MCD question

[bjorn_1991]

Hello, i'm thinking about making a led-string blade for my saber.
I've found several places that sell good 3 and 5mm LED's but
i have no idea what amount of mcd is enough?

I will be driving the led-strip of a Fx LUKE ROTJ soundboard with
a 3AA battery-pack at the moment.

So the question is, how much MCD is enough?
//Note: The blade does not have to be as bright as the latest Makoto blade hehe..
So nothing extreme but a lot brighter than stock FX at least.

[Sevinzol]

what is MCD?
I guess I'm a noob cuz I looked up MCD and found links to McDonald's Stock listing. I would say if you can get a quarter pounder to fit your doing good just don't super size the fries.

[WookieeGunner]

MCD is millicandela. It is a measure of brightness.

[Sevinzol]

ok Now that, that has been cleared up... I think the answer would come from the specific LED you have in mind. I went to a LED supply page and found 5mm LEDs ranging from 2000mcd (red) to 4,700mcd (blue) @20mA. I've read some posts where people used 60 LEDs. so you can get a rough idea how bright it might be.

[Silver Serpent]

It's hard to compare MCD ratings between different colors. 2000 MCD in red may (or may not) be the same apparent brightness as 4700 MCD in blue. You're comparing apples to oranges. Experimentation is really the key here.

[LeMoel]

if you are just doing a single string then i sugguest to go as bright as you can find, and probably go with the 5mm leds because there is more selection, i was told that makotos blue 5mm leds are 12 000 mcd, red 9000 mcd, and green was around 12000 also, either way it will produce a very bright blade, go to ebay and you will find some of the brightest leds

[madmaxx]

http://s1266.photobucket.com/user/maddmaxx666/media/LED%20string%20blades/3LEDstringtest.mp4.html?sort=3&o=1
here is a led string blade i was working on

[bjorn_1991]

Wow that looks really nice! I ended up with 5mm red LEDs 5600mcd, looks enough for me.
The problem now is how to wire them up to a FX board.

I have 9 rows of 10 LEDs each wich i haven't connected yet,
i've looked at Slothfurnace's ANH Obi and he ran it (before it was rebuilt and sold)
with four 1,2V 1000mah AAA batteries, but i have no idea how many LEDs he had in the string.

My original thought was to wire them paralell (if i'm not mixing the terms up..)
All LEDs together in a row.

[Darth Obi Don]

Here's something to look at.
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/lightsaber.html
Pretty exhaustive study on string blades.

[Gilgamesh]

I think there are diminishing returns in brightness after a certain point. I made a string using 8mm blue 45,000 mcd, and another with red 8mm 60,000 mcd before. To fit more in 1 string, I used a dremel and cut the tops off. While they were bright, they weren't as astonishingly bright as I'd hoped. They were brighter then the strings I made with 6-8000 mcd 5mm LEDs, but surprisingly not by a wide margin.