Force Action Lightsaber ID request

[Matt Thorn]

I've just found this listed on Yahoo! Auctions Japan, with a starting bid of 500 yen, or about $5 U.S. The seller says it's new, by which I assume he means "unopened." It's definitely not one of the new Clone Wars sabers. Does anyone recognize it, and if so, would you happen to know if there is a photo or schematic of its sound board anywhere here on the message boards? I'm just wondering if it's worth bidding on. Many thanks in advance.
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/picture.php?albumid=42&pictureid=338
BTW, I think it's kind of cool that they produced a generic "Jedi Lightsaber" not associated with any particular character. It seems risky, since most kids probably want a particular character's saber.

[Matt Thorn]

Whoops. The bidding didn't start at 500 yen. 500 yen was the "Buy Now" price. So I went ahead and bought it. :p (Shipping is 600 yen, so it works out to about $11 U.S.) But I would still be grateful if someone could point me in the direction of possible wiring diagrams for the board. I'll post photos here when it arrives and I've opened it up.

[vargose]

Most hasbro boards are pretty much the same.

So just check out the Hasbro thread in thw wiring and schematics section

Hasbro sound module schematics (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=372)

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks, vargose! That looks simple enough.

[Donnovan Sunrider]

Specifically, that model uses this board (http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showpost.php?p=89957&postcount=6). I'm working on two sabres using it.

[Matt Thorn]

Really? Fantastic. :D When Flyerfye says "make sure you put a resistor on there," does he mean on the orange wire between this board and the LED? (For the time being, I am not planning to include an LED driver like the V2 (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Luxeon-3w-driver-V2-P230.aspx).) I'm planning on using 4 AAA rechargeable (NiHM) batteries (1000mAh), which would be 4.8V. Does that mean I don't need a resistor? Or, to put it another way, does that mean I can't use a 1000mA Buckpuck (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/BuckPuck-1000mA-P10.aspx), since the specs say it requires a minimum input of 5V?

And while I'm asking questions, am I right in assuming I'll need a momentary switch rather than a latching switch?

Thanks for the info, Donovan Sunrider!

[Donnovan Sunrider]

Someone else will have to help with the math of the volts, I don't have the experience with that.
I run mine off of 4 AAA batteries, with a P4 being powered directly off of the board with no resister. Runs like a champ so far.
I plan to replace a Lux III blue as soon as I can.

The Hasbro boards do need momentary switches.

[Matt Thorn]

I just Googled the specs on the P4, and they seem to indicate that it is made to run on 3.00 to 3.25V, but I suppose the Hasbro sound board either redirects enough voltage elsewhere (I'm also out of my depths here) to keep from frying the P4, or the P4 can actually take more voltage than is stated in the specs.

Anyway, it seems I won't have to worry about adding a resistor or Buckpuck at this point.

Thanks for the confirmation on the switch.

[Ghostbat]

I just Googled the specs on the P4, and they seem to indicate that it is made to run on 3.00 to 3.25V, but I suppose the Hasbro sound board either redirects enough voltage elsewhere (I'm also out of my depths here) to keep from frying the P4, or the P4 can actually take more voltage than is stated in the specs.

Anyway, it seems I won't have to worry about adding a resistor or Buckpuck at this point.

Thanks for the confirmation on the switch.

(warning, my electronics skills are very brute force so my explanations can be rough)

LEDs can, in theory, take pretty much any voltage you can throw at them. What they have is a voltage drop, which is the amount the voltage drops across the LED and is also around the minimum voltage that has to get to the LED in order to make it light up. It's the amperage you are trying to throttle with the resistor/driver/buckpuck. So you can easily run a 3volt LED off of 12 volts, it's just that the voltage coming out the other side of the LED is now 9 volts.

The main things I took away with me from a class about driving LEDs were a notebook full of formulas a very good piece of advice "LEDs aren't lightbulbs."

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks, Ghostbat. I have only just begun studying electronics using sources on the Net, but I had the impression that the amount of voltage that comes out is always the same amount that goes in. Obviously, I misunderstood something along the way. I read about the principles behind LEDs and found them fascinating, but I probably understood about 40% of what what I read.
So...should I add a resistor or Buckpuck? I've seen several entries on the message boards strongly recommending using a Buckpuck (if you're not going to use a driver).

[Novastar]

Matt... I don't want you to be confused...

The amount of voltage you give a circuit does NOT change within the circuit all by itself. However, since electronics, software and hardware can be made to do many things... step-down drivers like buckpucks (or Crystal Focus and/or the Ultrasound board and/or the Corbin v1 & v2 drivers) work in special ways to regulate CURRENT... and therefore, you can often provide far more voltage than the LED's fwd voltage... because the driver is handling the voltage, and NOT passing on 100% of it to the LED all at once. Drivers here are regulating current.

For example... if you have a buckpuck that provides 1000mA (so it is regulating current)... and an LED that best prefers ~4v (say 3.7v minimum, 4.2v maximum)... you can feed the buckpuck 12v (most can handle this, although extreme voltage would kill the puck), and it will STILL provide 1000mA to the LED pretty much the whole time.

Now... the specific VOLTAGE going to the LED while it's being run by a buckpuck?? I don't know for certain... it's actually a curved range that is somewhat "all over the map", but within the right amount to LIGHT THE LED... but: voltage and current are RELATIVE to one another. So yes--giving too much voltage to an LED will destroy it... if the current provided is also high enough.

Now... let's take the basic example: direct driving. In other words--you're not using ANY kind of "smart" electronics. You're going to hook a battery setup directly to an LED...

Well, if the forward voltage is (again) ~4v... and you feed the sucker 7.2v... it won't be pretty.

5v... you MIGHT get away with it. You might not.

3v... it will work, but it won't be bright.

And in ALL of the cases here... 3v, 4v, 5v, 7.2v... ALL of them will be providing a different amount of CURRENT flow.

So just keep all of this in mind. The Force Action saber (as far as I know) is *NOT* a current-regulating device. It's pretty rudimentary, and if you are not careful, you'll destroy your LED.

Granted, (as I've said before)... losing a $6 to $8 LED is not THAT big of a deal... :)

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks, Novastar. You made me realize that I hadn't properly absorbed what I had studied, which is that voltage is like water pressure, a resistor or driver is like a pipe of a certain diameter, and current is like the amount of water coming out the other end, right? So as long as I'm using 4 AAA batteries (totaling 4.8 volts), I don't have to worry about frying a Luxeon III, even if wired directly...but a 1000 aM BuckPuck will ensure a steady current and extend the life of the LED...?