Naigon Electronics Igniter 3 User manual

© 2017 by Scott DeBoer, Naigon’s Electronic Creations. Igniter 3™, Igniter 2™, Igniter™ and Naigon’s Electronic Creations have no affiliation
with Lucas Film, Disney, or its subsidiaries.
IGNITER 3™SETUP GUIDE

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1. CONTENTS
1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................5
2. Getting Started ......................................................................................................................................................6
2.1. Important Notes...........................................................................................................................................6
2.1.1. 3.7v Power Supply .............................................................................................................................6
2.1.2. Battery Protection ...................................................................................................................................6
2.1.3. Battery Brands .........................................................................................................................................6
2.1.4. Battery Size ..............................................................................................................................................7
2.1.5. LED Choices..............................................................................................................................................7
2.2. Igniter 3™ Layout .........................................................................................................................................7
2.3. TruDrive™ Separation ..................................................................................................................................9
3. Wiring Diagrams ....................................................................................................................................................9
3.1. Basic Wiring..................................................................................................................................................9
3.2. RGB Wiring .................................................................................................................................................10
3.3. RGBW/RGBA/RGBX wiring .........................................................................................................................11
3.4. Color Changing Crystal Wiring....................................................................................................................12
3.5. X-Saber Wiring ...........................................................................................................................................13
3.6. Pixel String Wiring ......................................................................................................................................14
3.7. Full Wiring With Accents............................................................................................................................15
3.8. Dual Speaker Setup Using MaxAmp™ ........................................................................................................16
4. Configuration Editing ...........................................................................................................................................17
4.1. Installation .................................................................................................................................................17
4.2. Copy Files to your machine ........................................................................................................................17
4.3. Launching The Application .........................................................................................................................18
4.4. Changing Soundfonts .................................................................................................................................20
4.5. Editing Settings...........................................................................................................................................22
4.5.1. Master....................................................................................................................................................22

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4.5.2. Blade Effects ..........................................................................................................................................24
4.5.3. Blade Color.............................................................................................................................................25
4.5.4. Clash.......................................................................................................................................................26
4.5.5. Blast .......................................................................................................................................................27
4.5.6. Audio......................................................................................................................................................28
4.5.7. Motion ...................................................................................................................................................29
4.5.8. FX ...........................................................................................................................................................29
4.5.9. DP...........................................................................................................................................................30
4.5.10. MP .....................................................................................................................................................31
4.5.11. Advanced...........................................................................................................................................32
4.5.12. Accent................................................................................................................................................33
4.6. Format Micro SD ........................................................................................................................................34
4.7. Copy Files Back To The Micro SD................................................................................................................35
5. Error Codes ..........................................................................................................................................................35
6. Saber Operation...................................................................................................................................................36
6.1. Idle Mode ...................................................................................................................................................36
6.1.1. Idle Mode Interaction Table ..................................................................................................................36
6.2. Running Mode............................................................................................................................................37
6.2.1. Running Mode Interaction Table ...........................................................................................................37
6.3. Saber Cinema™ ..........................................................................................................................................38
6.3.1. Saber Cinema™ Interactivity..................................................................................................................38
6.4. Saber Apps™...............................................................................................................................................38
6.4.1. Color Editor............................................................................................................................................39
6.4.2. Motion Editor.........................................................................................................................................39
6.4.3. Saber Says ..............................................................................................................................................40
7. Thanks..................................................................................................................................................................41

