PDA

View Full Version : Mr board current



darthdan
04-26-2007, 10:43 PM
I read somewhere that the MR board puts out about 900ma at 4.5V. Can anyone confirm this? I am wanting to run a P4 that is on the way off of an Ani board, but they recommend keeping a constant current. I have a 1000ma buckpuck too. What is going to be my best option here?

Just run it straight off the board...

or

use the board and the puck (if so how to wire exactly?)

Novastar
04-27-2007, 03:02 PM
How funny, I was JUST trying to confirm this over on the "MR saber versions" thread or whatever.

Here is some info that might help.

Most MRs have 64 LEDs, each rated at 20ma... Ultra states that this means they COULD be capable of 64 x 20ma = 1280ma.

However--I don't think the MR board shoots out so much--as you expect, and mention.

You're probably right about it being around 0.9A... and you are certainly right that LEDs are CURRENT hungry, and less voltage hungry. You need only get the LED over it's forward voltage and you're good to go.

A buckpuck would certainly help you to eliminate the questionable driving of the MR. Besides--as LEDs get better and brighter (thus requiring more amps)... using the MR to drive the light will NATURALLY become less effective.

For example, a Luxeon K2 Green *CAN* be driven at 1500ma. So far, the only board I know that can drive that... is Erv's... at 1.3A (1300ma).

darthdan
04-27-2007, 10:04 PM
Right, but max current on the p4's is stated as 1 amp, so i'd be right on with the puck, i just need to know how to wire it all together. Or if I really need to. I know that moving from 900 to 1000ma is going to be brighter, but is it going to be noticible enough to warrant using the puck? Or just save it for another project?

I've got a DPDT, so I mean I could run the led through the puck on one side and the MR board on the other, but can I run both off the same battery pack?

If so can I just use a 4.5V battery pack and use common leads?

Does the MR board need to terminate? As in does there need to be something at the end of the circuit to avoid frying the board?

neophyl
04-28-2007, 03:25 AM
Yes you can run both boards of the same power supply with the dpdt switch. Thats the exact same setup Ive got in my dooku sabre and it works fine. The charging port for the batteries acts as an overall on/off switch.

As for the MR boards current drive, well that can vary Ive found. Awhile ago I converted my Mace and put a white 3w led in there. I was never satisfied with the brightness and it only pulled around 600ma through it.

In an attempt to get it brighter I removed all the existing drive transistors and replaced them with a single logic level mosfet. As the mosfet has virtually no resistance (unlike the existing ones) its now brighter.

Novastar
04-28-2007, 08:31 PM
Phil you're awesome. Awesome.

And bloody 'ell... only 600ma???!?! What the...???!?!? Yuck! What the heck version was that? Hmm, now I only wish I knew how much all the MR boards I'm running are shooting out. Although most of them seem ok.

This just goes to show that it's getting to the point where the MR boards... just aren't going to be ideal anymore as the single LED setups get better and can handle more juice/amps/etc.

Not surprisingly, I believe this will really bump up the market for sound/light boards than are non-MR.

God knows, the MR board is like... technology from 1999. Well, ok it was MANUFACTURED around that time. A Yusan spring shock sensor? Pretty weeny now... :)

neophyl
04-29-2007, 02:24 AM
Well if you know a bit about electronics its possible to do some basic mods to the MR stuff.

The mosfet replacement I did is a bit like an electronic relay, you just tap off from the existing logig signals and it doesnt take up space like a relay or use as much juice.

The other potential future mod I considered while looking over the mace in detail was adding a low dropout regulator to limit the voltage to the MR board to 5v regardless of what voltage you input (as long as its 6v+). That would allow the use of higher voltage supplies that the 5w and other leds might need without endangering the board.

You can tie the positive supply of the led to the higher voltage and the mosfet would drive it quite nicely at whatever current/voltage you want via an appropriate resistor.

