Tri-reb RGB wiring help for noob

[Thalan the Exiled]

Ok so I just bought a RGB tri -reb. I want to mix the red and blue for purple. I have a 7.4v battery pack running to a 700ma buck. Would that be enough to run them in series? I plan to wire the green as well to a seprate connector so I can switch them fairly easily. But would that battery and buck set up work to run the red and blue together? I know it is low ma for the blue and green but I don't need them to be blindingly bright

EDIT:
Here are some pice of the saber in all three colors. These are all run at 700ma. And the pics are in a day lit room. Damn the green and blue are nice and bright. Can't sait till I get ghem up go 1000ma.
http://oi59.tinypic.com/35mkvo4.jpg
http://i57.tinypic.com/16atou9.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/96ltnr.jpg

[Silver Serpent]

Both LEDs will be powered just fine in that configuration. You will likely get a very pinkish color, as the red will dominate over the blue. With the LEDs wired in series, there won't be any way to tweak that.

For purple blends, it is highly recommended to do a parallel wiring setup, and to add an extra resistor on the red.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Cool thanks. So if I added a 2ohm 1w resistor to the red along with ghe buck puck it would make it more purple? Wish I could figure a way to run the individually so I could switch between the three and combine them. With out using a sound board. If anyone has any ideas on how to do that please let me know. I am no stranger to wiring, just not for LEDs. Could I use small toggle switches after the buck puck to conroll which LED was on? Again someone help me out if they know of have seen a diagram

[darkjedimaster07]

This is great I've been searching for a while for this info all the stuff I found seemed to be sound boards so this helps a lot would it make more sense to use a 1000ma puck and resistor the red since the blue takes a little more power to run and what about using reostats on all three lights for on the fly blending?

[Thalan the Exiled]

I actually thought about using three small slider switchs hidden inside the hilt so that I could just open it up and switch between the colors. As for the buck puck, I am just using the 700 on them till I can get resistors for them. I think I am over trying to actually mix and get purple. It will be easier to just set it up to color switch. At least till I can afford a high end sound board with R.I.C.E

[Silver Serpent]

If you add a resistor to the LEDs in series, they'll all be reduced in brightness. To get a proper purple and not a pinkish shade, you need to reduce the brightness of the red while leaving the blue intact. That's not possible to do with LEDs wired in series. You must do it with parallel wiring.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Yeah I figured that out. That is why I am just going to wire in 3 s.all slider switches inside the hilt. I will have each LED wired sepratly and the positive of each on a slider. That way I can juat unscrew the hilt and switch colors between the three. I won't be able to mix but I will leave that till I can afford a Prizim sound card or better. And I could probably run 2 of them together. I wouldn't get a true purple but I could have more color options. And the blue and green together might look kinda cool, and would be nice and bright.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

you could get more colors out of it if you use a multi-position rotary style switch. It's how color changing sabers were done a several years ago long before the color-changing soundboards existed.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Never wired one of those. Do you have a diagram or know where to find one

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I do not personally have a diagram, but i'm certain I've seen one on the forums here somewhere, along with a place to get the switch.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Ok here is the diagram I created for a color change option with uncontrolled mixing available.

10990

Sorry about the size doing this from my phone

[Silver Serpent]

Those LEDs are wired in parallel. Any single color will get 700mA and be just fine. However, if you turn on multiple colors, the current will be split evenly among them. With 2 colors, you'll have them running at 350mA each. All three, and they might not light up.

I've done a similar setup before. I put a resistor on the red lines between the slide switches and the LED+ pads. With that, I can run all three dice without worrying about shared current and diminishing brightness.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Yeah I had planned on using resistors but I only have 2ohm 1watt resistors at the moment. Which is fine for thw red but would be way to much for the others. So I sill run this setup till I can get the proper resistors. They are just hard to find locally and I really don't want to pay $7.51 shipping on items that are only about $1.

