Video on making a very basic saber...

[Novastar]

Granted, only NON-expert saber builders will enjoy or "learn" from this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiqR417_D0I

Hope it helps some newer folks.

Additionally, I do mention more about the upcoming CF sound compendium. :)

[DARTH KALEL]

that was great man I had a laugh. do you think I would be alright to run my p4 with the 4xAA pack without damaging the led or should I just run the resistor, like I've said before this is just to get it lighted till I can get my CF.

[Braxus]

Nice Video Novastar, im looking foward to the CF Compendium. sounds awsome!! :)

[Vazan Maceu]

As fun and instructive as it gets, really enjoyed it Nova, I needed that laugh :D

[xl97]

Now if ONLY the ever elusive, mystical 1.25 blade holders would 'spawn' from the depths of the TCSS store..

(we could all make some.) ;)

[Novastar]

that was great man I had a laugh. do you think I would be alright to run my p4 with the 4xAA pack without damaging the led or should I just run the resistor, like I've said before this is just to get it lighted till I can get my CF. Well, 4xAA (1.5v) is 1.5 x 4 = 6v.

If your P4 does NOT have a 6v "forward voltage" (which I think it does NOT), then you will destroy the LED. So... I don't think you should do this.

What would be better would be to:

* Find out the P4's exact "max cont. current"
* Find out the P4's exact "forward voltage"
* To run "direct drive", use a battery setup that is slightly less or exactly equal to the forward voltage.

To re-iterate from my video:

The Luxeon III Blue fwd v is looking for about 3.85v.
The Li-Ion 18650 cell is sporting the wild & crazy 3.6/3.7v.

It's a pretty good match, ESPECIALLY since the battery's rating is *slightly* BELOW the fwd voltage of the LED. This way, when the battery life is maxxed, the cell's life moves forward like this as time/battery life/an hour goes by...

4.2v... 4.1v... 4.0v... 3.9v... 3.8v... 3.7v... etc. etc.

The lowest a Li-Ion cell will be allowed to get (by its PCB controller chip) is 2.5v, and that only occurs near the VERY end of the charge cycle. Otherwise, you'll AVERAGE 3.6v or 3.7v. Additionally, most Li-Ion single cells allow a MAXIMUM of 3.5 *AMPS* to be drawn (not to be confused with the mah rating).

SO... for MY setup--the LED is:

* Brightest in the first 25% of the charge life...
* Very nice in the middle 50% of the charge life...
* Starts to fall below "ideal" (yet still very bright) in the last 15 or 20% of the charge life...
* Simply shuts off in the last 5 or 10% of the charge life, as we'll start ending up at 3.0v, which is BARELY enough to light the sucker! :)

But so what. You get an excellent runtime, although I've not quite chronicled it yet... and it's awful darn bright in the beginning, as the LED is slightly over-driven.

In summation, I would recommend a single Li-Ion cell as DIRECT DRIVE (no resistor) for any of the following ranges of LED forward voltages:

LEDs with 3.80v forward to 4.00v forward.

For LEDs that fall BELOW that, I would seriously be against that. For example, I would NOT do this with an LED that is looking for 3.4v forward. It's the full charge of 4.2v that could fry it.

For LEDs that are more around 4v--it's much more ideal. You don't run the risk of destroying the LED as much.

Obviously this is NOT as a much of a good setup for driving a board AND an LED, but... I just sold the Magnus Saber to Arkai Halon, and that saber is:

* 3.6v Li-Ion 18650 cell (2400mah)
* MRFX Vader board
* Luxeon III Red-O (2.95v forward)

So... in THIS case... since the LED is "happy" with about 3v... the board really only needs that extra 0.5v or so to run and still keep the LED at an ideal voltage/current. It's very bright as near as I can tell, and... you know what? I told him that the Red-O LED in HIS saber--is better than the one I have in the Flange III Red saber... because it is. I don't know WHY, but that LED is brighter and better--probably just a better bin.

Anyhow. It's very simple--you play the MATCHING game... and always figure in components "taking" voltage. Like you know... figure in 0.5v to 0.7v for the FX board... or whatever.

Look... you just have to think like... having enough slices of pizza for EVERYONE at the party... ****BUT**** it is NOT good to let someone "over-eat"... 'cause... in this case...

...yer LED will DIE if it's allowed to... uh... "take up gluttony". :)

[xl97]

good post..


a P4 (Pure) White LED has the following:


1-1 Electro-Optical characteristics at IF=350mA, TA=25ºC



Parameter: MIN: NORM. MAX.