The other mod Ive done to a friends sabre was to add a driver (a corbin driver in this case) and use the MR board to trigger it. I couldnt use a dpdt switch as his sabre didnt use one and didnt have the room to fit one. So I used the same mosfet technique as it acts like an electronic switch to be the switch on the driver too. Now when the mrfx is switched on it switches the driver on too. Bit kore complex than just using the dpdt switch but i didnt have much choice.

None of the above are what Id suggest anyone else try as there is the potential to royally screw up your fx board. But for those with a bit of electronics training that know their components and how to identify them its not too difficult.

Novastar
04-30-2007, 05:41 AM
Simply brilliant stuff, NeoPhil! Thanks...

Although I don't have a ton of electronics experience, I think I understand what you're getting at, which is that there are several ways to get the solution one might be looking for... which (in this case) is either a better way to make the MR drive the light (as LED innovation calls for it), and/or find ways to trigger what might "normally" be two circuits (i.e. Corbin + FX).

I would venture a guess that it's worth the experience even if someone fries ONE mr board. I mean, it's just ONE.

Besides, the technology is becoming old, old, old. That board design is as old as EP I. Still good, mind you... but... time for some UPGRADES!! :)

Madcow
04-30-2007, 09:16 AM
Well if you know a bit about electronics its possible to do some basic mods to the MR stuff.

The mosfet replacement I did is a bit like an electronic relay, you just tap off from the existing logig signals and it doesnt take up space like a relay or use as much juice.

Great idea neophyl!
Would you be willing to put up some pics and or more detailed description of what you did here? I'd like to try it.

MC

Novastar
04-30-2007, 09:19 PM
By the way, on an unrelated note, I've been testing Erv's v1.2 board with how long it can run...

GEEZ!

7.4 Li-Ion 2400Mah... with K2 green @ 1.3A...

it's been running for THREE HOURS... no decrease in brightness that I can detect, and still no PCB being tripped.

That's the longest (by far) I've ever had a saber run.

neophyl
05-01-2007, 12:34 AM
Thats a very good run time and about what I expected. For me thats one of the true advantages to using a proper driver over a simple led, the much better run time when using above the minimum forward voltage.

Madcow, Im going to be wiring up a sabre this week and I have a maul board going in it so I'll take some pics and indicate where/how I wired the Mace up using them. Might take a few days though as theres a big event this weekend im preparing stuff for.

erv
05-01-2007, 06:12 AM
Hey there !
glad to see that this MOSFET option was in the mind of someone else. I talked about this option in madcow thread about relay problem with a MR board.
MOSFET mod is a great idea, much better than using a bipolar transitor.
My initial idea was to use the 6 output of the MR to control a ramp to the mos fet to get a ramp up/down effect for the luxeon.
Minimum effort, max performance :-)
but I haven't got the time to test that...
I'll be pleased to help in this field and comment / improve / exchange on a schematic from neophyl !!!!

gundamaniac
09-13-2007, 07:53 PM
Murgh....Would wiring up a buckpuck to the MR board help it in any way? I currently have my saber's LuxIII green running on direct drive off the board...and the light dims after only half an hour of run time with four 1.2V 1000mAh NiMH batteries....ugh. That's so pathetic. My Hasbro soundboard was enough to keep me entertained for weeks...the MR dies after playing around with it for a day or two...

I'm using an Anakin RotS board, if it makes any difference at all. Does anyone have similar crappy runtimes, or is everyone else smart enough not to direct drive off an MR?

:edit: Um. I just took a battery tester to the four rechargeable batteries in there...and one is completely dead, one barely has any charge, and the other two are pretty high. whaaa??? :edit:

erv
09-13-2007, 11:39 PM
well, if the pack is in bad shape, that's normal you have a reduced autonomy. I'll add also that 1000 mAh is very low for powering a luxeon at 1A.
I have to say that again, batteries are not linear stuff for Time is NOT equal to Capacity / Current used. You'll never get 1A for 1 hour with a 4AAA pack, especially with a green/blue/white/cyan.
To me, you'd better move to a 2600 mAh AA nimh pack.
Erv'

Hasid Lafre
09-14-2007, 01:51 AM
My saber has a 2600mah pack, corbins driver, mr vader sound board, and an accent led with a 3w cyan at the end.

