SaberTec Golden Harvest v3 User manual

Contact: [e-mail]
Website: https://sabertec.net
SaberTec
Owner: Frederic Folz
Brentanoweg 3
66802 Überherrn
GERMANY

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Thank you
Thank you for sharing your passion with us! It’s only your support that enables us to further develop
our technology and continue optimizing it. Without you, we couldn’t realize our visions! Back in 2016,
we founded SaberTec with the goal to develop a soundboard that can provide the most impressive
and realistic saber experience imaginable –four years of hard work later the Golden Harvest v3 was
born. Our company’s fundamental philosophy is to closely include you, the community, into everything
we do –may it be the development of our saber heart, the decision of its name or the further
improvement of it. In this sense, we want to invite you to participate in this great project. If you have
any ideas or wishes, we would be honored if you would shared them with us! Just write a mail to
[email protected]. We are excited to hear from you!
Secret Message
XFOO EV EJFTFO UFYU MJFTU, IBTU EV FJO HPMEFO
IBSWFTU W3 CPBSE HFXPOOFO! IFSAMJDIFO HMVFDLXVOTDI!
EV XBSTU HBOA TDIPFO DMFWFS, EBTT EV EJFTFO UFYU
FOUTDIMVFTTFMO LPOOUFTU. EFS OBFDITUF UFYU XJSE
OJDIU TP FJOGBDI AV FOUTDIMVFTTFMO TFJO!

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Safety notice
As our Golden Harvest board uses electronic parts, it is sensitive to electrostatic discharge. Please
handle it with care and make sure to install it correctly. Furthermore, we recommend to use only
protected Li-Ion batteries. Also make sure to check the sections "Soldering advice" and "Handling
advice". We cannot be held responsible for any damage that arises from a faulty install or use of the
board. Furthermore, be cautious when using the Golden Harvest v3 if you have photosensitive epilepsy
or if you are photosensitive in general because the light effects can contain a series of flashing lights.
Legal information
We are not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company™ or Lucasfilm Ltd.™. All brands and trademarks
mentioned are the exclusive property of their respective owners. Furthermore, we are not affiliated with
Adafruit™. The trademark Neopixel™ is their exclusive property.

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Content
Features of the Golden Harvest v3.......................................................................................................... 6
Technical Specifications....................................................................................................................... 6
Installation and Use............................................................................................................................. 6
Audio Engine........................................................................................................................................ 6
Motion Detection................................................................................................................................ 7
Light Effects......................................................................................................................................... 8
Firmware Updates............................................................................................................................. 10
USB Charging and File Transfer ......................................................................................................... 10
Evolution of the Board .......................................................................................................................... 11
How to Recognize the Different Hardware Iterations....................................................................... 11
Wiring of the Board............................................................................................................................... 12
Power Rating and Polarity of LED channels....................................................................................... 14
Soldering Advice................................................................................................................................ 14
Handling Advice................................................................................................................................. 15
Battery Recommendation ..................................................................................................................... 19
In-Hilt Setup....................................................................................................................................... 19
Neopixel Setup .................................................................................................................................. 19
Setting Up Your Board........................................................................................................................... 19
Choosing Your Hardware Setup ........................................................................................................ 19
Choosing Your Light Effects............................................................................................................... 20
Folder Structure on microSD Card......................................................................................................... 20
Hibernation Mode................................................................................................................................. 20
Motion Detection Engine ...................................................................................................................... 21
Smooth Swing.................................................................................................................................... 21
Legacy Motion Detection .................................................................................................................. 21
General Settings .................................................................................................................................... 21
Effect Fonts............................................................................................................................................ 27
In-Hilt................................................................................................................................................. 28
Neopixel............................................................................................................................................. 41
Classic ............................................................................................................................................ 48
Color Flow...................................................................................................................................... 49
Frozen Pulse .................................................................................................................................. 50
Wave.............................................................................................................................................. 52
Flame Blade................................................................................................................................... 56
Gradient......................................................................................................................................... 57

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Focus Deflection............................................................................................................................ 57
Thunder Storm .............................................................................................................................. 61
Kylo Blade...................................................................................................................................... 64
Unstable Blade .............................................................................................................................. 65
Magnetic Flare............................................................................................................................... 67
Shockwave..................................................................................................................................... 68
Responsive Lockup ........................................................................................................................ 71
Responsive Drag............................................................................................................................ 72
Battery Indicator.................................................................................................................................... 73
Color Wheel........................................................................................................................................... 73
Volume Control ..................................................................................................................................... 73
Accent Fonts.......................................................................................................................................... 73
Blade Folders......................................................................................................................................... 79
Sound Fonts........................................................................................................................................... 81
Sound Font Settings File.................................................................................................................... 82
Default Sound Font Package ............................................................................................................. 85
Sound File Requirements .................................................................................................................. 86
Background Music............................................................................................................................. 88
Common Folder................................................................................................................................. 88
Firmware Updates................................................................................................................................. 88
Installing Directly on the microSD Card............................................................................................. 88
Installing Using the Seedling Module................................................................................................ 89
USB Charging and File Transfer Using the Seedling Module................................................................. 89
Menu Navigation................................................................................................................................... 89
Navigation Using Two Momentary Buttons...................................................................................... 89
Navigation Using Only One Momentary Button ............................................................................... 92
Navigation Using One Momentary Button and One Latching Switch............................................... 94
Important Notes.................................................................................................................................... 95
Frequently Asked Questions ................................................................................................................. 95

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Features of the Golden Harvest v3
Technical Specifications
➢tiny dimensions of 28.5 mm x 18.5 mm x 3.7 mm / 1.12 ” x 0.73 ” x 0.15 ”
➢powered by 3.7 V (single 18650 Li-ion cell for example)
➢provides 9 LED channels that can be customized independently from each other:
o4 LED channels can deliver up to 9 A each:
▪can drive SingleCrees, DualCrees, TriCrees and QuadCrees
▪can drive Neopixel
o5 LED channels can deliver up to 20 mA each:
▪can drive accent, crystal chamber or switch LEDs for example
ocapable of delivering up to 36 A in sum (in practice, both battery and heat dissipation
are the limiting factors here)
ofull customizability even of accent LEDs such as switch LEDs or crystal chamber LEDs
using the whole range of our effect engine
➢optional USB charging and file transfer feature (using our Seedling module, see below)
➢microSD card slot
Installation and Use
➢huge solder pads for easiest installation possible
➢your hardware setup can be easily chosen per drag-and-drop on the microSD card
➢full functionality accessible even if used with only one momentary switch
➢can also be used with one momentary and one latching switch as well as with two
momentary switches
➢customizable deep sleep (hibernation mode)
Audio Engine
➢maximum audio amplifier power output: 4 W
osupported speaker power: 1 W - 6 W
osupported speaker impedance: 4 Ohm, 8 Ohm, 16 Ohm and 32 Ohm
ohigh dynamic range: 115 dB
oreal-time dynamic range compression
ohigh signal-to-noise ratio: 100 dB
o16 bit audio sample resolution
ointegrated speaker protection algorithms:
▪exceeding voice coil excursion protection
▪overtemperature protection
▪overcurrent protection
▪undervoltage protection
▪15 kV ESD protection of speaker output
➢full-blown sound effect engine:
ounlimited smooth swing pair sounds
ounlimited smooth swing accent sounds
ounlimited swing sounds
ounlimited clash sounds
ounlimited stab sounds
ounlimited spin sounds
ounlimited begin lockup sounds
ounlimited lockup sounds