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1. INTRODUCTION
Introducing Igniter 3™, the greatest soundboard on the market. Igniter 3™ has been rebuilt from the ground up,
allowing the best possible audio and motion experience:
Amazing motion with SaberSense™ improved, for perfect swing and clash detection out of the box.
16bit DAC off-CPU component, for full-speed, crystal clear volume
Integrated MaxAmp™ - for the clearest, loudest volume possible out of a 3.7v battery.
Adjustable volume for hums and effects now in 1/16 increments, to perfectly set the volume for each
speaker.
On-board error LED to make installs a breeze.
Switch hums during Dual Phase™, allowing the most vivid switching color experience on any saber.
In addition, you can still experience the classic features from Igniter 2™:
Alternating Clash –harness the power of lightning, allowing the clash to alternate between the blade and
clash color.
New Demo App to bring the saber to life without even interacting with it.
Pixel Support! Supports WS2812B compatible strings.
Improved audio with integrated MaxAmp™ - the audio hardware has been improved by integrating the
MaxAmp™ right on the main board! Now crystal clear and loud audio is possible without the need for
extra wiring and the extra satellite board. Further, for those that do still want to use the external
MaxAmp™ board to drive two speakers, the main board now has two small pads making the wiring much
easier for this scenario.
Unparalleled experiences with Saber Apps™ - the most amazing way to get the full potential out of your
saber. SaberApps™ allows independent apps to be run on the board, allowing for totally separate
experiences from the main firmware. From utility, to editing, to games, this opens up a world of
opportunities that were never before possible in a saber.
Configurability with on the fly editing –two editing apps are included by default for editing the motion
and color settings of the board. Accessible from the Saber Apps™ menu, these will make editing
parameters on the fly possible; there is no need to remove the uSD card or even be hooked to a
computer!
Experience the first ever game for sabers –Saber Says™! Copy increasingly long sequences randomly
generated by Master Simone to get a high score. Play alone or challenge your friends in a round robin
game to see who can get the high score!
The ultimate color mixing –independent settable colors for main blade color, clash/lockup color, blaster
block color and Saber Dual Phase™ color
Saber Dual Phase™ - The ultimate in color. Now one font can switch between two colors on the fly with
the flick of the wrist!
TruMix™ - hum sounds are mixed in real-time with other sounds
Saber Cinema™ with selectable starting track on every font.
All of this now comes in a super tiny package –only 1.75” x 0.85” x 0.263” for the board, and 2.07”x 0.85”with the
TruDrive attached. This board operates on ONE 3.7v Li-ion battery, is tiny and is suited for just about any build.
To learn more about all the improvements in Igniter 3™, checkout the official release video here:

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HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/KNTRYSITORK
2. GETTING STARTED
2.1. IMPORTANT NOTES
PLEASE READ THIS SUBSECTION CAREFULLY AS FAILURE TO DO SO COULD CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE IGNITER
3™ BOARD.
2.1.1. 3.7v Power Supply
Igniter 3™is designed around a 3.7v power supply input. In general, the best way to run an Igniter 3™is to hook up
a single 3.7v battery to the VBATT+ and VBATT-/GND pads.
NEVER HOOK A 7.4V BATTERY DIRECTLY TO AN IGNITER 3™UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, OR YOU
WILL DESTROY THE BOARD.
NEVER REVERSE THE POLARITY OF VBATT+ AND VBATT-/GND. IF USING A CONNECTOR FOR THE
BATTERY, MAKE SURE TO USE ONE THAT ONLY CLIPS IN ONE WAY TO PREVENT DAMAGING THE
BOARD BY HOOKING THE POWER IN REVERSE.
2.1.2. BATTERY PROTECTION
Only use li-ion batteries that have a built-in protection circuit. NEVER USE UNPROTECTED CELLS AS THIS CAN
CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE BATTERY AND/OR IGNITER 3™. IMR batteries are okay but since they are not
protected they can allow large amounts of power to the board and do not act like a fuse when there is a wiring
issue, so for beginners it is recommended to use the standard Li-ion with the protection circuit.
2.1.3. BATTERY BRANDS
Because only one battery is being used, it is very important that a quality battery is selected to get the best
experience from Igniter 3™. From internal testing, the following brands are the only ones recommended for use
with Igniter 3™:
KeepPower
Solo’s Hold custom
Panasonic
Sayno
Tenergy
These batteries have the best life and have the most consistent voltage output, allowing for the best experience
through the entire life of the battery. If you choose to use another battery your experience will not be guaranteed.
Specifically when using the Pixel blades, the best battery that Naigon’s Electronic Creations recommends is the
KeepPower 3120mAh 18650. Based off the Sony VTC6 cell, it has a 15amp pcb, and very good discharge charistics
even under high amperage drain. You can find it here:

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https://www.illumn.com/18650-keeppower-3120mah-sony-us18650vtc6-protected-high-discharge-button-
top.html
Another good choice is the KeepPower 18650 3400mAh, which has a 10amp PCB:
https://www.illumn.com/batteries-chargers-and-powerpax-carriers/18650-keeppower-3400mah-panasonic-
ncr18650b-protected-button-top.html
These batteries will not trip when using the Pixel strings with Igniter 3™, as they have a 15 amp and 10amp pcb
respectively, and both work very well for in-hilt LEDs as well.
Finally, Solo’s Hold just released a new Panasonic battery that also has a 10 amp PCB. These are great as well and
are highly recommended: http://www.soloshold.com.
2.1.4. BATTERY SIZE
The only battery that is recommended is the 18650. A 26650 can work as well if more runtime is desired. I do not
recommend a smaller battery as there are none that are known to have at least a 10amp PCB.
2.1.5. LED CHOICES
When using Igniter 3™with a 3.7v power source the LEDEngin LEDs will not work well. This is because LEDEngin’s
green and blue dies require a forward voltage of 4.0v for maximum brightness. Thus it is highly recommended to
use the NECree RGB Red/Green/Royal Blue LED sold here at Naigon’s Electronic Creations.
http://saberigniter.com/NECreeRGB.aspx
The NECree RGB produces the brightest, most even blade for an in-hilt LED, but it also is pre-wired for 3.7v with a
diode built-in for the red, so no external resistors are needed. The standard TriCrees work as well but will require a
resistor for red, and a bit more wiring to connect all the positives together.
2.2. IGNITER 3™LAYOUT
Before getting started, it is important to familiarize yourself with the layout of Igniter 3™, TruDrive™ and all of the
pads on the board. This will help in wiring up the board for use in a saber.
The following two diagrams show the important components of Igniter 3™, with an accompanying table describing
what each component does.

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Figure 1 –Important components on the back of Igniter 3™.
Name
Label
Description
1. Micro SD card
holder
NA
Holds the micro SD card that contains the fonts and
configuration for Igniter 3™. Make sure that the card is fully
inserted before applying power to Igniter 3™.
2. TruDrive™
board
LED DRIVER PCB
Driving board that powers the high-power LEDs from Igniter
3™.
3. Battery +/-
pads
BAT+, BAT-
Hook power and ground from a 3.7v li-ion pack here.
4. Speaker pads
SPKR
Hook a 1.5-3.0w, 8ohm speaker here.
5. Accent
Common +
VLED+
Used to power all three of the accent LEDs. Optionally,
additional static LEDs can be powered from this pad. The
output is 3.3v, and it is rated at 200mA.
6. Accent LED
pads
1,2,3
Each pad can hold one 20mA accent LED. These LEDs will be
sequenced by the chosen pattern.
7. Accent LED
pads
4,5,6,7,8
Remaining LED pads that are smaller in size. 28AWG or smaller
wire is required for these pads.
8. LED connect
pads
1,2,3,4,GND
Pads that hook the TruDrive™ board to the Igniter 3™main
board. Hook the corresponding numbers together with a wire.
Pad 1 connects the ground, pad 2 connects C1-, pad 3
connects C2-, pad 4 connects C3- and pad 5 connects C4-

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9. Color Pads
C1-, C2-, C3-, C4-
Hook the main LED cathodes to these pads. C4- may also be
used for an accessory such as a rumble motor.
10. Switch Pads
MAIN, AUX
Pads for the switches. MAIN can be a momentary or latching,
AUX must be momentary. Make sure to select the correct type
of switch for MAIN in the Config Editor.
11. Clash Pads
CS+, CS-
Not necessary in Igniter 3™, though hooking a clash sensor
here will aid in detecting clashes.
12. S Pads
S1, S2
Used for connecting the XBee module or BT module
13. Comm Pads
DA, CL
Reserved for future use.
Figure 2 –Description of each component.
2.3. TRUDRIVE™ SEPARATION
Igniter 3™will come by default with the TruDrive™ attached to the main board. If it is desired to have the
TruDrive™ separate from the main board for the install, then you can detach the two boards.
Separation is much easier than with previous board versions and can be performed by hand or with a small set of
needle nose pliers or forceps. Make sure to keep pressure off the middle of the board; hold it in your hands by the
two edges.
It is important to note that once the board has been removed it cannot go back on; plan accordingly before
separating the boards.
3. WIRING DIAGRAMS
The following diagrams are the most common to get your board up and running.
Note: It is very important that the correct resistor be used between the negative pad of the LED and C1-, C2-, C3-
and C4- to prevent burning out the LED for warm color LEDs. For Rebel LEDs if a red, red-orange or amber LED is
used, then a 1ohm 1watt resister is needed. For any other Rebel colors a resistor is not needed. The STTH2L06
diode can be used in place of the resistor and it is a slightly smaller part.
3.1. BASIC WIRING
This is the most basic wiring that is possible to get the board up and running. It is great for testing your Igniter 3™
on the bench, or if you are doing a simple install into a saber that will have a removable battery. However, to
experience the full features of Igniter 3™ it is highly recommended to use an RGB LED, as shown in the diagrams
below.

