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Wingscribe
06-26-2007, 05:52 AM
Greetings all...first post and all...

New to the scene here, and have already picked up one of the infamous "grab bag" groupings of MR LED strips off of eBay...

Now, I know that this is not the best way to go, but it what I have at the moment, and will be looking at a LUX conversion as time, money, and 2 kids under 2 permit...

For now, the goal is to get my Maul to either a blue or green, I have no idea which of my 5 strips are which color...which brings me to my first question...

What is the best way to give a little juice to the LED to see what kind they are? I don't want to give it too much and blow anything (of course, the white plastic connectors were clipped before I got them). Can I throw some power through a battery pack? What voltage are we talking about? Can I just touch the wires to the LED connections of a single bulb, or will it need to be removed?

Okay, that was Question #1

#2 is a little more "debatable."

Would it be better to desolder all of the appropriate LEDs from the donor strip and attach them to the Maul, or attemt to convert the entire strip for use...(I did notice that the Maul has more wires that the other strips I have, but searching this fine board educated me to the blade-mounted clash sensor, so that will have to be modded in the case of a full strip swap).

Sure, in time I will go with a proper setup here, but this is what I have to work with at the moment...I know I am asking for a lot, but would appreciate any advise, comments, insults - you get the idea...

Thanks in advance, all

Wingscribe

xwingband
06-26-2007, 07:03 AM
To test the color I'd just take a battery pack and test the solder points at the bottom of the board. The positive is usually at the top left (wires facing to you). I wouldn't really worry, the strip has onboard resistors so I've heard of applying up to 9V without a problem.

Resoldering is a bad idea. The traces are all inside the PCB board. Figuring out the wires and swapping is much easier and been done before.

Wingscribe
06-26-2007, 07:06 AM
Hey, thanks a bunch, I will take a look at that when I get home...and do the dishes...and put the kids to bed...and pay the bills...

Why, oh why didn't I start playing with these things two years ago...

Thanks again,

Wingscribe

vortextwist
06-26-2007, 12:25 PM
becouse you were too busy playing with other things :oops: :lol:

Ya don't worry about the volts to the leds, I set one up for my daughter just for her to light up and it held up great with 9v. Your just testing it anyhow.