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ounlimited end lockup sounds
ounlimited begin melt sounds
ounlimited melt sounds
ounlimited end melt sounds
ounlimited begin drag sounds
ounlimited drag sounds
ounlimited end drag sounds
ounlimited blaster sounds
ounlimited force sounds
ounlimited boot sounds
ounlimited pre-on sounds
ounlimited power on sounds
ounlimited power off sounds
ounlimited post-off sounds
ounlimited hum sounds
omenu sounds
ounlimited sound fonts that contain all these sound effects
othe following sound fonts are supported without needing to rename any files:
http://www.saberfont.com/Optimized-for-Plecter-CFX-Smooth-Swing-Compatible-
by-Era-_c_92.html
➢background music engine:
ounlimited tracks
oplaylist feature
ocan be controlled on the fly
odefault package comprising 4 music tracks that come with the board:
▪"Fate and Fortune" by Scott Buckley
▪"Inflection" by Scott Buckley
▪"Light in Dark Places" by Scott Buckley
▪"Helios" by Scott Buckley
➢default package comprising 15 sound fonts that come with the board:
o"Balance" by LordBlako Saber Fonts
o"Psy-Borg" by CrystalSoniX
o"Daddy Issues Complete" by Fourzze FX
o"Guardian" by LDN Sabers
o"Cryo Carbon" by Repulse Custom Sounds
o"Peace" by Kyberphonic Fonts
o"Violence" by Kyberphonic Fonts
o"Son of Darkness" by Dark Path Media
o"Eternal Prince" by Repulse Custom Sounds
o"The Phantom" by Project Fonts
o"The Shadow" by Project Fonts
o"Shadows" by Echo Studio
o"The Classic Villain" by Fourzze FX
o"Energy Pike" by The Proplicator
o"Knighthood" by Fourzze FX
Motion Detection
➢both Smooth Swing and legacy motion detection supported
➢Smooth Swing enhanced by Accent Swings and Accent Spins

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➢highly sophisticated legacy motion engine:
ocustomizable sensitivity
oultra low motion-to-sound latency
odetects swings
odetects clashs
odetects stabs
odetects spins
➢real-time measurement of orientation of the saber:
odisplay of drag light and sound effects according to orientation of the saber
ousage of pre-on sounds can be controlled by orientation of the saber
ousage of post-off sounds can be controlled by orientation of the saber
oresponsive light effects
ointeractive menu navigation using orientation of the saber
Light Effects
➢both in-hilt LEDs and Neopixel (ws2812b) are supported
➢game-changing effect fonts:
ointroduced as an analogue to sound fonts
ocontain all customizable light effect parameters
ocan define certain effect styles just as sound fonts define certain sound styles
ocan be changed on the fly
ounlimited number of effect fonts supported, i.e. you can have as many saber effect
styles as you want, not only different colors
opairable with sound fonts on the fly as the Golden Harvest board remembers with
which effect font a sound font was lastly used
odefault effect fonts and manual available on https://sabertec.net/downloads
➢in-hilt LED effects:
ooverwhelming light effect engine
ofull customizability of the effects
oeach LED channel can have completely independent light effects
ocustomizability of crystal chamber effects for example
opulse effects:
▪conventional pulse
▪speed transition pulse, a.k.a. “HyperPulse”
▪intensity transition pulse, a.k.a. “ÜberPulse”
▪color transition effects
▪6 different pulse shapes: sine, impulse, inverted impulse, rising sawtooth,
falling sawtooth, rectangular
oflicker effects:
▪conventional flicker
▪intensity transition, a.k.a. “PhaseFlicker”
▪3 different flicker types: subtractive, additive and mixed
▪flicker synchronization
oconfigurable fade out
oconfigurable effect duration
oindependent basic effects
oindependent clash effects
oindependent stab effects
oindependent swing effects

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oindependent spin effects
oindependent lockup effects
oindependent melt effects
oindependent blaster effects
oindependent force effects
oas there are more than 600 parameters, you can literally invent your own light
effects
oassuming there are 1000 possible values for each parameter (which is a hard under-
estimation), you could create 10^1800 (a one with 1800 zeros) possible effect fonts –
that’s more than there are atoms in the universe!
oingenious online configuration tool for designing, saving and sharing your light
effects (will be released very soon)
oalso default parameter settings available, so you get already epic light effects even
without having to change any of the parameters:
▪10 presets for dedicated color LED
▪120 presets for RGB LED
▪120 presets for RGBW LED
▪120 presets for RGBA LED
➢Neopixel effects:
ooverwhelming light effect engine
ofull customizability of the effects
ocomes with three effect packages comprising more than 900 presets for Neopixel
effects that can be changed on the fly:
▪basic effect package: includes 30 presets
▪default effect package: includes 140 presets
▪extended effect package: includes 924 presets
oall Neopixel effects consist of background effects and on top effects that can be
arbitrarily combined with each other
o6 different background effect categories:
▪Classic (e. g. Red, Green, Blue, Flicker, Pulse, …)
▪Color Flow (e. g. Rainbow, Dual Transition, Blizzard Transition, …)
▪Frozen Pulse (e. g. Spatial Pulse, Color Pulse, …)
▪Wave (e. g. Railgun, Pulsing Wave, Tiger Tail, Rattlesnake, Candy Stick, …)
▪Flame Blade (e. g. Red Flame, Green Flame, Blue Flame, …)
▪Gradient (e. g. Dual Phase, Pulsing Phase, …)
o7 different on top effect categories:
▪None
▪Focus Deflection
▪Thunder Storm
▪Unstable Blade
▪Kylo Blade
▪Magnetic Flare
▪Shockwave
oconfigurable fade out
oconfigurable effect transition:
▪configurable transition time
▪configurable transition type:
•Basic

