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darthdan
02-10-2007, 04:37 AM
Is this right?

Do I need resistors somewhere, or does the buckpuck take care of that?

If I'm using 2700mah 1.5V AA's this should send 4.5 to each LED and 1000mah to each right? Should I up it to 8AA for K2's?

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n237/huskerbrewdad/dualsetup.jpg

Firebird21
02-10-2007, 05:31 AM
You're going to need a switch in there and you should hook up the LEDs in parallel rather than series.


Just put the switch in between the Puk and the Bat. Most people use the neg side to do this.

Parallel vs series is hard to describe w/out a diagram.

darthdan
02-10-2007, 05:46 AM
Yeah I know I need a switch. Why put the LED's in parallel vs series? Won't I have to put the batteries in parallel then too?

Firebird21
02-10-2007, 06:01 AM
Why put the LED's in parallel vs series? Won't I have to put the batteries in parallel then too?


No, the batteries are correct.

He're it is short...
6 Batteries in Parellel= 1.5v but lasts 6x longer.
Batteries in Series= 9v but lasts as long as one battery.

2LEDs in parellel= Both use full current.
2LEDs in series= Each LED uses 1/2 the forward voltage. (1/2 as bright)

vortextwist
02-10-2007, 07:19 AM
Why put the LED's in parallel vs series? Won't I have to put the batteries in parallel then too?


No, the batteries are correct.

He're it is short...
6 Batteries in Parellel= 1.5v but lasts 6x longer.
Batteries in Series= 9v but lasts as long as one battery.

2LEDs in parellel= Both use full current.
2LEDs in series= Each LED uses 1/2 the forward voltage. (1/2 as bright)
yup. for parallel you need 2 wires from pos and 2 from neg ran to each led.

xwingband
02-10-2007, 07:23 AM
That diagram is correct don't change anything about it other than the switch.

If you don't mind ordering internationally there is a 1500mAh driver you can get instead of the Buckpuck.

vortextwist
02-10-2007, 07:25 AM
won't they be brighter if ran parallel?

xwingband
02-10-2007, 07:44 AM
won't they be brighter if ran parallel?

No, much dimmer. Parallel divides the amperage of the driver. To give each 1A you need to put the LEDs in series.

vortextwist
02-10-2007, 07:46 AM
ah ok.

Firebird21
02-10-2007, 09:45 AM
won't they be brighter if ran parallel?

No, much dimmer. Parallel divides the amperage of the driver. To give each 1A you need to put the LEDs in series.


That makes no sense... You have it backwards.

If you run them in series then each LED acts as a resistor to the other making each other dimmer. In parallel they both receive the same amount of power because technically they are both connected directly to the power source, they just use twice as much of it.


Parallel-brighter
Series-Lasts longer

Now, there may not be enough of a difference in output between the two, and if that’s the case then bay all means go in series. But to get full power out of each LED do it in parallel.

I'd try to explain it better, but I get lost when it comes to the terminology.

Strydur
02-10-2007, 11:23 AM
Here is how I understand it :D

Series = Input voltage must be high enough to light up both led's. As in if you have 2 3v leds you must provide atleast 6v.

Parallel = Both act as one LED and can be powered by 3v but use twice the juice.

Here is the site I use to calculate LED wiring.
http://metku.net/index.html?sect=view&n=1&path=mods/ledcalc/index_eng

I will see if I can find a more definate answer.

vortextwist
02-10-2007, 11:24 AM
that is what I was thinkin. but hey.

Strydur
02-10-2007, 11:34 AM
AH...Here you go.. A great explanation.

http://www.theledlight.com/ledcircuits.html

Firebird21
02-10-2007, 11:48 AM
Series = Input voltage must be high enough to light up both led's. As in if you have 2 3v leds you must provide atleast 6v.

Parallel = Both act as one LED and can be powered by 3v but use twice the juice.



Yes, thank you.

james3
02-10-2007, 09:59 PM
Sweet mama jama! Someone done nailed it down!

Tim is da man!

Jester, using them drivers anytime you can series it is a good thing. :wink:

Oh, and also since your using a driver ya don't need to sweat the resistor.

Firebird21
02-10-2007, 10:24 PM
Jester, using them drivers anytime you can series it is a good thing. :wink:


I'll be the first to admit that I know crap about the buckpucks. My point was all about the basic wiring.

darthdan
02-11-2007, 01:58 AM
So after I add the switch, since I have enough voltage to run both at once, I should be good to go right?

