out and I need to see what's going on. Tried a different battery, same result. However, I want to check the speaker connection as that may have just gone out. Honestly, it's just as much fun to build them, so we'll see. The chassis worked for weeks before the saber got here. I'm praying I didn't short it somehow.

Nice write up. You are inspiring me to install sound in my warrior redeemer. ...and my wife think me swing the lit light saber w/o sound every night before bed, with the lights off of course, is annoying. Wait till i get sound.

The Covertec wheel was another surprise when I got mine Redeemer. I have seen it in brass and the one shown on the main site is black so I thought I'd get black so it blends in with the black body or brass to balance with the brass neck. It arrived in Silver. I may ending up getting one in black Since I'm thinking of installing a silver Covertec on my Vengeance hilt.

golgo13 wrote:
Sounds like I am not the only one getting them in silver. Good to know.

Haha, I know where you are coming from here, ha. But I have also found with the right color and sound combination they can get hooked on sabers too. . My wife wants a pink Bastion with a She-Ra boot up sound. Here's hoping I can deliver.

When I started out, I though one sound and one color is all I need. Now I can no longer tease my wife about taking time to choose the best outfit when I am trying to figure out if today is a "Juggernaut Day or an "Exhalted" day.

HotRod wrote:
My first born, Body 1. It's long enough, no problem, and I can get the guts in there, but 8 times out of 10, it doesn't work; loosens the battery somehow or something, I can't tell.

Borommakot wrote:
Thank you for interpreting what I meant there, ha. That was what I was most curious about is if the diameter is there. It seems length is not the problem. I had that problem on this one where the speaker joints kept coming out.

Nice work man.
Glad to see the progress and happiness with the final product

Good job HotRod, nice clean wiring, very inspiring work.

Congrats on your first build! Nice pick with the Redeemer to accomplish this on. Now that you're confident in you DIY skills, what's your next project? Now enjoy your new addition!

Andi-Jae EL wrote:
You are also someone I owe a Thank You too as you have definitely helped me in the past!

Thank you! I've got an all Black ASP, 2 Bastion's, and a Dark Red Leather Wrapped Oracle coming. One of the Bastions will be a build for my wife. I also may take a crack at a Prodigal Son. I am not sure if I should order an initiate tier hilt or build it through ASP. I know they are threaded differently because my ASP Redeemer emitters will not fit on my Redeemer hilt.

Also, figured out why my Redeemer stopped working....I had a AV Switch solder joint separate and a speaker solder joint separate. Looks like my Cram-Fu needs some work, ha. We're all fired up now.