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•Window
•Unstable Blade
•Flame Blade
oconfigurable effect duration
olocalized lockup
olocalized drag
olocalized melt
olocalized blaster block
oindependent basic effects
oindependent clash effects
oindependent stab effects
oindependent swing effects
oindependent spin effects
oindependent lockup effects
oindependent blaster effects
oindependent force effects
➢5 independent channels to drive standard accent LEDs
➢capability of defining unique light effects even for standard accent LEDs
➢sequencer for standard accent LEDs:
oup to 16 different steps
oduration of each step customizable
obreak between steps customizable
➢up to 8 independent Neopixel accent LEDs
➢capability of defining unique light effects even for Neopixel accent LEDs
➢sequencer for Neopixel accent LEDs:
oup to 16 different steps
oduration of each step customizable
obreak between steps customizable
Firmware Updates
➢there will be free firmware updates on a regular basis which you can simply install yourself
by saving a file on your microSD card
➢many more features will be introduced with firmware updates in future
➢you’re invited to take part in planning new features by discussing them with us or providing
your own ideas in our Golden Harvest soundboard group on Facebook
USB Charging and File Transfer
➢using our Seedling USB module, the Golden Harvest can be recharged and the microSD can
be accessed via microUSB
➢charging with up to 1.5 A
➢you can use any wall adapter independent from the maximum current it can supply thanks to
a smart charging algorithm
➢easy to install as the module needs only 4 wires to be connected to the Golden Harvest
➢smaller than 11 mm x 19 mm / 0.433" x 0.748"

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Evolution of the Board
Since its first release, several minor hardware changes of the Golden Harvest v3 have been
implemented. The different hardware iterations of the board are labelled as phase 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each
of these boards is capable of using the very same firmware. In the following, we describe how you can
determine which hardware iteration you own and what the differences are.
How to Recognize the Different Hardware Iterations
The phase 1 boards are green, all other boards are black. You can recognize the phase 2 boards as they
have a resistor across two of the 5 circular pads on the top side of the board. The phase 3 boards have
a brown rectangular part in the upper left corner of the top side of the board. The phase 4 boards are
currently in production. Their look is not yet revealed. They will be the final hardware iteration.
Phase 1 Phase 2
Phase 3 Phase 4