I have roughtly 2.5 hours of run time, maybe in teh range of 2.3hours.

That and if I wait 2 min for the auto shut off of the sound board I have better run times.

gundamaniac
09-14-2007, 11:24 AM
Unfortunately, I hadn't designed the saber with sound in mind. The sound came in as an afterthought, so I really only have enough room in it for 4 AAAs :(

Hasid Lafre
09-14-2007, 03:49 PM
Whats the total length you got to work with inside the saber?

gundamaniac
09-14-2007, 04:46 PM
Hilt's overall length is 11 inches. MHS emtter, MHS ribbed grip, then an adapter down to a 1.25" tube, and then another adapter so I can screw on a pommel. I guess overall, the room I've got inside is about 7 inches long and about 1.25" in diameter...

gundamaniac
09-16-2007, 02:03 AM
On another note, after running the saber continuously for about 8 minutes, it gets noticeably warm. Not like someone-just-held-the-lightsaber-warm, but more like an i-just-left-it-out-in-the-sun-for-an-hour-warm. ......that's bad isn't it?......or is it normal. My green luxIII is directly driven off of the MR. I'm assuming there shouldn't be problems with direct drive other than overdriving the LED a bit and shortening its overall life (which is so long anyway that the other electronics would give out before it would). I saw that Corbin had a red-orange LED, I believe it was a luxIII but I'm not sure, at Celebration IV that was directly driven off of an MR board, but I don't think it heated up that much...

So...is there something wrong with my saber or is that pretty normal?...

Hasid Lafre
09-16-2007, 02:23 AM
Well with them getting warm its normal but if it becomes uncomfertably warm then somethings wrong.

When I had an mr driven saber I used a 4 AAA pack with a jumper wire in place of a battery and I used 1000mah rechargables and I got about an hours run time.

But My saber is all mhs so I prolly have better heat dispercal than a mhs sinktube.

My friends 1.25 saber with a r3w basick package his dosent get warm really but the bladeholder is anodized and that helps alot with heat disapation.

Oh just a thought.

You could have tim make you a 4AAA battery pack thats flat and not squaired, then set your mr board on top of it. tape it to the battery pack so it wont flop around then stick some of the bubbel wrap the led comes in and wrap it around the battery pack and board so it dosent all flop around.

It should all fit thou. I had an mr board and 4AAA battery pack(non rechargable) in a hilt that was style1, ribbed, 3" ext, pommel 5.

So you should be abel to stuff everything in there.

gundamaniac
09-16-2007, 02:37 AM
My saber has an MR board an also a 4 AAA battery pack. I'm using 1000mAh batts just like you...but I don't have a jumper wire. I'm using 4 batteries, not 3. Do you recommend 3? What kind of LED are you using?

Hasid Lafre
09-16-2007, 02:41 AM
Well that was an old setup, I was using a 3w cyan(still am lol).

But you dont ahve to add a jumper wire. my brothers ani board driven saber does just fine with all 4 batterys.

gundamaniac
09-16-2007, 02:51 AM
I'm using a 3-watt green. I was using a jumper in place of the 4th battery back when I had a Hasbro board in the thing, so I was powering it off of 3 AAA alkalines. But after upgrading to Master Replicas, I decided to use 4 batteries instead of 3 because I wanted to switch to NiMHs to help reduce battery cost and NiMHs have lower volt ratings per cell than their alkaline counterparts.

I'm thinking it should be fine, based on what I've been reading and what you just said, Hasid. The warmth isn't what I would call uncomfortable. It's probably just that I usually turn on my saber for a max of 3 minutes or so at a time and don't usually leave it on for sustained usage, so I'm not accustomed to the heatsinks doing their job.

Hasid Lafre
09-16-2007, 02:58 AM
YEah after a while you will get used to it, I dont remember if my saber heated up like that when I first got it.

Just keep in in your head that if it gets to uncomfertable cause of the heat check things like wiring and the condition of the batteries.

