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TOPIC: Spark2 - LED still glows when off
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69128
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I noticed over the weekend that the green LEDs on my Revan build glow very dimly when the kill key is out but the saber is "off". I know LEDs are able to light up with the slightest bit of current so it seems as though there is some current flowing across the line even though the switch hasn't been depressed.
I have the LED channels turned up all the way to 99, would lowering help? Is this just a normal phenomenon on the spark2 that only shows up with a green channel since they are nearly the same native voltage? |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69129
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What LEDs are in it? When you setup your Spark 2, there are LED profiles that you can select depending on what you're using. For exemple, if you're using a Tri-Cree and select that profile, the channels go down to 85% if I'm not mistaken. If you put it up to 99%, it selects "Custom" as a profile and that may be your problem here.
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69130
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Mm~ make sure your LED- wires aren't touching metal anywhere. Might be something as simple as the part you stripped and soldered to the star touching the wall of the star or heatsink. Might be the board-end touching the wall of your hilt.
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69131
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Thanks guys.
I have a custom SF star in there. I'm going to try dialimg down the channel first, see if that helps. Otherwise I was thinking kind of along the same lines as Kouri, that maybe one of the negative leads is touching something, maybe some heat shrink came loose? The board is secured in a Goth chassis and isn't making any contact with the hilt, so I'm going to start with the wiring first if the channel power adjustment doesn't work. I've seen this before with other LEDs where they will glow with the slightest bit of current. I had a train layout setup some years ago that had some LEDs that would glow dimly for a minute or so just because there was some capacitance on the electronics and took a minute to drain out. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69133
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Only time I've noticed the issue was one time when I was running an Economy board with a 6v battery pack and a diode to reduce voltage to the board while providing full power to the TIP42C. PNP transistors do funky things when input voltage is higher than signal voltage. LED would stay on while the saber was "off" and flash whenever the motion sensor triggered.
That shouldn't be an issue with your Spark though. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69138
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I've never had this happen with a Spark board, I did have it happen with a NB2 with Power Extender, It was my fault.. I had never used one a NB2 or power extender until I got this one out of a old build I redid for a Customer, he said I could keep it so I decided to put it in a 07 Hasbro Vader I had laying around with a smashed blade, once I got it all done it would glow dimly red. I found out that I had not understood that the power extender needed its own ground back to the negative on board and I had wired it to the led ground, which I suspect caused a bleed back into the Ledengin I was using. Now that I've redone the wiring it works perfectly.
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69139
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I checked all the wiring and couldn't find an issue. I also turned down the LED power on the second channel and that didn't do it either.
My guess is that there is some bleed through form the GRND on the underside of the board over to the second channel. If I bridge the first and second channel I can get the red LEDs to light up instead of the Green. Also when I first pull the kill key, the green LEDs light up about 1/4 power then it goes down to the barely noticeable glow. It's very strange. It's definitely something to do with some current getting to the second channel, I'm just not sure from where. I have the board secured (glued) into the chassis so I can't really get under it to check the underside, but the connection to the TrueDrive are all on the top anyway. Still trying to figure this one out. I may contact Scott and ask him if he has an ideas. EDIT: emailed Scott about it. Here's a Video: |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69140
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May of gotten some solder slag shorting a ground, have you tried killing each/both channels? just run 1 led channel at a time, see if you can isolate it down?
I see you answered the question I asked, I would pull the board and inspect its bottom side. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69141
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Vechaljian wrote:
May of gotten some solder slag shorting a ground, have you tried killing each/both channels? just run 1 led channel at a time, see if you can isolate it down?
I see you answered the question I asked, I would pull the board and inspect its bottom side. That's what I was thinking at first, but everything works fine once you turn it on. I went over the board with a fine tooth comb as best I could and I don't see any thing that looks like it's making contact with something else. I'm wondering if it might be an issue with the board providing power correctly to channel two. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69142
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The NB2 I described earlier also worked perfectly except for the red glow and I know now it was a ground bleed to power extender.
I don't know if you can access the top of the boards soldering contacts and have access to a multi meter, did you use quick connects? maybe just disconnect the battery and led if you did, remove sd card. ohm from your channels to ground and each other and up to your led connector to see if they are indeed shorted, if they are not at least you would know. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69143
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Vechaljian wrote:
The NB2 I described earlier also worked perfectly except for the red glow and I know now it was a ground bleed to power extender.
I don't know if you can access the top of the boards soldering contacts and have access to a multi meter, did you use quick connects? maybe just disconnect the battery and led if you did, remove sd card. ohm from your channels to ground and each other and up to your led connector to see if they are indeed shorted, if they are not at least you would know. Everything is soldered due to space issues so I can no longer easily remove things to test. My expectation would be since the ground lead is next to channel 1 that if there was something jumping the contacts it would be effecting channel 1 (the red LEDs) since they are right next to it. I did test jumping the ground to each channel and it lights the LED fully which tells me it's probably not that since it's an extremely light glow. The amount of current going to it is small, which leads me back the board, and maybe something with the voltage regulation? |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69153
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Last thought I have is, Can/have you by chance tried a different Led module?
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69167
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Pics of the board might help.
I'm assuming you've got the red negative to C1 with TruDrive1 to Board1, and green negative to C2 with TruDrive2 to Board2. Not sure how, but it might be a wonky mosfet. While Spark only lets you use channels 1 & 2(or 1 & 4 for crossguard), all four mosfets on the trudrive are available for use, so you might consider soldering the green lead to C3 and connecting TruDrive3 to Board2, just to rule out any issues with the mosfet on C2. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69170
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Kouri wrote:
Pics of the board might help.
I'm assuming you've got the red negative to C1 with TruDrive1 to Board1, and green negative to C2 with TruDrive2 to Board2. Not sure how, but it might be a wonky mosfet. While Spark only lets you use channels 1 & 2(or 1 & 4 for crossguard), all four mosfets on the trudrive are available for use, so you might consider soldering the green lead to C3 and connecting TruDrive3 to Board2, just to rule out any issues with the mosfet on C2. Just talked to Scott and he said the same thing. Leaning towards a bad mosfet. Going to rewire down to c3 or c4. I've rewired the bridges twice and that's didn't make a difference. So I don't think it's a wiring problem. Going to be out of town for a week so I'll rewire (again...) when I get back. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69174
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I had this problem (mixed with others) on my install, and it ended up being fixed when I rewired the positive LED pad, though it is hard to be sure; I rewired all the pads at least three times.
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69175
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I'll check that out too.
I'm about 99.9% sure it's something with a negative lead or the mosfet itself. About 95% sure it's the mosfet at this point but I'll double check and LED wiring again too. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69177
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Just curious, if you set C2 to 0 does the green glow happen when the saber is powered on (sound running, but not lit)? I thought about asking you if the green LEDs glowed while red was running but for the sake of your eyes it's probably better to check it that way.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Jas-Ot
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Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69180
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You know, I hadn't thought of checking that!
I will add that to my checklist for when I get back in town. |
Spark2 - LED still glows when off 1 year 1 month ago #69421
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Got around to finally fixing this, and it was a bad MOSFET on the 2nd pad, moved the connection down to pad 3 and problem solved.
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Snakeeyz99
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