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Changes introduced by phase 2:
- Decreased wait time when disconnecting and connecting the battery.
- Batt. + pad on the top side instead of on the back side.
Changes introduced by phase 3:
- Wait time when disconnecting and connecting the battery completely removed.
- Part in the upper left corner of the top side of the board replaced by a protected one to make it
more robust against mistakes during install.
- Reverse polarity protection added.
- Accent LED channel 5 added.
Changes introduced by phase 4:
- New audio amplifier that is robust against shorting the speaker wires, but even more powerful
- Even longer deep sleep runtime
Wiring of the Board
After getting in touch with the technical specifications, we’ll now come to how to install the Golden
Harvest v3 correctly. The general wiring of our board is shown in the wiring diagrams on the following
pages which are examples for different LED setups (there are much more possible than shown though).
As mentioned above, our board features four different high-power LED channels. These are accessible
via the pads labelled as "LED1", "LED2", "LED3" and "LED4" which need to be connected to the negative
of the LEDs. Please make sure to use appropriate resistors for your in-hilt LEDs (we don’t take any
responsibility for possible damage due to using inappropriate resistors). To calculate the needed
resistivity, have a look at the data sheets of the LEDs you want to use. The four high-power LED
channels don’t necessarily have to drive your blade LED as you can even drive accent LEDs with them.
If you decide to use only two LED channels for the blade for example, you can use the remaining LED
channels to drive a switch LED or crystal chamber LEDs for example. As each LED channel provides up
to 9 A, you could even connect up to 450 accent LEDs in parallel to each LED channel (assuming they
need 20 mA each). As you’ll see in one of the following sections, you can even define custom light
effects for the accent LEDs. They can be synchronized to the blade effects, but you can also choose
them to be completely independent of the blade effects. This enables you to design independent
crystal chamber effects for example.
Another important pad is the "Pwr. Sw." pad to which you connect the power switch as its name
already suggests. The power switch can be both a momentary or a latching switch. If you decide to go
for a two-switch configuration, you can add a second switch to the "Aux. Sw." pad which has to be a
momentary switch. The second pin of each switch has to be connected to the "GND" pad.
For each switch, it is recommended to twist its two wires around each other. That way, the impact of
electromagnetic induction can be reduced. This is important as electromagnetic induction could
potentially lead to random behavior. Furthermore, it is important to use the "GND" pad between the
"Aux. Sw." and the "Pwr. Sw." pad to solder the ground wire of each switch.

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Top side of the board Back side of the board
The position of the Batt. + pad indicated above holds only for the black boards. For the green boards,
please use the Batt. + pad on the back side. The LED channel 5 is only available on phase 3 and phase
4 boards.
The table below lists the functions of each pad on the top side of the board.
Pad
Function
Remark
Batt. -
Connect to negative of battery
Internally connected to all GND pads
Batt. +
Connect to positive of battery
Spk. -
Connect to negative of speaker
Spk. +
Connect to positive of speaker
Strip
Connect to data line of Neopixel
Resistor is already included on the board
D +
Connect to D + of the USB module
D -
Connect to D - of the USB module
Aux. Sw.
Connect to auxiliary switch
(must be momentary if used)
Second pin of the switch needs to be
connected to GND
GND
Ground
Pwr. Sw.
Connect to power switch
(can be momentary or latching)
Second pin of the switch needs to be
connected to GND
LED1 -
High-power LED output
(4,2 V and 9 A)
LED2 -
High-power LED output
(4,2 V and 9 A)
LED3 -
High-power LED output
(4,2 V and 9 A)
LED4 -
High-power LED output
(4,2 V and 9 A)
LED5 +
Accent LED output (3,3V and 20 mA)
Only available on phase 3 and 4 boards
LED6 +
Accent LED output (3,3V and 20 mA)
LED7 +
Accent LED output (3,3V and 20 mA)
LED8 +
Accent LED output (3,3V and 20 mA)
LED9 +
Accent LED output (3,3V and 20 mA)