Jay-gon Jinn
09-16-2007, 09:21 AM
My brass saber runs almost the exact same set-up, an MR Luke board, a green lux III and 4 AAA battery pack, and it doesn't get hot or really noticeably warm either, and runs for a couple of hours before the batteries start to die. I'd double-check your wiring to make sure nothing is wrong, that all connections are shrink-wrapped and that the board itself isn't touching the sidewall of the saber's interior.

gundamaniac
09-16-2007, 10:09 AM
My brass saber runs almost the exact same set-up, an MR Luke board, a green lux III and 4 AAA battery pack, and it doesn't get hot or really noticeably warm either, and runs for a couple of hours before the batteries start to die. I'd double-check your wiring to make sure nothing is wrong, that all connections are shrink-wrapped and that the board itself isn't touching the sidewall of the saber's interior.

I've got my board contacts electrical-taped, and the board itself is encased in a cut-up segment of a generic "laser sword" toy blade which happened to be a near perfect fit for the MHS. All my connections are electrical taped.

Here's a question. I wired up every single LED lead on the board to my LED...is that what you guys did? Am I perhaps hooking up too much power (and wasting it) to the LED by wiring up all those contacts? Speaking with Corbin at C4, it sounded at the time like that wiring up every single lead to the LED was not a normal thing to do...

Hasid Lafre
09-16-2007, 05:44 PM
you would wire it up like the tutoreals say and it should be fine. but I would strongly suggest soldering and heatshrinking the connections.

Jay-gon Jinn
09-16-2007, 06:48 PM
I always hook up all the led leads, if you don't, the activation sound may not be in sequence to the led coming on...the same can be said for the retraction sound effect.

I'd also have to agree with Hasid that soldering and heatshrinking is the best way to go. Electrical tape has a tendency to come of the wire after a while, and allow for shorts to happen. It sounds like your board is pretty well insulated from the interior of the hilt so that can't be the problem. Without seeing it in person it's hard to help you diagnose the problem. Are you using one of Tim's rechargeable packs or store bought nimh batteries in a plastic holder?

gundamaniac
09-16-2007, 10:57 PM
Hm. I may try heatshrinking the wires...I didn't mean that I had only taped the wires together. I did solder them but I was using electrical tape to cover up the exposed strands as opposed to heatshrink tubing.

As for batteries, I use 4 store-bought NiMHs rated at 1000mAh and 1.2V per batter in the AAA plastic holder that comes with Tim's basic LED kit.

Hasid Lafre
09-16-2007, 11:46 PM
Yeah thats what I had, I had better luck with regular alkalines than them rechargables.

But yes pleast use heatshrink on all solder joints.

Jay-gon Jinn
09-17-2007, 07:33 AM
I would try it using some energizer e2 lithium batteries and see what you get, That's what I use in most of my sabers. My son's saber runs an Ani board on 4 AAA nimh rayovac rechargeables, and it runs for a couple of hours before it starts acting up....blade and sound effects stutters when they run too low.

gundamaniac
09-17-2007, 08:42 AM
The saber runs for a couple hours straight? I only get 40 mins of continuous runtime out of my saber before the light starts to fade out. And when the light fades out, it fades fast. Sound still runs after 40 mins, but there's no light. I guess I'll try the e2s. If I remember correctly, energizer also makes e2 nimhs right?

Jay-gon Jinn
09-17-2007, 09:14 PM
It may be less than two hours with the rayovacs, but I get a good two hours out of the e2 lithiums. And yes, they make rechargeables nimh e2's too.

gundamaniac
09-17-2007, 09:26 PM
Sounds like it's time for battery brand testing...boy this is gonna wreak havoc with my wallet for the next couple weeks... :?

gundamaniac
09-23-2007, 10:14 PM
Tried e2 alkalines....i got an hour. =/

Is there something I might be missing here, say, a resistor between the board and the batteries or something?? Or is the LuxIII green just that power hungry...or could it be the Anakin RotS MR board...

