TOPIC: How to gain access to the SD Card

I just got my Venomous Fury a couple of days ago and was interested in adding/replacing sound fonts on the SD card and adjust some settings using the editing software, but when I unscrew the pommel and pull out the speaker, the battery and sound board seem lodged in there pretty good.

I tried to bump the open hilt against my hand to see if the board/battery would move, but it didn't seem like it did. So, I tried some needle nose plyers to try to carefully pull on it, but I didn't want to pull too hard and damage anything.

Just wanted to see if anyone has experienced this and what was done to get to the card.

Since it's brand new, I was handling it with kid gloves. So, I probably didn't pull hard enough with the plyers, but again, I didn't want to rip any wires or anything.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

You don't pull it out, the SD card should be visible on the edge, where you can take it out very carefully.

Now, this is also assuming you mean you have the Hero tier, correct? I don't mean to sound silly, but the champion versions don't have a SD card, their font is flashed permanently onto the board.

Yep. That's what I have. Hero edition Venomous Fury.

Good thing I didn't try harder then. I just used the plyers and gave a bit of pressure to see if it would move. It didn't and so I didn't try to force it out (LOL).

I'll give that a try when I have my saber with me. Thanks for the tip.

On my other saber, I'm able to pull the electronics out - putting it all back in with the wires is a 'fun' exercise. So, I assumed it was a similar set up.

But the card seems pretty far in there. I hope I can reach it to put it back in when I'm done configuring. We'll see how it goes. If I need any more tips, I'll check back in.

Thanks again.

Yep, no problem! When you look down in the hilt you should see the end of the SD card facing you, and be able to push it to release it and slide it out with a fingernail or something similar, lol. It's more tricky getting it back in than it is to take it out, imo...

Yes, it is difficult to actually remove the electronics. To get the board and battery to come out, you would need to pop out the switches and disconnect them. Even then, they are lodged in place with glue and electrical tape. If there is one thing I've learned about SF sabers, it's that they don't want you to take them apart.

Like Knytiri was saying, the SD card hangs ever-so-slightly off the back end of the board, on the side opposite the battery. If it doesn't come lose pretty easily, you're probably grabbing the board a little bit.

As others said, it is normally not difficult to see where the SD card is.
If you have in hand, could you take a picture and upload?
We can help more.

Just in case you need it, Here is a video showing where the card is and how to remove it. Would have done this sooner but I was at work.

You can ignore the messy work area.

Thanks guys!

I actually got to the card last night. The electronics are pretty far in there. So, it was a bit tricky to get it in and out of the card slot. But it's all good now. Now that I know how to get to it, I have to figure out the editor.

This is the 1st saber with sound that I have. So, it will be my 1st time using/learning the editor... Baby steps, but yeah, I do want to have a bit of control over Flicker, Volume (if possible), FoC, Colors and adding/replacing some of the stock sound fonts.

Thanks again!

So, based on what I've heard, you cannot change the battery? There's no possibility for having an extra set of batteries for a long day?

Just wondering.

Not on the champion/hero tier sabers, nope.

Best bet is to get a portable charger; ie, one of those devices that you charge up that you can then plug a phone/etc into to charge it while on the go, and keep it tucked away, so if you're at a con or something and stop to eat you can plug your saber in for a quick charge.

It's a rechargeable battery with an in-hilt recharge port. So, the battery doesn't come out.

I think the Hero tier comes this way only. So, if you got a Hero edition of whatever saber hilt, it will come with a charger.

Yeah, every saber regardless of the tier comes with the charger needed for that tier. Champion and Hero have the same charger, as they use the same battery and system. But what was being asked was if you could swap in a freshly charged battery while you're on the go on a long day, and don't have the time/availability to take it home to plug it in to charge, so I offered the option of the portable charger docks. You still plug in and use the same charger on the saber, just plugged into the portable device rather than the wall.

But your saber will still be down while you are charging it as the charger acts like the kill key. So there is no way to use your saber while charging it. So, yes you can charge from whatever you can plug the charger into, whether that be a wall or some other charging unit.

Right.... which is why, in my suggestion, said "stop to eat or something"... meaning if it wasn't in use for a bit.

Well... normally you can't swap out that battery but if you're willing to void your warranty, it's totally doable. And as long as we're in the electronics DIY section...

You just need...
-small 2wire connectors
-extra batteries
-an extra 2.1mm recharge port
- Be willing to void your SF warranty

You would first need to dislodge your internals. They are held very firmly in place. Pull your speaker out of the pommel and pull the battery out. (hopefully your battery wires are long enough for you to access it completely. If not, you're going to have to take pretty much everything out to extend your battery leads.
Anyways, once you are able to pull the battery out, cut the wires to your battery and install your 2-wire connectors to both sides of the battery leads so that you can plug in/out your battery.
***SAFETY NOTE*** when you are cutting the wires to your battery, DO NOT cut through the negative and positive wires at the same time! There is no need to short circuit anything here. The batteries are protected but you don't need to tempt fate and break stuff
Install the same connectors on your extra batteries. Obviously, make sure that if you installed a female connector on the first battery, install female connectors on the spares.

Lastly, take your spare recharge port and install the opposite connector on it. I'm just gonna call that a jumper. I leave mine with my charger all the time. All you have to do is connect the jumper to your smart charger and connect your spare battery to your jumper.

Now you have spare batteries for your hilt with a recharge port.
I prefer to install recharge ports on all my hilts because for normal use, it's way less clumsy and cumbersome than opening the hilt to remove the battery for charging. But if you're at an event/convention/whatever and you're not going to be able to plug into a charger, now you have a solution.

Hope that helps.

Good to know, but I'm not doing any of that with mine. LOL

Miraluka,

Wow, thanks!!

Ok. Actually, that's pretty cool. Might have to rethink my position on that. But I still may wait for the warranty to expire before doing that. LOL

What about when you have a saber like the Vanquish? It's curved and the soundboard is all the way up near the emitter... I can't see the sd card at all..