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Power Rating and Polarity of LED channels
All 9 LED channels of the Golden Harvest v3 are independently configurable. It features 4 high-power
LED channels and 5 standard accent LED channels. The power rating and the polarity of the respective
LED channels is shown below. The high-power channels can be bridged in any possible combination to
deliver an even higher current, for example to drive Neopixels. The LED channel 5 is only available on
phase 3 and phase 4 boards.
LED channel
Polarity
Maximum current draw
1
-
9 A
2
-
9 A
3
-
9 A
4
-
9 A
5
+
20 mA
6
+
20 mA
7
+
20 mA
8
+
20 mA
9
+
20 mA
Soldering Advice
The pads of the Golden Harvest v3 were designed to be as big as possible in order to make the soldering
process as easy as possible. Compared to the other pads, the pad "Batt. -" has an even higher electrical
and thermal conductivity. The soldering temperature should not exceed 350° C and you should not
heat the pads for longer than 1 - 2 s. Also, make sure to let the board cool down a bit before proceeding
with soldering the next pad. Violating these safety measures may result in damage of the board.
Special caution needs to be taken when soldering and routing the speaker wires. The GH v3 features a
very powerful audio amplifier that thus needs to be handled with care. One needs to avoid shortening
the speaker wires in order not to damage the part (this is even important when no sound is played as
the speaker outputs are always able to deliver power even if the speaker is mute). Possible shortening
could potentially occur between the speaker wires, between the Batt. + wire and one of the speaker
wires, between the Batt. - pad and one of the speaker wires and between the Pixel data line and one
of the speaker wires. In addition to that, a short could possibly occur directly at the speaker itself
because many speakers have solder terminals that can easily stouch the speaker housing and thus
create a short. To sum up, it is important to avoid a shortening of the speaker wires and a shortening
of one of the speaker wires and any other wire both during soldering and during use of the board. If a
short between the speaker wires occurred, it may damage the audio amplifier which would result in
the part and the SD card holder getting hot or static noise even after the short was removed.
When soldering the board, make sure to do so while the board is not powered. That means solder the
battery only in the very last step or use a kill key to keep it disconnected while soldering.
Also, it is recommended to use the rectangular pads on the top side of the board instead of the circular
ones on the back side because those on the top side are much stronger and thus mechanically more
stable. When soldering to the circular pads, you need to make sure not to exert any tensile stress to
the pads, neither by the wires nor by the soldering iron and not to apply excessive heat to them. This
is important in order to not lift-off the pads due to their small size. Independent of that, it is also
important for the rectangular pads to avoid tensile stress exerted by the wires.

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Handling Advice
In general, electronics are sensitive to electrostatic discharge. Please always make sure to be grounded
when touching the board. Furthermore, make sure that the speaker wires never touch each other and
that no speaker wire touches a GND, positive wire or the Pixel data line (at least not their exposed
parts). If they touch each other, the audio amplifier may get damaged which would result in the board
getting hot or static noise of the speaker even after the wires were separated from each other again
and the blade is not ignited.
In the following, the wiring of a recharge port and of our Seedling USB module are shown. Both wiring
diagrams depict the respecitve connections independent from the actual LED setup you are using.
Please also have a look at the wiring diagrams for the LED setups.
Recharge Port Seedling module
(in addition to LED wiring) (in addition to LED wiring)
The wiring of a recharge port is shown below.
It is the same for any LED setup. The recharge
port has to be connected such that it connects
"Batt. -" and the negative of the battery if the
kill key is pulled out.
The wiring of the Seedling module is shown
below. It is the same for any LED setup. Please
make sure that the orange and green wires
are of same length.

16
In the following, the wiring diagrams for different LED setups are shown. For in-hilt setups, the resistors
can be added either to the positive or the negative of the LEDs.
Single color blade with separate clash color
The wiring of an in-hilt LED as single color blade with separate clash color is shown below.
RGB
The wiring of an in-hilt RGB LED is shown below.

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RGBW
The wiring of an in-hilt RGBW LED is shown below.
Pixel strips without Pixel accents
The wiring of a Pixel strip is shown below (commonly known as Neopixel™ which is a trademark of
Adafruit™ with whom we are not affiliated). There is already a 470 Ohm data line resistor on the board
so that you don’t need to add one. If your blade is pre-resistored, this will not affect the functionality.
To setup your board to use a Pixel strip, set the parameter "number_of_leds" in the "general.txt" to
the number of Pixel LEDs in your blade. When counting the number of Pixel LEDs, please count only
the Pixel LEDs on one of the two strips in your blade. The common range of numbers of Pixel LEDs is
between 110 and 135. The board supports ws2812b LED strips. If you want to use standard accent
LEDs with a Pixel blade, make sure to use the pads LED5 - LED9.

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Pixel strips with Pixel accents
The wiring of a Pixel strip with Pixel accents is shown below. There is already a 470 Ohm data line
resistor on the board so that you don’t need to add one. If your blade is pre-resistored, this will not
affect the functionality. To setup your board to use a Pixel strip, set the parameter "number_of_leds"
in the "general.txt" to the number of Pixel LEDs in your blade. When counting the number of Pixel
LEDs, please count only the Pixel LEDs on one of the two strips in your blade. The common range of
numbers of Pixel LEDs is between 110 and 135. Beyond that, you need to set the parameter
"number_of_neopixel_accents" in the "general.txt" to the number of Pixel accents you are using. The
board supports ws2812b LED strips. If you want to use standard accent LEDs with a Pixel blade, make
sure to use the pads LED5 - LED9.
Quad Cree with fixed color
The wiring of an In-Hilt Quad Cree LED with fixed color is shown below.
Resistors are not depicted. They should be used to limit the LED current.