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Figure 3 –Basic wiring for Igniter 3™. This will drive a single main LED and would require a removable battery for charging. Note that a
resistor between the blue wire and C1- of TruDrive™ would be needed if the LED is red, amber, or red-orange.
3.2. RGB WIRING
The preferred setup of Igniter 3™is to use an RGB LED. This allows the use of all the popular Igniter™ specific
features, such as separate colors for clash/lockup and blaster, ClashShade™, BlastShade™, and BladeShade™, and
the popular feature Saber Dual Phase™, among many others.
The recommended LED to use with this setup is the NECree RGB LED that is sold right from our store! This LED was
specifically designed to have the brightest possible colors throughout the entire color range, producing the most
even blade possible from an in-hilt LED.
http://saberigniter.com/NECreeRGB.aspx
The following diagram shows the NECree RGB wiring

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Figure 4 –Wiring up Igniter 3™with the NECree RGB LED. This setup uses RGB wiring and allows for full color-mixing for main blade and
blade effects. Notice that the diode for the red is built-on and thus no external resistance is needed!
3.3. RGBW/RGBA/RGBX WIRING
With Igniter 3™a fourth die can be utilized for even more flash effects, and even more main blade colors! The
following diagram shows a Cree XML RGBW, which is the recommend RGBW LED to use
https://flipelectrical.com/products/led-world-10w-cree-xlamp-xm-l-rgbw-rgb-white-color-led-emitter-4-chip-
20mm-star-pcb-board
Any combination for a fourth die could be used. For instance, an RGBA LED would allow for very rich purples not
previously available under the standard RGB color mixing model.

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Figure 5 –Cree XML wiring that uses four unique colors instead of doubling up on one color. This setup allows for more varied colors but is
not as intuitive to get correct color mixing. Also, while an RGBW was used only the RED die needed a resistor/diode; if an RGBA is used a
second resistor would be needed for the amber die as well.
3.4. COLOR CHANGING CRYSTAL WIRING
With the advent of color mixing many people are wanting a blade matching crystal chamber to go along with their
build. If you want to experience this thrill, then look no further! The following diagram shows how to get this LED
wired and working.
Note: This diagram is only for in-hilt LEDs; Pixel installs need to use a single pixel LED for the chamber LED.

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Figure 6 –Wiring with an RGB crystal chamber. This will have an RGB led that matches the blade color and pulses with the blade. Note that
all 3 pins have resistors for the small LED, and power does come from the battery. I recommend a 1ohm for R2 (x2), and a 22-33ohm for R1.
3.5. X-SABER WIRING
The following diagram shows the wiring of the X-Drive module with the Igniter 3™. This is the same wiring as for
the Spark Color 2 as well. Three NECree RGB LEDs are shown; standard tri-Crees could be used as well, but those
would require resistors/STTH2L06 diodes for all three red dies, so of course the NECree RGB is much easier.

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Figure 7 - X-Saber wiring using the XDrive module, and three NECree RGBLEDs
After wiring this feature, not only does X-Saber need to be enabled in the master config, but also c4Percent should
be set to 95, and for each font C4COLOR, C4BLST, C4CLSH, and C4DUAL should be set from 100-255 for each font
that the side blades are desired to be on. Note that varying the value and setting to zero for any of these can have
the side blades off for different effects and fonts.
3.6. PIXEL STRING WIRING
Igniter 3™ fully supports Pixel string blades, aka WS2812B, out of the box! All that is needed is a separate SD card
with the string blade /dat and /appNN files. These strings are not only super bright, but they also support
Extension and Retraction Flow, allowing for super-realistic growing and shrinking blades, and Impact Blast™, the
ability to replicate bolts hitting the blade in defined spots.
The Pixel strings are quite easy to work with as there are only 3 wires coming out of each strip. When using the
5mm LEDs, these 3 wires are exactly what will be needed. When using the 144 led/meter strips, the three
connections will need to be run in parallel for each strip to light in the same way as the others.
The recommended Pixel string is the IntelliBlade sold here by Naigon’s Electronic Creations:
http://saberigniter.com/IntelliBlade.aspx
NeoPixel blades can also be built from the 144 led/meter strips:

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https://www.adafruit.com/products/2969
or by building a blade from 5mm NeoPixel individual straw-hat LEDs:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12999
To see how awesome these look, check out the release video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP17IWlQS6M
IMPORTANT –Because the Pixels use a completely different driver system, the #2-#4 pins are used as simple
grounds when using a string blade. This means that if you want to wire a blade matching crystal chamber, you will
need to use a NeoPixel individual LED wired in parallel with the main blade. Rumble motors are thus not
supported.
Figure 8 –Wiring of the NeoPixel string style blades. When using the triangular prism or doubled 144 led/meter strips, make sure to wire all
three in parallel.
3.7. FULL WIRING WITH ACCENTS
The following diagram shows how to wire all accent LEDs and the recharge port, which will utilize every feature of
Igniter 3™(except for C4-). This will be the typical diagram for most folks that are looking for a build that utilizes all
the great features of the board without overly complicated wiring. Note that the accent pads 4-8 are in the middle
of the bottom of the board and require 28-30 gauge wire and surface type soldering (strip a small bit of insulation
from a solid core wire and push it through the accent LED hole from the top side and apply solder on the top of the
pad on the bottom side to seal).