GeluKhanGharr
02-22-2007, 01:17 PM
As far as I know, setting up in parralel divides the curent, the part of electricity that is measured in Amperes. Setting up in series divides the voltage, the part that is measured in Volts.
I am not sure how a puck works, but if it were a resistor then you would be ok, I think. I did believe I saw somewhere that each LED should have it's own resistor though. Anyway, can your puck handle 9 volts input? And is the output from it 9 volts as well? If that's the case, then your setup would give 4.5Volts to each LED at whatever curent each of the batteries output, which I believe is over 1 Amp.

darthdan
02-22-2007, 10:36 PM
The way that I understand it, the puck limits the current to an exact amount and keeps it there until the batteries are dead. In this case 1 amp. Voltage in should be the same as voltage out. Someone please correct me if I am wrong(like someone's not gonna).

Let me throw another twist in though just to make it as confusing as possible. Here's what I want to do.
I have:
2 3W white Luxeons
1 1000mah puck
1 ROTS Anakin Sound board

How can I wire this up so that both led's light up simultaneously with the sound?

Should I stick a resistor in front of each LED?

Should I keep them wired in series?

GeluKhanGharr
02-23-2007, 12:52 AM
You have the sound board already? I thought you're getting it next week... :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink:

BTW, DO NOT apply 9 volts to the sound board, you'll fry it! Even if it doesn't happen right away, it will happen.

As for how, I'm kinda stummped :? The only way I can think of is through a relay with 2 battery packs, but it gets too complicated. Maybe wire one LED to the sound module and one directly to the batteries with a resistor and switch them both on with a DPDT switch. But the LED wired to the Anakin board might experience a slight delay, I am not sure.

darthdan
02-23-2007, 02:31 AM
You have the sound board already? I thought you're getting it next week... :wink: :wink: :wink: :wink: . true. But I won't have the other parts I need for it until after then anyways...

Maybe wire one LED to the sound module and one directly to the batteries with a resistor and switch them both on with a DPDT switch. But the LED wired to the Anakin board might experience a slight delay, I am not sure.

That is kind of what I was thinking, just wasn't sure how it would work. Especially if I want to use the buckpuck...don't really want to have to use two pucks. Seems kinda wrong somehow.

supertrogdor
02-23-2007, 08:06 AM
I concur with Gelu, (good to see you back on the forums again by the way) send one led through a resistor and another through the soundboard. It seems the easiest, and you could save the buckpuck for another saber and resistor your second LED. I would also suggest that if you do not have a definitive answer that you are certain will work, keep it as simple as you can at first, and add parts making it only a little more complecated one piece at at time. My general rule of thumb is KISS it
Keep It Simple S.....(fill in your own blank here)

xwingband
02-23-2007, 08:40 AM
I had a lot of trouble with the power going through MR switch leads. If you stick with a Puck be sure to use a DPDT to isolate them. You could use the 9V 6AA pack and tap 4.5V to the soundboard.

GeluKhanGharr
02-23-2007, 10:16 AM
Yes, isolating two circuits (one with the buckpuck and the two LED serialized running at 9Volts and the other running the soundboard and tapping into the battery pack at 4.5Volts) would probably be your best bet. And you would not use the LED output from the sound board. The only thing in common would be the DPDT switch to turn them on simultaneously, but from a circuit point of view the two would never meet. The only problem I see with this setup is the tapping into the battery pack - 3 batteries would drain faster than the other 3 and that usually leads to battery leaks.

xwingband
02-23-2007, 01:39 PM
Yeah, tapping for the correct voltage is really hackish... but sometimes it's the easiest.

darthdan
02-23-2007, 10:41 PM
If I have room(it is a staff), could I run the soundboard off it's own battery pack? Put the two LED's in series using the puck and 6AA on one side of the DPDT and the soundboard with 3AA on the other?

Novastar
03-06-2007, 01:50 AM
Another thing you can do to avoid this altogether is to wire up each LED as if it was its own saber.

Granted, you will have two switches, but you will also be able to turn on whichever blade you wish, and also take off one blade and use it as a single saber should your wish to do so.

A final advantage is better distributed weight if you're putting one battery(ies) on one side and the other battery(ies) on the other.

This is what I did for Necrolosis' "Charontas" saber, and although it's nothing fancy or super pretty... it's pretty lightweight, and rechargeable too!

You can see it in the photo gallery if you wish.