19
Battery Recommendation
We recommend to use the following batteries for the respective LED setups.
In-Hilt Setup
If you're using a TriCree for example, you are fine with most protected single-cell Li-ion batteries. Our
recommendation is to use a KeepPower 18650 protected battery as this is the one we are using in
our own demo sabers. If you're using a crossguard setup containing three separate TriCrees in total,
we recommend to use a KeepPower 18650 protected battery that is able to provide enough current.
We recommend to use a battery that is rated for 10 A.
Neopixel Setup
If you're using Neopixel, we recommend to use a KeepPower 18650 protected battery that is rated
for 15 A.
So, you see that the current rating is of great importance. Why is that? Well, if you're using a battery
that is only rated for 3 A for example, but you're running Neopixel with it, the voltage of the battery
will drop strongly. This low voltage will not only dim your Neopixel, but can also damage the battery
in the long term.
Setting Up Your Board
To setup the Golden Harvest for your saber, please read the following instructions on how to choose
your hardware setup and on how to choose your light effects.
Choosing Your Hardware Setup
You can easily customize your hardware setup by opening the "general.txt" file on your microSD card.
To configure your board for your hardware setup, it is sufficient to adjust only three parameters which
are described in the following.
PARAMETER
DESCRIPTION
button_mode
Defines which button mode you want to use. The following modes are
available:
- button_mode=0: single momentary switch, effect menu, double tap to
trigger some features
- button_mode=4: single momentary switch, effect menu, twisting the
saber instead of double tap to trigger some features
- button_mode=1: one momentary switch and one latching switch
- button_mode=2: two momentary switches, effect change without menu
- button_mode=3: two momentary switches, effect menu
- button_mode=6: two momentary switches, effect menu, twisting the
saber instead of double tap to trigger some features.
usb
Defines if you want to use USB for charging and file transfer. The following
values are possible:
- usb=0: disable USB
- usb=1: enable USB
number_of_leds
Defines the number of Pixels in your blade. Only needed to adjust if you are
using Pixel strips. Please count only the number of LEDs of one of the Pixel
strips. Usually, the number is between 110 and 135. The number of LEDs is
internally clamped to 140.
There are even more customizable parameters in the "general.txt" of course, but to configure your
Golden Harvest v3 for your hardware setup, only these three parameters need to be adjusted.

20
Choosing Your Light Effects
You can easily customize your light effects by changing the value of the parameter "effect_font_slot"
in the "general.txt" file on your microSD card. In the image below, you see which values correspond to
the different LED setups. For Neopixel, there are three default packages available that differ with
respect to the number of presets that they include.
Folder Structure on microSD Card
The Golden Harvest v3 comes with a microSD card containing the default package. In the picture below,
you can see the folder structure of the microSD card. Let’s go through it from top to bottom. The first
folder is the "EffectFonts" folder which contains the different effect fonts of your saber. Similarly, there
is a "SoundFonts" folder containing all the sound fonts of your saber. By default, your Golden Harvest
v3 comes with 15 different sound fonts. The maximum possible number of sound fonts is not limited
though. The next folder is the "UserInterfaceSounds" folder which contains all user interface sounds
like the battery indicator sounds or the volume control sounds for example. In addition to these
folders, there is the "general.txt" file which will be described in detail inone of the next section. Beyond
that, there may be an "UPDATE_D.DAT" file. As its name suggests, it is related to the firmware update
feature of the board. This file is automatically created after a firmware update has been installed. To
install a new firmware update, you just need to remove the "UPDATE_D.DAT" file and replace it by the
new firmware update file "update.dat".
Hibernation Mode
The Golden Harvest board features also a Hibernation Mode which allows a shelf-time of several
months. The board enters this mode once it wasn’t used for 5 minutes while it‘s powered. This default
value can be customized by adjusting the parameter "deep_sleep" which will be described in more