[Silver Serpent]

Check with Tim. He may have a cheaper shipping option available for cases like this. It never hurts to ask.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Yeah ibsent him a message a few minutes ago asking him about shipping on the resistors. If someone knows can I use more than one resistor. There isn't a resistor with the value I need but I could combine and get the ohm I need. I just don't know if it works that way. I used that resistor calc and it said I need a 4ohm 3w for the green/blue and a 8.2ohm 3w for the red. I am using a 7.4v battery pack by the way and the red will be a little overpowered. I just want to know if I could use a 3.9ohm 5w on the green/blue and run 4 of the 2 ohm 1w for the red? If not then I guess I could just keep using the buck puck on the red and the 3.9ohm on the blue/green.

[Silver Serpent]

The 3.9 ohm 5w would work in place of the 4 ohm value you got from the calculator for your blue/green.

If you wired up 4x 2 ohm 1 watt resistors, you'd end up with the equivalent of an 8 ohm 1 watt resistor. Your wattage is too low, and they'll go *poof* when you power it up. The actual calculated resistance for your red is around 7.1 ohms, with the next standard resistor value being 8.2 ohm. You could use two of the 3.9 ohm 5 watt resistors in series and get 7.8 ohms with enough wattage to avoid the *poof* issue.

TL;DR get 4 of the 3.9 ohm 5 watt resistors, use one on each of the Green and Blue, and use the last two in series with the Red.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Thank you for the help you are the greatest. I have done a lot of wiring but not much resistor use. So I am still learning how they work. So my understanding is if I run more than one resistor the wattage is will never be more than the highest value of any one resistor. While the ohm combine to equal the total of the resistors used. Ok I think I get it now. Thank you

[Thalan the Exiled]

Ok since I have them , if I use a 1ohm 10w and 2 2ohm 1w that would give me a value of 5ohm 10w? I would use the 1ohm 10w nearest the battery. If that does work then I would have the green/blue running at 800ma if my math is correct. If it is then I can just use the buck for the red and the resistors for the green/blue to get a bit more power and have no issues running more than one LED at a time. Might have somd space issues but I can make it work I think.

[Silver Serpent]

Use the lowest wattage value when determining the effective wattage, not the highest. Those 1 watt resistors would blow out.

In all honesty, it would be simpler to reduce your battery pack to a single 3.7v li-ion pack if possible. You will be wasting a lot of battery life as heat.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Yeah I could do that but I can't seem to find the proper resistor for the green/blue anywhere. I really don't want to pay shipping on like $1 worth of items. I have the proper resistor for the red

[Thalan the Exiled]

how would I run the blue/green LEDs at 1000ma using a resistor.if I'm running a 3.7 volt battery pack there is no resistor value that will get me to 1000ma. I found .27ohm 2w resistors but that would have them at 1112ma. Would be to much?

[Silver Serpent]

The .47ohm .5 watt resistors in the store will do the job. http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/47ohm-5w-resistor-P947.aspx

The .27 ohm resistors will also work. You'll overdrive the LED a little, but not enough to cause any real harm. Green and Blue Rebels can be overdriven pretty well without damage.

[Thalan the Exiled]

Cool thanks. Now I just have to get the mkney to order them and I am set.

[Thalan the Exiled]

ok got it wired up but yeah just isnt bright enough this way. but at least I have it so when I get enough money to buy a prizm sound card I have it all ready to go

[Thalan the Exiled]

I don't know why I tried to make this so complicated. After killing my self for hours trying to get the switches to work. I finally, just this morning, realized that I should just wire a jst to each diode and then I can just plug/unplug. Way easier than triying to fit the switches in my already cramped hilt. And now when I get the proper resistors for the green/blue, to get them to 1000ma, I can just make a quick snip in the positives and solder them right in and I can then pull out the buck puck and have so much more room in there for future sound card. I don't know why I over think things. And I can't wait to see ths green/blue at 1000ma. They are bright now at 700ma. They will be WOW at 1000ma.

[Thalan the Exiled]

I added some pics to the first post