TOPIC: First build!

Hey folks,
I desire to create a PnP sound build for as cheap as possible. I have an empty Sentinel hilt what are your recommendations for PNP parts? Also what are peoples thoughts on the Nanobiscotti v4 board?

Well, I can't help on the first part, but I can say that the Nano biscotti appears to be very popular with sabersmiths because of how versatile the soundboard is.

I recommend seeking out a fellow by the name of Shameem on Youtube. He does saber videos pretty regularly of both commissions he makes and receives from others. Watch a few of his videos and I think you'll start to get a grasp on the art of saber building.

I too am trying to get into this trade, so more power to us!

The Nano Biscotte is an awesome board. I don't have a V4 yet, but I love the V3 that I have and the V4 features a lot of improvements. Though, you're probably not going to do a saber with the Nano V4 that's totally plug and play.

I know TCSS has a MWS system that's similar to SaberForge's PNP kits, but you're missing one main component that will have to be wired manually: the switch. TCSS doesn't sell a pre-wired 12mm AV switch. Another issue is that their pre-wired battery/speaker holders won't fit in an SF hilt, neither will their LED modules. MWS is designed for TCSS MHS. So, you'd also have to wire a speaker and do something about the LED module. The pre-wired LEDs are also going to be single LEDs that are much more dim than SF's 4 LEDs. The recharge port they sell that's pre-wired also won't fit in a SF 12mm switch hole. Lastly, the MWS system uses JST connectors, and they take up a lot of space inside a hilt. I did an UltraSabers Sentinel saber months ago where I wired the pack to be removable using those connectors. They wound up being too big to fit inside the hilt, so I wound up having to remove the connectors and solder the wires together. And, the US Sentinel is much larger than the SF Sentinel.

Furthermore, there's the price. After adding everything I could theoretically use from TCSS's MWS system, which is a battery, a pre-wired Nano, pre-wired buck puck, and a pre-wired LED module, I'm at $139.32. That's without a speaker, switch, recharge port and I'd still have to do something about that wrong heat sink on the LED, which is a $10 fix. The PNP Veteran Import package from SF is $139.99, and it includes more than that stuff I added up to about $.70 less. Adding a switch and LED only gets you up to $189.97, then you have to buy a battery charger, which you have to buy anyway. From SF, it's a little over $200 for everything you need, and it truly is plug and play and will fit in a SF hilt. It's really a good deal, compared to trying to do the same thing using MWS, which is going to cause a lot of issues.

@scifidude79 , just out of curiosity, is the only thing different between the USA and Import Veteran boards the lack of a voice menu? Can you still adjust settings without it?

If you get the Plug-and-Play kit, any PNP kit, they come with the charger included so that’s a charge you can take off
So...
PNP Sound kit $139.99 +
PNP LED $39.99+
PNP momentary switch, lit or unlit $9.99
$189.97 total, that’s it,nothing else needed.
and it’s literally just plug and play no soldering required!

Rhyno wrote:
I didn't know that! That changes the game for me a little bit!

But again, what is the difference between the Import and USA kits when it comes to the voice menu (or lack thereof)?

Don’t have the import can’t answer to that...
But the USA is much like the old champion 2.0 and I love that kit too



P.S. I’m kinda biased I love all things ASP

Eddlyss64 wrote:
No, they're completely different boards. As far as I know, the import board doesn't have any adjustable settings, other than changing fonts. It's got 3 fonts, whereas the USA board has 2. The import board has a deep sleep mode for power saving, the USA one requires a kill key for power saving. The import board also has something like flash on clash, and it appears to use a quick drain battery, just like the SaberCore 3.0. The USA board doesn't have flash on clash but has a pulse mode and uses a standard 18650 with a protection circuit.

Now, I don't own a saber with either, but I have one with the USA board on order. However, just from the feature video, it seems to me that the import one doesn't have quite as good audio quality, or at least the fonts sound slightly different. It all comes down to what you want in a saber board. How important is a slight bump in audio quality vs one less font? How important are the pulse, volume, etc. settings vs flash on clash and power saving? There's only a $10 price difference between the boards. However, the original poster wanted as cheap as possible.

Rhyno wrote:
Erm, you may want to add a charger for $15, bro. You can't guarantee a charger from somewhere else will have the correct power requirements.

NBv4 is great, I have it on my saber in my signature below. You can put 3 changeable sound fonts, can do programmable FOC, flicker, and pulse affects. Allows you to adjust the power to your LEDs to get different colors if you have a multicolor LED cluster. Also has deep sleep and mute. Hard to beat for the price point. I think it can do more but that is all my saber is wired up to do.