I'm just trying to figure out why the saber sucks up so much more power than a MR Anakin RotS. i'm gonna try an e2 alkaline test on my anakin right now to confirm my suspicion that the MR lasts longer :?

Hasid Lafre
09-24-2007, 08:36 AM
Iam not sure.Is the mr stock? and no on the resistor.

AAA battaries just dont have that great of a run time. AAs now thats another story.

gundamaniac
09-24-2007, 08:45 AM
I was thinking about AAs last night. I'm gonna try and figure out a way to cram AAs into the saber...

Is 3.6v too little for MR boards an a LuxIII to run on? If not, I think I can cram the AAs in.

And yes, the MR board is stock. I removed it meselfs ::is very proud:: :D

Hasid Lafre
09-24-2007, 08:48 AM
Yeah my brothers mhs has a 4aaa pack and he has it running at 6v(1.5x4)

Theres a slight notice in brightness but not much, not sure about run times. but I would go with a AA pack.

gundamaniac
09-24-2007, 08:56 AM
the reason i was asking about 3.6v is that I think I can get a Li-Ion 3.6v batt to fit in there. in fact, I'm sure I can get a Li-Ion to fit. But I could also, I think, cram in 3 NiMH AA batteries too, heatshrinked and wired together to form a battery pack.

But I dunno....Tonight I'll wire up a wire in place of one of the batteries on my current 4AAA batt-holder and test out a 3.6v set up, see if I like the light....

Hasid Lafre
09-24-2007, 09:27 AM
Ok good luck

vortextwist
09-24-2007, 02:23 PM
Yeah my brothers mhs has a 4aaa pack and he has it running at 6v(1.5x4)

Theres a slight notice in brightness but not much, not sure about run times. but I would go with a AA pack.

4.8 rechargables.1.2 each. 6v would prolly fry it.

Hasid Lafre
09-24-2007, 02:36 PM
Oh yeah I forgot you were still using the rechargables.

gundamaniac
09-24-2007, 03:09 PM
?? i'm not quite following. Is a potential 3.6v set-up no good or what?

Hasid Lafre
09-24-2007, 03:20 PM
No its good. ya just wont get as much potential out of it.

vortextwist
09-24-2007, 08:19 PM
well it seem I could see a bit of a diff from 3.6v to 4.8v. I wouldn't go much more then 5v. The mr board can't handle much more then that.

gundamaniac
09-24-2007, 08:52 PM
K, I just tried a jumper in place of one of the AAA batteries. At 3.6 volts vs 4.8 volts, the brightness doesn't seem to be affected that much; I could hardly tell the difference. And so I'm going to make my own 3-AA nimh battery packs this weekend for my saber. Hopefully AA 2200mah batteries will offer at least a 50% improvement in duration over the AAA 1000mah batteries...

I'll be happy with even an hour of runtime...but the 40 mins I have currently? That's ridiculous. :roll:

And if the runtime doesn't improve that much, then at least I'll have rid myself of having to change out 4 cells one at a time...I'll just snap out one pack and snap in another pack. That'll take most of the pain out of battery-replacement in the middle of an event.

neophyl
09-25-2007, 12:33 AM
My dooku sabre uses a MR maul board for the sound and a seperate konlux driver for the led that puts 1amp through it. I have 4x 2500mah Nimh batteries powering it (4.8v nominal more like 5.6 when charged) and I get 2-1/2+ hours run time out of it.

The MR board is not efficient when it comes to driving luxeons. You will get a better brighter output with longer runtimes for the investment in a proper luxeon driver.

gundamaniac
09-25-2007, 01:40 AM
How did you wire up the driver? between the LED and the MR board, or did you run the driver and LED separately from the MR...if that's possible. :? I'm so lost right now...

Hasid Lafre
09-25-2007, 04:47 AM
This is for using a corbin driver with a recharge port. same basic idea just ignore the recharge port.

You need a dpdt switch thou.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb168/Sidneyious/Lightsaber%20Pics/Other%20lightsaber%20Pics/FXsoundrecharge.jpg

gundamaniac
09-27-2007, 09:25 AM
Ok...so I don't have the space for Corbin's board after all =(.

