Graduate led light

[Chuber]

Hi, the guy from Argentina here again...
Is there a way to graduate the light a luxeon emits? I mean, how can i obtain the effect of progressive turning on? (Sorry for my english :oops: )
Thanks...

[james3]

Corbin driver is really the best way to do that deal.

Tim has them in the store as LED driver.

[Chuber]

OK... thanks for the data. But i can not afford it. Is there another way? Or do i need to buil a complex driver like corbins?

[Do-Clo]

You need a circuit that will increase the voltage to the led from the lowest to the highest to give you a power on effect, corbins led driver is cheaper than building your own.

[xwingband]

Corbin's really would be less than trying to do it yourself. The driver has to turn it on at a specific rate. Too fast and the effect is not convincing... too slow and it's not even there.

The expirementing, programming and parts really wouldn't make it all that much cheaper.

[james3]

there ya have it. the only other way I could think of is erv's but that is pretty much the same price comparitvly.

[Nightwing]

One thing I noticed about the driver is that, judging by the videos, it seems slow. In the films, the saber ignition only takes a few frames at 30fps. So while the ignition should only be taking a fraction of a second (according to the films), it takes nearly a whole second with the driver.
The "sheathing" is normally what takes longer, and that's where the driver's speed is perfect.

Then again, with all the inconsistencies of the blades in the SW movies, can we really know? lol.

[Chuber]

I know that for you corbins drive is cheap, but i've build the entire saber with Usd 50 here in Argentina, so usd40 here is too expensive. I will experiment with some stuff if anyone would like to help me with some data, i will thank you.
Bye :D

[james3]

yeah nw just think of esb when vader fires his up. it is so intimadating cause it takes forever. but then lukes is like a bullet.

[Chuber]

Sorry i dont underdstand what you mean... it may be my bad english...

[Nightwing]

He's saying that the speed of the lightsaber ignition sequence varies.

I remember Maul's saber taking forever to both turn on and off, but Obi-Wan's, Qui-Gon's, and Luke's all going up in a flash.

[987654321a]

ok you have two choices either spend hundreds, even maybe thousands of dollars on making your own circuit board or just buy corbins, its a great deal for something awesome!!!!!!!!!!

[Madcow]

Personally,
I like it that my saber snaps to life. I don't want it to come on gradually.

MC

[james3]

I like the quick on as well. I keep saying that one of these days I am going to do a saber with Corbin's board but I just havn 't gotten to it yet.

[James]

Got an idea for a blade board:
The typical led circuit goes like this:
battery > switch > resistor > led > battery
I thought of adding a transistor/FET to the ciruit. The base signal for this transistor would be a PWM signal from a PIC chip. This would give the on/off effect as well as pulse effect. For the hit effect, I thought I could just take the signal from the switch and tie it into the PWM signal ( putting in a diode to prevent the PWM signal going to the sound chip). This way the 'hit signal' is a 100% PWM signal.
For the power down effects - that is, how can we have an off sound and the blade retract when there's no power to the ciruit to do it with - I thought of using a couple more transistors.
The first would be in parallel with the on/off switch. When the saber is first turned on, the PIC chip powers up and sends a 'high' signal to the base of this transistor, giving us an alternate path for power. The second transistor would be to fix the problem caused buy the first - that is, how do we turn the saber off? A transistor again, this time the base signal is from the on/off switch itself, the E/C path being a logic circuit by the PIC chip to know when the on/off switch has been turned off.
Also I thought I would just use the PIC chip to send the sound chip signals to play the on and off sounds.
Anyone tried this or could help???