potential heat issues

[Event Horizons]

i have a luke ROTJ that im planning on doing a conversion myself. i have researched a ton and found the LED i am planning to use. im using the 10 watt LEDengin RGGB led with the red and blue in series as well as the green and have them on a 3 prong switch so i can have green or purple on the fly. ive read that the stock boards dont allow enough voltage to power a 6 volt set up. so i am looking at getting an ultrasound 2.5 since i can program it to power a lux V which is around the same voltage. i looked up the maker of these boards, novaconceptions but ive heard some pretty bad things from him like fraud and terrible customer service so ill look on FX or something to see if i can get one. :P maybe ebay. whats the deal with all that anyway? looks like hes doin a new type of soundboard.

ANYWAY

my question is since this is a 10 watt LED would the standard heatsink that comes with the luke ROTJ kit be sufficient with this LED or would it be advised that a make a bigger one.

thanks for the help. wow there is so much information here. this place is awesome :P

[dgdve]

Wow... seriously try not to talk "drama" here... I love the Fx guys, but please leave it at the door and just ask your question.. what your trying to do is commendable but more difficult then your thinking... yes you can run 2 dies to achieve "purple" but you must use resistors to "tune" it in otherwise the red is so strong it simply washes it away..

My question is IF you have an Fx Luke rotj,(does the sound work?) why not just do the simple conversion? why choose such an aggressive build using a board that difficult to get?

[FenderBender]

That is not entirely true dgdve. You can run the R and B in series just fine and get a great purple. Running them in parallel to "tune" the red is where you would use the resistors, but you'd need to be able to have 2A at your disposal to play with to fully maximize this LED. Series is the way to go with 99.9% of set ups as it allows you to max out the LED easier. I even tried the parallel set up with the new CF V5 to utilize the 2A. With the fade in/out feature of the advanced boards, the colors seperate at the ignition/retraction and even on pulses, so you don't get a great mix. Running in parallel is therefore only really practical on a FX board or stunt saber.

The other thing is you will starve your LEDengin for current on the LUX V setting on the US board. The US boards settings only control the current output, the driver sets the voltage automatically. This is why you can overdrive a LUX V on a US board by using the LUX III settings. On a LEDengin, I would use the LUX III RED/Amber setting (1.4A) to run the LEDengin in series (R+b) and you'll get a great shade of purple. This is, of course IF you are able to source a US board without giving your money directly to Jesse Randall. I won't go into, yet again, the politics of that situation. Ample warning has been given on patronizing him or the company he works for.

However, all that aside, you can use the DX 3W RGB and mix the R and B in paralell (using resistor on the red) and run that direct off of the MR board. This will give you a VERY bright and respectable purple. It won't give you the ability to have a super bright green as well, but there you go.

If it's the sound font you're after as well you can get the new Obi Wan ROTS removable blade saber and swap the soundcard to your ROTJ as it has the soundfont you are looking for for that saber.

[Event Horizons]

thanks for all your help. didnt mean to cause any trouble with mentioning certain people. wont mention him again.

anyway. its not just puple im after it also the green. the stock green blade on the luke is about as bright as a normal green lux 3 as far as what i can tell. could be mistaken,

but what im trying to accompliosh here is a brighter green and the ability to switch between green and purple using the slide switch on the side of the box. and then mounting a mini tactile under the plate of the box for main activation. i believe LDM has done this? hence why i want a US 2.5 because its a momentary switch. the CF is also but i highly doubt i can get one.

so the US is auto voltage selecting awesome. but since the RGGB has both green in series wouldnt it make it 8.4 volts as noted on its specs and still 700ma because of series. obviously the max i could drive the green is at 7.4 volts. i guess i could overdrive the green make up for the slight lack of voltage. then yeah i was going to wire the red and blue in series. wiring blue first to act as sort of a resistor to tone down the red a bit.

hook the negative lead from the LED output to the middle prong of the switch and then splicing the leads from the positive LED output and putting one on oposite sides

so we have a + - + configuration on the switch. that way no matter what position the switch is in, it either lit purple or green. but not both.

i feel this will work im pretty sure. but my main question wasnt answered would there be a heat issue with using the normal copper heatsink included with the ROTJ conversion kit. or should i make a bigger one at work. i am also going to make real copper replacemants were theres copper painted parts. i think that would look fantastic

thanks alot for your help fender. your sabers are absolutely STUNNING!!!!

[dgdve]

you know I just dont use rgb Mains enough to think about running them in series... consider your idea "Stolen!!!" (thx btw :P)

[Event Horizons]

lol. well i think tomorrow ill start machining the copper parts of the saber. should be fun.