Last night I changed my setup from a green LuxIII to a green K2...but the K2 looks to be about as bright as the LuxIII. Is there a reason for this, like the MR board limiting the current flowing to the LED or something? I'll reiterate my setup- 4 AAA NiMH batteries rated at 1000mAh, Anakin RotS MR board, and a green K2 (used to be a LuxIII).

I have yet to run operating-time tests....so I don't know how long the batts will last with the K2 versus the LuxIII. But the brightness is currently the top issue for me.

neophyl
09-27-2007, 10:48 AM
Ive found the MR boards output current to be quite variable. Some are better than others. With a normal MR blade this doesnt really matter as each led is individually limited and powered fairly low. It does however make a big difference when using our favourite leds.

If you cant fit one of Corbins drivers in then use a Konlux. They are tiny, less than an inch wide, about a third the size of the MR board. You wont have the ramp up/down of Corbins but you still get the brightness and run times.

gundamaniac
09-27-2007, 10:52 AM
I wouldn't mind lacking the power-up power-down effects. As it stands, my saber just turns on, and very quickly fades off thanks to the funky MR board. So I wouldn't mind losing what little power-down effect I have right now if I can get the LED right. What kind of konlux would I be getting? I know that the target for a green k2 is 1500 mA...but the highest I see seems to be a 1000 mA....in which case shouldn't a buckpuck do the job too?

Would I need a DPDT switch for the konlux? And if so....is there a pushbutton DPDT switch available that looks like the push-buttons Tim sells? My saber sort of has a recessed machined hole already, made specifically for Tim's push-buttons...

Novastar
09-27-2007, 01:13 PM
Brian... some people have wired together 2 of the 700ma drivers to (effectively) get 1400ma... which is close enough for a 1500ma setup. You'll have to experiment with drivers/pucks like NeoPhyl said--to see for yourself.

A few 100ma doesn't *really* matter much in the grand scheme--and visually... you'd almost never know.

gundamaniac
09-27-2007, 01:32 PM
Is there a way I could wire up a single 700mA driver to the MR board to get the combined output of roughly 1400mA?

Hasid Lafre
09-27-2007, 04:20 PM
The mr board is longer than corbins, corbins needs sanding to fit in the mhs.

If you feel like you dont want to do the sanding see if tim can do it. But you will be abel to fit both boards in the same space the mr board will takeup.

gundamaniac
09-27-2007, 04:59 PM
K, so corbins will fit side-by-side with an MR?

I already have a corbin board, and Tim seems to have run out. So I'm going to need to sand this sucker...oy. And this'll have to be done very very carefully so as not to accidentally nick a connection I assume...this is gonna suck. :?

Um. So then, I'll try that setup. That requires a DPDT switch though, correct? Is there any way to do it without a DPDT? I reeeally want to be able to use the push-buttons that Tim sells, seeing how I have a machined hole to the dimensions of his push-buttons....

Hasid Lafre
09-27-2007, 06:01 PM
Well the boards will sit on top of each other and dont worry about sanding to much off as theres alot of board there till it gets to a contact wire that runs thru it.

If you look at the above pic you can see the darker green on the sides you cn take off a considerable amount before you have to worry about hitting the leads.

Iam sure theres a dpdt switch like the ones tim sells, maybe an email to tim could find results.

You can use a simple momentary instead of a second clash sensor. its doable but corbindosent recomend it. Corbin might be abel to find another clash sensor. but if not maybe someones got a sensor that they cant use that you can get.

Tim and corbin are very resourcfull so if theres something you need iam sure they can find it.

Good luck

gundamaniac
09-27-2007, 10:54 PM
I think I may have a clash sensor off of a Hasbro that I could use.

K, I'm asking tim about the switch. I'm pretty committed to this now. I found my corbin driver...here's hoping it still works...

neophyl
09-28-2007, 01:58 AM
A konlux is a puck driver so if you find a puck that is 1500ma and fits then there wouldnt be any difference, the only reason I mentioned the konlux is that they are the smallest quality driver ive used so far.

