Tri Cree Wiring

[Tuhbaby]

So I'm new to the saber scene. I've got my parts picked out but I have some questions about the electrical components and I can't seem to find answers anywhere. I'm using a tri cree blue/blue/white led in my saber so i can get that good arctic blue that Luke has in ANH. I don't plan on using a NB, but I am using an AV switch. It's my first build so I want a few cool things but there will be no sound or FoC or anything extravagant like that. With the tri cree, I want to have all three LEDs on at once. I understand white is often used as FoC but I want it on to balance the blue. My first question is, can I wire all three of the LEDs in parallel, so I have only one positive lead and one negative lead coming from the tri cree? Or do I not need the white on at all? Will I still get that same arctic white from ANH with just two blue LEDs?The specs on the website are as listed: Blue/Blue/White Cree XP-E2 CopperNova

Blue Cree Part# XPEBBL-L1-0000-00301
45.7 Minimum Luminous Flux @ 350mA
Forward Voltage @1000mA = 3.47v

White Cree Part# XPEBWT-L1-0000-00F51
266 Minimum Luminous Flux @ 1000mA
Forward Voltage @1000mA = 3.15v

The voltage of the blue LED is 3.47 V and the voltage of the white is 3.15v. I thought that because they are so close i could get by wiring them all in parallel and then have it run down to a resistor. I was then gonna wire the positive and negative ends from that onto a momentary to latching converter for my av switch. So can I do that? Can I wire all three of the LEDs in parallel? If so, how would I do that? Would I need a resistor for the blues and then a resistor for the white? Or because their voltages are nearly the same I can just wire one resistor into the parallel circuit like on the positive lead going to the momentary to latching converter? Or, like I said earlier, do I even need the white on to get that arctic blue? If so I definitely know that I could wire those in parallel easily. My second question is, what kind of battery do i need? There's so many to chose from. I know Li-Ion batteries are big right now. Which battery do I need? Like I said before I'm just having the three leds from the Cree and then an av switch. I'm pretty sure mAh is just battery life. Higher mAH longer battery life. My main question lies in 7.4v or 3.7v? Because I have 3 LEDs I was thinking I'm going to need the 7.4 v 2600mAH battery. It's the 18650. Would that work for my setup? Or because the LEDs are less than 3.7V do I go with that one? Is the 7.4V only if you have an NB or something like that?

I know this has been a lot of questions and I apologize for my lack of experience. I'm only a padawan. But I've been lost for a week now and I can't move on with my build. If anyone can help at all it would be greatly appreciated. Help me custom saber shop forum, you're my only hope.

[rlobrecht]

Most people here will recommend a separate resistor for each die of your LED. In a sound setup, the 7.4V packs are used with the higher end boards. The 3.7V pack is used for the NB and other lower end boards.

In your configuration, you need something that can drive 3A continuous. I don't think the 3.7V batteries can do that, but someone more knowledgable that me will need to confirm. The resistors you calculate will be different depending on your battery choice.

[Tuhbaby]

But can I wire all three LEDs in parallel even though two of them are blue and one is white? Or am I better off just wiring the 2 blues in parallel and leaving out the white? If so would I still need 2 resistors? I think I'd only need one because they are in parallel and there's only one positive lead and one negative lead but I could be wrong. Also, if I use just 2 blues would I still get an arctic blue like Luke's saber from ANH? And in regards to the battery, are you saying I need a 7.4v battery?

[Jay-gon Jinn]

The 18650 3.7v li-ion packs sold in the store will all handle a continous 3.0A draw just fine. You should still use a single resistor for each led you want to run, including the switch led.

[Tuhbaby]

Okay so how can I wire this up? Like what would a diagram look like for it? Ive calculated the blue LEDs need .5ohm 3W resistor and I could do the same with the white but its way brighter and I don't want the white to drown out the blue so i'm going to use a 1.2 ohm 3W resistor. Would that work? If so, how do I wire them up? Im going to use a momentary to latching converter for my switch and there isn't enough spots to solder all those wires from the LEDs. Im struggling to figure out how to get the tri cree to wire to a momentary to latching converter while having resistors for all the LEDs. I would have three positive leads with resistors and then three negative leads. So how can i condense that down? And even after I condense it would I just have to solder to both sides of the converter? Thats the only way I see soldering all those wires on.

[Tuhbaby]

Update: Figured it out. I had a light bulb "duh" moment. Thanks for the help Jay-gon and rlobrecht!