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Figure 9 –Full wiring using all accent LEDs and a recharge port/kill key combo. This wiring will allow most features of Igniter 3™to be
experienced without getting into super complex wiring. Note that the resistor/diode is needed for the red color.
3.8. DUAL SPEAKER SETUP USING MAXAMP™
With Igniter 3™, a MaxAmp™ audio amp is integrated on the main board. However, if you want to get clear bass
sounds with a dual speaker setup, then using the MaxAmp™ in conjunction with the on-board amp allows a dual
speaker setup that will provide the best sound a saber can produce. And, since this is running two MaxAmp™ amps
at once you can be assured this would be the loudest saber setup short of using wiring the saber directly into a
receiver.
The below diagram shows the full wiring with two speakers that utilizes the low pass filter to allow only the bass
tones through to the bass speaker. This can be omitted if desired, though the best sound when using two speakers
is using this filter.

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Figure 10 –Full MaxAmp™ wiring that allows a subwoofer setup for great low tones! Note that both C1 (10uF capacitor) and R1 (1ohm,
1/4W resistor) are included with purchase of the MaxAmp™.
4. CONFIGURATION EDITING
Once Igniter 3™has been wired according to the wiring above then it will work immediately with the default
configuration. However, changing the fonts and effects is completely possible and encouraged by using the
Igniter™ Config Editor. The following section will go through installing and using the editor to modify Igniter™
configuration.
4.1. INSTALLATION
To install the application, launch the .msi file from the installer zip file. You can get the file from SaberIgniter.com.
A version is also included on the micro SD card that came with Igniter™, but I recommend going to the site to get
the newest version in case any enhancements have been made to the program. Click through the wizard until the
application launches.
4.2. COPY FILES TO YOUR MACHINE
Before opening Igniter™ Config Editor you will need to copy the files you want to edit from the micro SD card to
your local computer. First, insert your micro SD card into your computer using your SD card reader. If you do not
currently have one, I recommend this cheap one off eBay: Micro SD card.

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Then, open a new window and find a place to put a new Igniter directory. In this example the Igniter directory will
be placed right on the root c:\ drive. Create a new directory and name it “Igniter”. Then, inside that directory,
create another folder with the name of your saber. In this example, “Saber1” will be used.
Now, with both the Saber1 empty directory open and the micro SD card opened, select all the files from the micro
SD card, and drag them into the Saber1 directory. When done, all the files should be copied to your hard-drive as
shown below.
Figure 11 –After creating a new directory called “c:\Igniter\Saber1”, the files are copied from the micro SD card (on the right) to the new
Saber1 folder (on the left). From here edits can be made to the files from the config editor.
4.3. LAUNCHING THE APPLICATION
To launch the config editor, you can use either the desktop shortcut that was created, or you can use the shortcut
from the Start Menu. Once launched you should see the program as below:

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Figure 12 –Igniter™ Config Editor launched after installation.
You can then go to File->Open, and the open dialogue will appear. Navigate to the “c:\Igniter\Saber1” folder and
then go into one of the fonts to edit. When you see the config.ini appear in the window, double click it or select it
and click open to load the program for editing this font.

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Figure 13 –Navigate to “c:\Igniter\Saber1” in the window, and then one of the font folders (font1 –font9) to edit. When you see config.ini,
double click it to open editing for the font.
4.4. CHANGING SOUNDFONTS
Changing soundfonts was never easier with the enhancements to the config editor in R5. With the auto-sync of the
app open you can switch fonts easily even when directly editing a font in the config editor. You also swap the font
before opening it for the first time.
To copy a new sound font, first go to the font that you want to change. In this example it will be
“c:\Igniter\Saber1\font1”. Navigate to that directory in explorer and then select both of the .wav files (font.wav
and multi.wav), and all the wav folders. I find the easiest way to do that is to select all (edit->select all or ctrl+A),
then hold control and click the config.ini and accent.ini files (along with the backup folder if already present) to
unselect those files. Then you can delete the original files to the recycle bin. Make sure you have a separate
backup of these waves before doing this.