As for the switch, yes you do need a dpdt unless you get fancy with the interconnections between the mr and puck (involving using some other components to make a small circuit). The dpdt switch though is by far the simplest method. I dont know where you can find a suitable switch though to replace the one you have as I dont use that type at all.

gundamaniac
09-28-2007, 04:03 PM
Agh! setback! I need to fit the corbin board and the MR board in a ribbed MHS section...which has a considerably smaller inner diameter than a standard MHS section. And looking at the corbin side by side with the MHS ribbed section...it looks like I have to remove a ton of material, enough that I may sand off some of the traces on the board...

Any suggestions? I can't really place the board elsewhere because of battery placement...that and the fact that after the ribbed section, the saber leads to a sinktube adapter down to a 1.25" sinktube......

Hasid Lafre
09-28-2007, 05:07 PM
Ok....well then I think your kinda stuck, yeah a corbin driver isent gonna fit in eather. unless you add a regulat mhs section atleast 2" long.

gundamaniac
09-28-2007, 06:41 PM
Alrighty, I'm gonna try my 1000mA buckpuck then. A question though- Should I re-use my LuxIII (1000mA) or keep the K2 (1500 mA)?

Jay-gon Jinn
09-28-2007, 10:16 PM
I'd probably stick with the Lux III, and save the K2 for another project.

Novastar
09-28-2007, 11:37 PM
Agreed with Jay-Gonn.

When K2s first came out, Corbin and I installed one into the original Flange saber. Granted, it was nice (since it was the only green we'd yet seen)... but I'm sure it was being under-driven because we were using the MR board w/ a 5v regulator and 7.2 Li-Ion.

The K2 "dark sides" are 700ma though... keep that in mind. :) You could probably push THOSE to 1A... but I've no idea how much more brightness (if any) would come of it. In some (note: I said "some") cases, moving further up past the suggested "max continuous current"... won't do much more than reduce the LED life and cause more heat... and for what? Maybe a 5% increase. Whee.

Essentially... for MOST people... for those who don't have 20 years electronic experience... sticking with the suggested fwd v and current suggestions... is best!

gundamaniac
09-29-2007, 12:47 AM
K, I've hooked it up to a buckpuck powered off the MR. I dunno if that'll really help...maybe I should have hooked up the buckpuck to the batteries instead and used a DPDT...

Jay-gon Jinn
09-29-2007, 09:14 AM
So you have the buckpuck wired to the led leads from the MR board? I have a similar set-up in my son's saber, using a micropuck and a Lux Star/O led. It seems to work well, that little led is as bright as my Lux III I have runig direct off and MR board. THe only difference I can think of though, is that the micropuck is a "boost" puck....but I'm not sure if the buckpuck is.

gundamaniac
09-29-2007, 12:02 PM
I don't believe the buckpuck is a boost puck. So in the end, I think mine is doing nothing....

On the upside, I timed a 50-min. runtime last night, way up from the 30-40 mins I had before. I have a couple theories on this...One is that the buckpuck is doing something....the other is that it's the nimh batteries. This is approximately the 4th charge for these sets of batteries; I have 3 set of 4 batteries for my saber. I read that nimh batteries don't reach full operating capability until appox. their 3rd charge...so it would sort of make sense that the batteries are now supplying something closer to what they should, which is an hour of life at 1000mA, rather than the pathetic half-hour I had earlier. So my theory is I'm seeing better times thanks to either the puck in there now, or the batteries becoming conditioned or whatever after a couple charges.

Either way, my battery life is up, and though it's not two hours or whatever, I'm happy. As long as it ain't a weeny 30 mins, I'm good.

Novastar
09-29-2007, 06:43 PM
This is correct in the concept that many battery cells vary from charge to charge and (some) require a few "warmup/break-in" charges to get a good idea of the overall average mah the batteries are going to be delivering. Depending on how much resistance is going on--suggested or factory "determined" battery life/hours can vary greatly.