Buckpuck Question

[spydormonkey]

I have a question about the buckpucks, and how I've currently wired my hilt.

Just for background, my current setup is as follows:
LuxIII red/orange
1000mA buckpuck
Hasbro force action soundcard (soundcard wired to buckpuck, which is wired to the LED)

all running off of 4AAA batteries.

Everything is wired up according to the this schematic:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showpost.php?p=89957&postcount=6

What I want to know is if I'm underpowering my LED by using the 1000mA buckpuck. Looking at the specs for the R-O LuxIII, it's rated at 1400mA.

My saber is bright, but I want to know if it could be brighter by using 2 700mA pucks instead...

I'm pretty inexperienced with wiring up electronics, and could use the help.
(beginning to wish I'd majored in electronics in college, and not art)

[Mazarill Slay]

Good question I also would like to know since I am going the same route wiring wise...

[neophyl]

How have you got the puck wired up ? You dont have the led power wires supplying power to the puck do you ?

[spydormonkey]

How have you got the puck wired up ? You dont have the led power wires supplying power to the puck do you ?

The + and - power wires on the puck are connected to the hasbro soundboard, and the led + and - from the buckpuck are connected to the LED... so the power is routed through the soundboard, through the 'puck, and then to the LED.

[Arm on Fire]

I'm sure it will be brighter, but unless you have somthing to compare it to, like another saber, you might go through a lot of grief re-wiring it and not even notice the difference.

[Ghostbat]

The + and - power wires on the puck are connected to the hasbro soundboard, and the led + and - from the buckpuck are connected to the LED... so the power is routed through the soundboard, through the 'puck, and then to the LED.

I suspect in this case you are underdriving your buckpuck quite a bit. The power coming off the board will (unless there is something I don't know about the Hasbro boards) be considerably weaker than the power going into it. Typically you would run the buckpuck in parallel with the soundboard... which does complicate things as you now have the challenge of having a momentary board with a latching buckpuck...

[Novastar]

Simple solution: meter into one of the LED lines (+ or - not both) for current with a multimeter on the proper settings (for current, duh). Should give you a general idea if you're seeing ~350mA, ~700mA or ~900 or ~1000.

[spydormonkey]

Simple solution: meter into one of the LED lines (+ or - not both) for current with a multimeter on the proper settings (for current, duh). Should give you a general idea if you're seeing ~350mA, ~700mA or ~900 or ~1000.

That IS a good idea Nova. I probably need to pick up a multimeter at some point anyways.

If it turns out that I'm NOT getting the power to the 'puck as I should, what are the ramifications of using a latching switch with a momentary board?

Would something like the following plan work?
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b239/spydormonkey/circuit.jpg

The SPDT would provide/kill all current to the circuit. I'm hoping that with it setup like this, that the latching switch will power the momentary sound board, and if it gets messed up, I can just kill power to the whole thing and "reset" it.

Good idea, bad idea? Even remotely feasable?

[Novastar]

...what are the ramifications of using a latching switch with a momentary board?Generally speaking--not many. If you do not "double-click" the latching switch, I believe the circuit will remain "on"... as in drawing power from the cells and you may not necessarily see light. In fact, you probably won't.

However, if you just make certain to always leave your "latchingtary" (LOL) switch in the proper position (a.k.a. always double-click for on and offs)... you shouldn't run into a battery drain.

Or like you said, you could provide a kill all solution.

Or... you could just go "Oh gee, I drained the cells, oh darn time to recharge and/or replace the AAs." Oh darn.

In other words... I don't think there are any "dangers"--GENERALLY speaking.

lol... .... wtf.... "Latchingtary", hahahha :rolleyes: