how can you tell if your LED is burned out?

[Cern]

i'm pretty sure i've got this wired up right. i'm using a hasbro sound card, and the sound turns on when i hit the switch, but the light wont come on.

So i took the LED assemby off, and tried to direct wire it to the 4 AA's, just for a second to see if it still works, and nothign happend...

[Lord Maul]

yours is blown. if it wasn't already dead, wiring it to 4AAs with no resistor, it is now blown.
are you sure that ya wired red to positive, and black to negative? that's happened to me before

[Do-Clo]

If you want to test a led use a 3 volt pack, it won't fry the led.

[Lord Maul]

do clo, it's kinda late for that one :wink:
he said he wired it to 4AAs already :shock:

[Cern]

nono, its ok.

i think the wires were just loose. I replaced them with a heavier gauge wre and just tapped the connections together for an instant. It's not burned out.

i thought you dont need a resistor if your using a hasbro sound board?

I'm looking at this diagram:

http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/scripts/GrimaOllak.jpg

and am I right that the positve from the battery has to go to the positive on the LED and the sound card at teh same time?

[Cern]

this is just not my day.

i got the wiring right! So i start putting the guts back into the hilt, and the wires snap off the battery holder! so i go to solder them back on, and i melted the plastic under the contact off.

i hope radio shack has the size holder i need- i want this saber done befor the weekend

[Ambo]

Putting an LED on a 4AA pak for a brief moment wont fry it(i wouldn't recommend making it a habit)....it isn't like an incandescent bulb....if you leave it on it will though...the heat will fry it.....but just a touch to make sure it still lives shouldn't bother it....

Edit: Cern....it has happened to all of us.....it gets better....

[jjshumpert]

tell me about it, i just fried a 5w green a few days ago...

[Jedi-Loreen]

I haven't burned out any LEDs yet, but I've replaced a few broken battery holders in friend's sabers.

[Do-Clo]

do clo, it's kinda late for that one :wink:
he said he wired it to 4AAs already :shock:

I knew that it was for future reference to safely test a led

[DACOTA]

Edit: Cern....it has happened to all of us.....it gets better....

Thanks that makes even me feel better considering Ive only built one simple mhs saber.I really messed up even though it worked but thanks,I always wondered if most of you were bad at first and got better at saber building,now I know its just practice,practice,practice. :D

[Firebird21]

tell me about it, i just fried a 5w green a few days ago...


Crap... You didn't tell me that... That sux!

[jjshumpert]

somethimes things just dont go your way... ive been working on the 5w mr sound combo off and on for about 2 months, figuring out optimum wiring. this was a colaboration of myself and a few of the senior members of the forums. if you look at my history you'll see im certainly not a noob to saber construction, but once the wiring was all mapped out i was so pshyched to do a test run on the final setup that i forgot to put the resistor in, which resulted in burning out the 5w green lux. total drag!

once i get over my aggrivation at this terrible oversite on my part i'll be replacing the lux and writing up a tutorial on this subject, since i see all too often questions on how-to run a 5w with mr sound in a simple one switch setup. i will tell those reading that before the lux gave up its magic smoke that it was the most impressive setup i have built to date, electronics installed into a customized mr luke hilt body with a 1.25 blade holder and 9.6v rechargeable pack, still using an mr blade tube for testing, and it was by far the brightest and most even looking blade i have done. we all know the mr tubes pretty much suck for reuse in lux hilts, but this thing looked far better than any setup i currently run with either corbin film or ultra fiber optic style blades...

ill post up later some comparison pics between this setup and an mr anakin k2 royal blue, both using 5 degree optics.

[Lord Maul]

dang, JJ, those 5 watters are 20some dollars :shock:
that really sucks you fired it :?

[Novastar]

Lux Vs are awesome... they just take so much voltage to light up, it's really a bummer.

Sorry to hear about the fried Lux V. It happens though. I've already fried 2 or 3 K2 emitters, but that was because they "floated" away from the heatsink while testing, lol

[jjshumpert]

no biggie little brother, with all the other hassles that came out of developing that particular setup having to replace the 5w is a pretty simple matter...

novastar, since you are getting so many lux in non-star format, i was wondering what you are using to secure the emitter to your heatsink?

[Novastar]

Hi jj... well, let's see--firstly, I only have two K2 emitters "serving duty" in sabers right now. They are not AT ALL pretty in how I secured them to the heatsink. In fact, it can hardly be called that at all! :)

I tried numerous things, one of which was to use electrical tape to secure the wires holding down the emitter in place. Not great, but workable. Put the optics over that and make sure you have a tight fit when placing it into position under a blade holder. Secure the holder in place so there is no possible room for the LED to move, and you're good.

Another was to use Artic Alumina "Adhesive". This is also supposed to reduce heat on the LED, and transfer more to the heatsink--rather than just your standard thermal paste or whatever. Well.. it didn't really stay as "adhesive" at all... despite my following the directions to a "T" and then some! That created my first zonked K2. First one I had ever seen, prototype Corbin got me for BOP I.

Another method was to use the lumileds/luxeonstar "adhesive" optics that are supposed to sit in place over a heatsink. SURVEY SAAAAAAAAAAys....... .... IIIIIIIIIIEEEENNNNNNNH. Wrong. Not only are they 3 degree, but they really don't work for our purposes with where the wire leads go. Hard to explain.

CONCLUSION:

Steer clear of K2 emitters. And I mean the EMITTERS... the stars are fine. In fact, steer clear of ALL emitters. Unless you have some seriously planned out, perfectly "spec-ed out" way to work it.

The TCSS emitters/sinks/holders are WAAAAAY worth their weight in gold... er... credits... whatever. :)