Conversion LED question.

[DumpsterJedi]

First, the obligatory "i'm new and have been browsing around the forums for awhile but haven't quite found what I need" so please forgive me if I sound redundant or stupid. I just did a conversion of the Luke ANH black series lightsaber, and all went well except that i'm not satisfied with the brightness of the luxeon rebel star led. The bottom of the blade lights up nicely but it quickly dissipates and barely lights up the rest of the blade. I understand that it's possible I don't have the right lens, which is the other question Ill bring up, because I wasn't sure exactly where to find them, and I found a bunch of lenses for super cheap and put in the one that lit up the blade the best. However, even without the blade in the hilt, the led doesn't seem to be all that bright. Also, these lightsabers are only powered by 3 AA batteries, and I'm not too sure how electronics work, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it. So my questions are, what kind of LEDs do you guys like to use and what would be best for my situation, and where do you get them and lenses and lens holders. I know this site has a store, but half the things aren't in stock so it's not that viable of a place to shop. Thanks for the replies.

[CET]

What kind of LED do you have now? Do you have pics you can post?

Since you're using 3 AA batteries, you're driving 4.5v, which is plenty for a bright LED. All of my sabers run at 3.7v and are very bright.

I don't know what color saber you want, but this is my favorite one in the store: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Custom-Tri-Cree-LED-with-modified-base-P1139.aspx
Lens: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/18deg-Tri-RebelCree-Star-Lens-P778.aspx
Thermal tape: http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Star-thermal-tape-pad-Tri-LED-P1143.aspx

I don't know what the internal diameter of your saber is, so I can't recommend a heatsink for your LED. I'm sure someone here knows though.

[DumpsterJedi]

Oops, thought I mentioned the led I'm using. Currently I have the luxeon rebel star led, keeping the blue blade. Internal diameter is about 24-25mm. Thanks for the lens, but 30 bucks doesn't seem necessary for a bright led. Are there other good tri leds for cheaper if I just want blue? Otherwise i'd still need a single lens, if I just go with a better single led.

[NanoRex]

What lens are you currently using? The 8.7 degree lenses for single LEDs in the store are commonly used for sabers.

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Collimator-Lens-87-deg-viewing-angle-P537.aspx
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/CreeRebel-Lens-Holder-P999.aspx

As well, you do have a resistor on your LED, right?

[DumpsterJedi]

I have no idea why I couldn't find those. Thanks.

And no? I just went off all the conversion tutorials and they all said all you need to add to the electronics are an LED and a heat sink. I figured I'm just swapping out different light sources, whatever else is required is already there? Do I need a resistor if i'm only doing a conversion instead of building a lightsaber?

[FenixFire]

Oops, thought I mentioned the led I'm using. Currently I have the luxeon rebel star led, keeping the blue blade. Internal diameter is about 24-25mm. Thanks for the lens, but 30 bucks doesn't seem necessary for a bright led. Are there other good tri leds for cheaper if I just want blue? Otherwise i'd still need a single lens, if I just go with a better single led.

$30 - $40 for a Tri-Cree is basically the going rate regardless of where you get them. Tri-Rebels are not as bright as Crees but are slightly less expensive.

[NanoRex]

And no? I just went off all the conversion tutorials and they all said all you need to add to the electronics are an LED and a heat sink. I figured I'm just swapping out different light sources, whatever else is required is already there? Do I need a resistor if i'm only doing a conversion instead of building a lightsaber?

My bad, forgot this was a conversion you're talking about.

[CET]

My bad, forgot this was a conversion you're talking about.

Maybe that's it! Maybe the board is taking most of the juice and not leaving much for the LED. I had a similar issue when wiring a Hasbro Bladebuilder board to a tri-cree.

[FenixFire]

Maybe that's it! Maybe the board is taking most of the juice and not leaving much for the LED. I had a similar issue when wiring a Hasbro Bladebuilder board to a tri-cree.

Do you have to do the MOSFET setup with the Black Series? It is a string blade, so I would doubt its putting out anywhere near 1A of juice to the LED. But I have never converted one.

[CET]

Do you have to do the MOSFET setup with the Black Series? It is a string blade, so I would doubt its putting out anywhere near 1A of juice to the LED. But I have never converted one.

