Thorvindr
06-14-2015, 08:55 PM
I'm in the process of repairing/upgrading (mostly just repairing) my first hilt. Please don't judge me: I bought it from Saberforge because I was stupid. I've learned my lesson (dear God, have I ever learned my lesson) and please let's move straight on to the matter at hand. I wouldn't even have mentioned SF but I know they do things a little differently than other places so I wanted to make sure anyone who responds has all the relevant details.
Many things have gone wrong, one of which is a wire on the LED module broke (right at the resistor; the arm of the resistor actually broke in half). Being curious as I am, I unscrewed the LED unit housing and took it apart to see what they had actually used to put it together (none of those things was thermal tape). In the process, I may or may not (but definitely did) have touched the actual gel-bumps of the LEDs themselves.
Should I worry? As soon as I touched it, I realized it was probably very stupid to go touching things I don't know enough about and wiped it (gently, of course) with a lens cloth. I don't know HOW hot these things get, but I know they get hot. There are four little LEDs on that board (without proper heat management, I suspect) and I just want to make sure I didn't ruin the unit before it gets used again.
I'm from a photography background and with studio flash units (some of which are LEDs), the rule is "NO TOUCHING the glass, EVER, EVER, EVER!" Those suckers get RIDICULOUSLY hot during prolonged usage and I've seen them blow due to fingerprints.
Many things have gone wrong, one of which is a wire on the LED module broke (right at the resistor; the arm of the resistor actually broke in half). Being curious as I am, I unscrewed the LED unit housing and took it apart to see what they had actually used to put it together (none of those things was thermal tape). In the process, I may or may not (but definitely did) have touched the actual gel-bumps of the LEDs themselves.
Should I worry? As soon as I touched it, I realized it was probably very stupid to go touching things I don't know enough about and wiped it (gently, of course) with a lens cloth. I don't know HOW hot these things get, but I know they get hot. There are four little LEDs on that board (without proper heat management, I suspect) and I just want to make sure I didn't ruin the unit before it gets used again.
I'm from a photography background and with studio flash units (some of which are LEDs), the rule is "NO TOUCHING the glass, EVER, EVER, EVER!" Those suckers get RIDICULOUSLY hot during prolonged usage and I've seen them blow due to fingerprints.