problem with mhs kit HELP IM SCAREEDDDD!!!

[blitzan]

ok guys lol ur prob thinkin what a noob but w/e ok i just completed making my MHS saber kit and i just finsihed soldering everything together and all of that and i got a 5w cyan LED and so the MHS kit sends u all the right stuff right? so i turn it on and its beautiful lol ....i turn it off touch the resistor as im moving stuff around and its reeeddd hot like seriously i almost got like one of those burn blisters on my thumb from it, now i let it cool down and it was just warm so i just tryed turning it back on and nothing happened except the resistor got hot again...i soldered all the connections together and covered them with electrical tape...its the MHS kit so im doubting the fact that he sent me the wrong pieces....and im seriously lost now guys im powering it with the 6 double a batteries which in total does end up at 9vs i dk what else to say...PLZ PLZZZ help me guys i really wanted to duel with this by this weekend...HELP! :o

[vortextwist]

not real sure, unless you soldered the resistor in wrong. do you have a pic of your wireing?

[blitzan]

yeh ill upload one in a few seconds...gonna eat dinna lol brb then ill post it

[blitzan]

ok got some pictures here they are in the pictures, the txt to the resister are upside down...uhhh hereee

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s83/xblitzanx/0727071801a.jpg


annnddd

<a http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s83/xblitzanx/0727071801.jpg

[supertrogdor]

Tim's diagram for wiring up a LED as shown here (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2168) suggests that the switch be placed between the battery and the LED. Perhaps that is what ails you, granted i am not an electronics genious, but my suggestion would be to follow the diagrams of the man who runs the store.

[Jedi-Loreen]

I like to put my resistor up near the LED, but that's personal preference, it shouldn't matter, as long as it's in the circuit, since this is very simple circuit. A resistor has no polarity, unlike components like diodes and capacitors, for an example, so you can't solder them in "wrong".

A resistor is going to get hot, it sheds the excess voltage it's taking out of the circuit in the form of heat, but I don't think it should get so hot it burns you. You've got the 3.3 ohm resistor right? That's what you should have, if you bought the kit.

I just put together a 5W kit for a friend's custom saber, and while the resistor did get hot, I don't remember it getting so hot that I was afraid it would burn me when I tested it before putting it inside the saber hilt.

I don't know what to tell you about that.

[vortextwist]

from the pics it should be good, I would have used heat shrink instead of elec tape.

[Hasid Lafre]

Yes heatshrink.

Iam not sure of the 5W resistor setups. I like to use drivers or sound boards if possable.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Yeah, I hate electrical tape. It's bulky, doesn't always stay where you want it to, and leaves everything sticky when it comes off.

Apparently, if he'd used heat shrink, he wouldn't even have needed to use a heat gun to shrink it! It would have shrunk from the heat of the resistor when he turned it on. :lol:



I'm kidding.

[goldsaberwarrior]

I'm not an expert on the sabers from here but I do have some experience modding and repairing hasbros. If you're afraid the resistor will burn you to the point of getting a blister then I would recommend removing the resistor and putting everything on a driver. A driver takes the place of a resistor. I myself prefer drivers over resistors but you use what you like and works best for you. If you do go with a driver I recommend using this driver made by corbin_das in latching form. Here's a link.
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/pc-691-23-luxeon-3w-driver.aspx
However if you use this driver to my knowledge it won't support a Lux5 or a K2. If you don't like this driver I would recommend trying on of erv's crystal focus drivers. That's what I recommend if you decide to take the resistor out. Hope I could help you.

[Hasid Lafre]

it will run a 5W and a k2. it will under power the k2s thou. cause iirc it only puts out 1200 mA.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I've always put the resistor between the switch and the led. I've never had one get that hot

[Novastar]

9v for a Lux V (which "wants" 6.85v) direct drive is pretty intense, as about 2v are going into the air.

Corbin designed the original Flange saber for BOP I, which was an FX driver + 7.2v + a voltage regulator to 5v, so we were "shunting" about 2.2v.

It needed to be heatsunk. The voltage regulator, that is. It did indeed get MONSTROUSLY hot. Big surprise, huh, at 2.2v.

[kinchar bamin]

if his resistor got fried then wouldnt the driver.it could have been a bad resistor but if there is an error with another component that caused the resister to burn then the driver would fry aswell, correct me if im wrong but it seems possible :?

[vortextwist]

i beleive from the pics he is not useing a driver, hence the resistor.

[Jedi-Loreen]

I think he means, if the resistor got fried, then wouldn't a driver also, if he were to replace the resistor with one?

Though the only other "component" in his circuit is the LED. A switch isn't a component, as I think if it. (like a resistor, capacitor, transistor, things that go on a PCB [Printed Circuit Board])

[Hasid Lafre]

Also a driver regulates the volts and currents.

The only way to fry a driver is to plug 12+ volts into it.

[Jedi-Loreen]

I didn't say he was right, I was just translating. :wink:

[Hasid Lafre]

Yeah I was just adding on incase he got lost again.

[goldsaberwarrior]

I don't think it would fry. I'm still working on my first saber but happen to know a few things as far as general saber building goes. The driver would regulate/control the voltage better than a resistor. They have more to them to help them control the voltage. As long as you don't put a rediculous ammount of voltage on them upwards in 13+ they shouldn't fry. Plus he could've got a bad resistor or he may not have put his battery holder in right. Still I can't see why the resistor would've got so hot. The only way I could see that it got that hot is one of these reasons.
1- the resistor isn't put in right
2- the resistor is defective
3- the battery holder isn't put in right. not saying he did anything.
4- too much current is being fed into the circuit due to a malfuntioning component.
That's all I can think of anyway. As far as what he uses I recommend putting a driver in there. If it still gets hot then he'll know it was something to do with the resistor. Don't know what else to say about it. Hope I could help.

[Hasid Lafre]

Resistors Get hot for one reasion only. they burn off the exces voltage to make the other end of the positive line save to use.

In the case of a 5W led it will get hot as hell cause its trying to burn off 2V.

I would persionally try to heatsink the resistor with some kinda thermal compound.

[Novastar]

For the record, there is no such thing as a "5w" LED.

This is a misnomer that I wish never entered the Luxeon saber community's lingo, as it confused the bejeesus out of me when I was first learning for BOP I, and it will continue to confuse people until we start "saying it right".

Wattage is heat. LEDs do not produce heat. Not on their own. Power sources are what determine how much heat will be produced.

[xwingband]

No wattage is power... physics class my friend. This energy being used can come out many ways, for Luxeons it is light and a bit of heat. I believe they publish the efficiency for them too.

It's volts times the amperage. Totally valid to call an LED 5W just as saying you're using a 100W lightbulb.

The problem is it depends on the LED itself and V doesn't equal 5W... prime example: Red III is 5W (or close enough to it). Also the K2 is high wattage...

[kinchar bamin]

i beleive from the pics he is not useing a driver, hence the resistor.
I mean if he used a driver :roll:

[GFORCE13]

Okay after looking this circut over for testing I would bypass everything and hook the LED to the battery directly for a second to see if it works, then go step by step testing. Do you have a DVOM(digital volt Ohm tester)? If so check the resistor for continuity and so on. If not bypass each connection one by one untill you find the problem, also this question may seem silly but is the LED Polarity wired up correctly? I would also put the Resistor on the Postive side and the switch in the negative side, if nothing else PM me!!! 8)