Luminous Flux:(lm) 70 80 91 (T-BIN)
91 100 - (U-BIN)

Forward Voltage:(v) 2.9 3.25 3.8

Foward Current:(mA) 1000 (@ Tj= 90 ºC) [7]
----------------------
1800 (@ 1KHz, 1/10 duty)


Power Dissipation:(W) 4
View Angle: 120


.PDF
http://www.acriche.com/en/popup/pop_product.asp?seq=205

part#:
Pure White (W42181, W42182)

I'll be running this with a Hasbro Sound & Plector Driver/Dimmer (NOT A CF!!)

I would like to go re-chargable with as much run-time as I can get of course.. (is that decided by the mA's 1000 vs 2600 for example)?

I will be driving accent LED's and maybe a PLI

Other: a kill port & re-charge port.. not sure if ANY of this extra, PLI's, LED's..etc..etc have ANY effect on the outcome)

but from you've posted a any of the 4.8 packs (Li or Nim) would work...1000 or 2600 mA's?

(depends on space in my hilt?)

what would the 7.2 ones be for then? a LUX V only? (to NOT risk ruining the LED).. or this ONLY when talking about DIRECT DRIVE?

Thanks..

[Ram21]

Good video Novastar, can't wait for the CF Compendium to come out!

[DDanDevious]

awesome vid man...

Soooooooo looking forward to the saber training vid!!

DDD!

[Novastar]

good post..
a P4 (Pure) White LED has the following:
1-1 Electro-Optical characteristics at IF=350mA, TA=25ºC


Parameter: MIN: NORM. MAX.
Luminous Flux:(lm) 70 80 91 (T-BIN)
91 100 - (U-BIN)
Forward Voltage:(v) 2.9 3.25 3.8
Foward Current:(mA) 1000 (@ Tj= 90 ºC) [7]
----------------------
1800 (@ 1KHz, 1/10 duty)

Power Dissipation:(W) 4
View Angle: 120
.PDF
http://www.acriche.com/en/popup/pop_product.asp?seq=205

part#:
Pure White (W42181, W42182)

I'll be running this with a Hasbro Sound & Plector Driver/Dimmer (NOT A CF!!)

I would like to go re-chargable with as much run-time as I can get of course.. (is that decided by the mA's 1000 vs 2600 for example)?

I will be driving accent LED's and maybe a PLI

Other: a kill port & re-charge port.. not sure if ANY of this extra, PLI's, LED's..etc..etc have ANY effect on the outcome)

but from you've posted a any of the 4.8 packs (Li or Nim) would work...1000 or 2600 mA's?

(depends on space in my hilt?)

what would the 7.2 ones be for then? a LUX V only? (to NOT risk ruining the LED).. or this ONLY when talking about DIRECT DRIVE?

Thanks..This is a lot of question. I gonna try...

* If you're using a SINGLE DRIVER... just make sure you have a little bit more than the LED needs.

* For the LED you showed... I think a 3.7v Li-Ion cell would be just fine, and you'd still have a pretty "***y" brightness.

* However, when you start using "board 1 + board 2 + PLI + motor + extra LEDs + acts as a cellphone + signal Batman", etc... (heheheh)... I don't think it would be AS ideal as something like 4.5v (3AA).

* The recharge port has no effect on current draw during the running of the saber. It's more of a passive part, only there to juice the batteries up.

* PLI would have an effect on the current draw as long as it was ON. A good example of a COOL one... is on Corbin Das' "Killer Penny" saber:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kCQ658Rho1M
It uses a switch to toggle it, so it does not need to be on all the time. Although, maybe some people would LIKE to see the LEDs on. I don't know. Yer choice it is!

* Run-time is estimated by the "mah" rating of the cells (milli-ampere-hour). This means, if you were to draw exactly 1A (1000ma) from your cells over a period of 1 hour, you should get AROUND 2.4 hours of runtime from a 2400mah cell... 2 hours from a 2000mah, 1 hour from a 1000mah and so on.

* Li-Ion cannot be configured for 4.8v without using some kind of modification to regulate the voltage. It's funny... sometimes a battery's STRENGTHS... are ALSO its weaknesses! :) You can only go 3.6v, jump to 7.2, jump to 10.8 (11.1), 14.4 (almost 15v).

* 7.2v is for whatever it wants to be for, lol! But yes, for DIRECT DRIVE... it's pretty questionable for most any LED. I don't know of any LEDs that are looking for around 8v--which is what that 7.2v pack would be most ideal for.

You can use 7.2v with a Crystal Focus board , an UltraSound board or a Corbin driver board to power most any LED and you'll get a grand amount of runtime, and consistent brightness.

7.2v CANNOT be used with the current Hasbro and MRFX boards. The furthest you might push those is 6v... and even that could be risky. Recommend 5v for those. Or 4.5v... which is what the MRFX's run on NORMALLY, lol. So that's a no brainer.

*WHEW* :cool:

[DARTH KALEL]

ok i get what you were saying, I just need to find a batt with that forward voltage or run a resistor or driver controller, to monitor the forward voltage.