This only sort of has to do with lightsabers but..

[JetSet]

I'm working on a project that involves some amount of 5mm leds, of different colors. Lets say 12 leds, 3 different colors, RGB. I'm working with a very small area, so I can only use 1 AAA battery or smaller. I was looking for someone or a link to an instructable that can tell me how to wire these so that they all light up at once, on 1 switch.

If possible though I'd like to have an option for them to flash in some sort of pattern, but I am completely clueless about how things like this work. :confused:

[Novastar]

You might look for "555 timer" online in order to control your LEDs in some basic ways.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Don't you need 5V for that chip, though? Or will it run on 3?

[Kal El Rah]

If my memory serves me(been 20+years for this)the 555 chip will run as low as 3.5v D/C, so it should work in any type of Saber for what is required.

[eastern57]

Any sort of control of the indifidual LEDs will take up more room, because you'd need IC control. That's an entirely different subject...

But just the basics - you can run 12x 5mm LEDs in a surprisingly small space. You'll need a Li-Ion battery to get more bang, a 10440 is the size of one aaa (3.7v @500mah), run in parallel, of course. Also, some blank PCB would be good too.

Battery:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.974

PCB:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3173937

:)