Good point. It's probably only putting out 400mA, which is only 40% of what the LED can take.

[DumpsterJedi]

Hmm. Maybe that's it. I guess the only solution to that would be to completely replace the innards?

[FenixFire]

Hmm. Maybe that's it. I guess the only solution to that would be to completely replace the innards?

No that not what we were saying. You can potentially use pnp mosfets as gates to direct drive the LEDs from the batteries, soundboard drives the gate in the pops so you still have the blade effects.

Look up the economy board wiring diagrams.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Just for information's sake, the older MR/Hasbro Force FX board running on 4.5v would usually only output between 800-1000ma of current, so a resistor was not needed. I have yet to get my hands on a newer model to measure what these ones output.

[FenixFire]

Jusy for information's sake, the older MR/Hasbro Force FX board running on 4.5v would usually only output between 800-1000ma of current, so a resistor was not needed. I have yet to get my hands on a newer model to measure what these ones output.

The Ezra Bridger with a single led and collapsible blade was outputting 20mA, I suspect blade builders would be the same. I have not torn into any Of the string blades yet.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Well, the ones I was referring to were the original metal hilts shown on the forums here in the conversion tutorials, the Master Replicas Force FX, then the later Hasbro Signature Series Force FX which have become the Black Series by Hasbro, not the plastic toys found in your local Wal-Mart. The newer boards are likely very similar as they are driving an led string blade that is very likely the same as the older models, so Dumpsterjedi probably doesn't need a resistor on the blue rebel.

[DumpsterJedi]

Okay I haven't replied in awhile because I haven't had time to get back to the Saber yet, but I just remembered something. When first putting it together I wasn't sure how the wiring worked yet (because no one has any tutorials on the black series yet) and I hooked the light directly up to the battery pack without the board to make sure the light worked, and I remember the brightness wasnt noticeably different than when I hooked everything up, so shouldn't that mean the rest of the electronics shouldn't be affecting it? Or am I wrong there? And what should I do if that's the case?

[FenixFire]

Okay I haven't replied in awhile because I haven't had time to get back to the Saber yet, but I just remembered something. When first putting it together I wasn't sure how the wiring worked yet (because no one has any tutorials on the black series yet) and I hooked the light directly up to the battery pack without the board to make sure the light worked, and I remember the brightness wasnt noticeably different than when I hooked everything up, so shouldn't that mean the rest of the electronics shouldn't be affecting it? Or am I wrong there? And what should I do if that's the case?

You hooked the battery directly to the LED without a resistor?

[DumpsterJedi]

Yes. Now I think of it, that probly wasn't too smart. I mean it wasn't for very long. Would that have harmed the led?

[Silver Serpent]

That would depend on your definition of "wasn't for very long." If you just touched the power to the LED and got it to flash, the LED star *should* keep the LED from popping, depending on your power source and Vf of the LED in question.

If the LED is working at anything other than a very dim glow, then it's probably fine. Your particular wiring setup is probably the culprit if you're having brightness issues.

[DumpsterJedi]

Right. It's definitely not "popped" and much more than a dim glow. It's definitely something you can't stare at. So would the wiring setup still be the issue if the brightness didn't change regardless of being wired or not?

[Silver Serpent]

Are you still getting the "base flare" effect? Just the bottom of your blade illuminating well, and rapidly getting dimmer along the blade length? If so, you may need to change your optics and/or add some diffuser to your blade.

[DumpsterJedi]

I finally came back to this. I ended up buying a blue rebel star as apposed to the royal blue that I had in it because its supposed to be a little brighter, and the lens is the 8.7 deg lens from the saber shop. Think a 5 degree lens would make a difference?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I finally came back to this. I ended up buying a blue rebel star as apposed to the royal blue that I had in it because its supposed to be a little brighter, and the lens is the 8.7 deg lens from the saber shop. Think a 5 degree lens would make a difference?
not really. I've use both in the past, and there is no difference, aside from how well they fit in the holders. Stick with the 8.7.

[DumpsterJedi]

Guess all I can do at this point is get a better blade. I'm about to get an enhanced day blade from vaders vault, see how that turns out.