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Pirate King
10-05-2006, 01:28 PM
I know it has two different battery sets because it has a higher wattage, but would a 3w be brighter and the sound be louder if you did that with a 3w saber?

xwingband
10-05-2006, 01:34 PM
A 5W requires a lot more voltage to light. Trying to run an MR board off of the 5W's power would fry your board.

An 3W is not as bright as a 5W... so I don't know what you are getting at.

james3
10-05-2006, 02:28 PM
I would think that the sound would actually be louder with his setup. All of the power is being directed to the sound instead of being split between the light and sound.

The ONLY down side I can see with the setup is changing the 9volt battery which will need to be changed a lot more often then the sound board.

Pirate King
10-06-2006, 08:50 PM
I'm getting at, if I did separate energy sources for light and sound on a 3 watt saber, would I get more light and louder sound than if I just used the normal set up?

Jedibum
10-06-2006, 11:47 PM
Hi everyone!

Pirate King, I think I know what your question is ... but in case I'm wrong correct me. Your question is:

You have a 3Watt LED and an MR Sound Board ... you are wondering if you hooked the MR Sound Board up to a battery pack ... and had the 3Watt LED hooked up to a seperate battery pack (even though they can be run together) ... if they would both be better (Louder Sound, and Brighter 3Watt) because they don't have to share a battery pack, but instead they get their own pack each ... does that make sense? Is that what you are curious about? Not sure I have it right.

If that is what you are asking, it is an interesting question and I have no idea LOL. I might have to try that now! I'm not sure about the sound. It's certainly loud ... but it's hard for me to compare. It does sound louder than some of my other sabers but that could be the echo that is created by being in the hilt ... not sure.

The only reason I attempted two battery packs is because I wanted to use the 5Watt with Sound ... I wasn't even sure it would work but it did. So far the downsides are 1- two battery packs means you need to make sure you have a certain amount of room (if the hilt was bigger I would have tried two 9Volts for the 5Watt to really get it bright). And 2- like james3 already said, it means you need two different kinds of batteries to run your saber and the sound and led will need to be changed at different times. I'm not sure if you would still have problem #2 if you used a 3Watt. One still might last longer than the other. I might try and hook that up this weekend, if it looks brighter to me I'll take some comparision pics.

james3
10-07-2006, 05:46 AM
Now that we got that straight here is what I have done.

Running the LED off of the FX board works great but it does NOT supply maximum current to them so while they are close to max for the blue,green,white series they are a little lacking for the red,amber group.

I have done a few sabers that have shared the battery pack but the LED was direct drive while the sound was stand alone. I did one setup the way you were asking and I noticed no difference between that and what I normally did so I don't do it. I could not justify the added cost, space requirements, and work to consider using it. The only thing I could think of where this may be useful in the 3w build is if your looking to use a recharge pack to power the sound while the LED was driven by Alks or some of the newer stuff.

As for sound, while I think you would get a boost just like I said before, moving the speaker around and getting a good chamber is the best way to make it louder. I have a cyan 3w that I am playing around with right now to get a little more sound out of. I have been trying a few different positions to try and get it as loud as my custom hilt that Ambo did for me. That dang thing makes a MR sound quiet! Bottom line is that yes I think driving a sound board with out a LED on it will give it a boost but a proper tuning and speaker placement will still be what really makes a difference.

Hope this helped, sorry I didn't follow you before bud.

Ambo
10-07-2006, 08:00 AM
You should here em when they have more than just a 3/8 inch port to let the sound out James........the first one i made with a MR speaker screen woke my newborn up the first time i kicked it on to show my wife......she was less than thrilled with me.....lol

Edit: though with the smaller hole it tends to give it a different voice though and i think it suits you.....more bass if im not mistaken in the one i made you right? It seems that volume has to do mostly with how much you let out and tone comes from how big and how full the hilt is.......I do have to say though that the aluminum hilts tend to give better sound than the sink pipes.....the sink pipe's brass gives it a very "tinny" sound to it.....and one dosnt really even need to make a sound port for em.....it resonates through the thinner metal of the sink tube.....where the aluminum will almost stop all sound from escaping.......wow long winded this mornin....

And forgive me sound technitians, for as with everything i do with my sabers i am but an aspiring ameteur(sp) and i only go by what i experience, and what i physicaly see and hear without any fancy gear to test with....

Edit2: sorry off topic guys......my bad.....if i were actually trying to derail i wouldnt have been so long winded.....and i wouldnt have thought so much....specially because this thread is still worthwhile.....

Pirate King
10-08-2006, 10:14 AM
Thanks, guys!