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scaarmor
08-24-2006, 06:41 PM
Hello to all,
I have been gone for quite some time now and have fallen back on all the threads here.

Anyway, to the point... I was trying to calculate the cost difference between buying a under car led lighting system or making one. Mainly because if I make one from Tims parts the tubes would be PolyC instead of acrylic and be much brighter. I have already consulted the resistor calculater to find I need 8.2 ohm 8.2 w resistors to run off of a 12v car battery. However, I didnt initially want to use Tims blade holders because they are way to nice to be put under a car- however, building a heatsink and holder out of something else would probibly be to much work.

The lighting system would consist of-
blade holders/heatsinks
the LED components
Blades and diffusers
All rubber mounted to the underneath of a car & wired to a switch off of the battery...

Does anyone have any advice, comments, flaws, or ideas? And what happened to the led blade holders?

Cain


***A man is known by the enemies he carries, so make the best ones you can.***

***Give me a decent foothold and I will move the world.***

***It is now that we battle.When you die, await my arrival in the afterlife where we will battle again.Perhaps there you may have the ability to defeat me,but not here,not now,not this day.So let us part with words and embrace the blade.***

Nightwing
08-24-2006, 06:47 PM
The "Emitters" are blade holders. The Style 1 holder has been out of stock for a while, but the others should be just fine.

james3
08-24-2006, 06:47 PM
WOW! We just mentioned you a few times earlier this week, ears burnin or something?[;)]

Great idea. Tim has since done away with his old LED blade holders and uses an adapter to go with the MHS stuff but I would guess he could still do something up special for you if you give him a shout.

<center>http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/kotor2.jpg</center>

Firebird21
08-24-2006, 06:47 PM
See if Tim will make a blade holder into a Bracket for your application.

I don't think that it needs to be as beefy as the saber holder, heck maybe you could just silicone the LEDs into the end of the tubes. May work, may not, just thinking out loud.


Make sure it is all water tight! I can just imagine the torcher that those tubes will go threw, last thing you want is them filling up on water too.

Edit: 911th post.

Have you read your Thread Index (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=577) today?
FAQ (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=552)
http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_sabre.gif http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/auto/car-smiley-032.gif Official Designated TCSS Jester! http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrinjackbox.gif

xwingband
08-24-2006, 06:49 PM
It's good to have you back. I was wondering where you were.

Are you looking to have these be like those neon running lights they sell?

<center>Read the FAQ (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=552) or x-wing won't be happy. :(
Before posting did you check the Thread Index (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=577)?.

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6703/xwing8az.gif</center>

james3
08-24-2006, 06:49 PM
Firebird! Call 911!!!!!!

<center>http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e370/Dadof3/kotor2.jpg</center>

Firebird21
08-24-2006, 06:50 PM
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by james3

Firebird! Call 911!!!!!!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">


lol
Good call!


I did see that. [:p]

Have you read your Thread Index (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=577) today?
FAQ (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=552)
http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_sabre.gif http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/auto/car-smiley-032.gif Official Designated TCSS Jester! http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrinjackbox.gif

scaarmor
08-24-2006, 07:09 PM
Thank you for the quick responses and warm return welcome!

Yes X-wing, I got the idea from the neon tube under car light kits. Problem with them is they are not near strong enough or impressive enough to justify spending the money they want for them. I thought I could make a better one. Many of thier kits are either neon or multiple leds inside a tube- sound familiar? And we all know that they wont take to much impact. I wanted something beefier... And thats when I thought of TCSS!

I have only been playing with the idea for a day or two so its still experimental right now. But I was trying to calc up the costs and find out how bad it would set me back. And since Tim gave us this fancy forum, I thought it smart to throw the idea out there to all of you and see what you thought...

So far my thoughts are- simply make a saber with no hilt and somehow mount it under the cars front, back and sides. It should be very strong and very bright. However, it does need to be water proofed as mentioned earlier, and I wonder how to keep the heat sink from caking up with mud and crap and burning out the leds. Plus there is the issue of battery draw for essentially four sabers and if the batt. alternator set up can handle it???

Cain


***A man is known by the enemies he carries, so make the best ones you can.***

***Give me a decent foothold and I will move the world.***

***It is now that we battle.When you die, await my arrival in the afterlife where we will battle again.Perhaps there you may have the ability to defeat me,but not here,not now,not this day.So let us part with words and embrace the blade.***

Do-Clo
08-24-2006, 07:21 PM
The battery draw of 4 luxeon 5 watt leds would only be 2.8 amps a piece of cake for the 12 volt car system.

<center>http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/Do-Clo/DoCloSig.jpg</center>
<center><font color="red"><font size="4"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Darth Technous Sith Lord</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size4"></font id="red"></center>
<center><font color="red"><font size="4"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Give yourself to the Dark Side</font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size4"></font id="red"></center>

Strydur
08-24-2006, 09:18 PM
Power wont be a issue as stated. I am not sure how much the normal kits cost but I would use 2 leds facing eachother per side. It might get a tad costly though. The easiest way to mount them would be to get a piece of metal and drill holes to screw to the mhs adapter and then attach to your car. But you would be looking at the following per side.

2x MHS adapter
2x sledholder2
2x led
2x lens
2x lens holder
Polyc tube
diffuser

Didnt add this up but it would be spendy but should be pretty damn bright. You could cap the end of the mhs adapter with plain old duct tape to keep everything off the heatsink and water tight.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

scaarmor
08-24-2006, 10:11 PM
Well,
After calcing up the cost for the kit consisting of 4 tubes (1 front, 1 rear, 1 at each side) and only one led at one end of each... It comes out to over $200 and thats without the resistors (since I couldnt find them). That also does not include the wiring or switch... One can be purchased for about $150. Granted it wouldnt be as cool, but the cost seems to great to make unless I can find some corners to cut somewhere...

However I do agree that an LED at either end of the tube would be better, but thats even more money. DAMN!!!

Cain


***A man is known by the enemies he carries, so make the best ones you can.***

***Give me a decent foothold and I will move the world.***

***It is now that we battle.When you die, await my arrival in the afterlife where we will battle again.Perhaps there you may have the ability to defeat me,but not here,not now,not this day.So let us part with words and embrace the blade.***

JediMcD
08-24-2006, 11:02 PM
Hey scaarmor why not just put like 4 leds spaced around the car shining down. It might not be the exact same, but it might look cool. You could mount them to the frame directly or mount the blade holders to the frame. Then you could run all your wires. Hey you could even get some batwing leds. Aren't they suppose to have a wide beam. I could be mistaken on that. Just a thought.

Sabers are cool and stuff