what is the best battery to use

[Albeehotep]

Building my saber and was wondering what type battery to use AA,AAA,or 9 volts
Need help
Albeehotep

[curtainguy]

i would say AAA would not be the way to go as you would need a fairly large holder to acomidate the amount of batteries you would need, as to AA or 9v, its your choice, the inverters<font color="red">CSS</font id="red"> sells already have a 9v lead attached, thats what i would do.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/vader.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/maul_saber3_small.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/dooku.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/sidious.jpg

[Strydur]

with a 4khz inverter the 9v does pretty good. using one of the 8aa or 8aaa holders that wel sell will make it run brighter. Either will fit a 1.5" sink tube. The trick to making the 8aa battery holder fit is you cut off the tabs that stick up to hold the batteries in place and then it fits and works great. If you have a skinnier hilt or are making a short hilt then I would stick with the 9v.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[curtainguy]

i just got my blade electronics done and that red el wire is bright as all hell. just thought id say so.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/vader.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/maul_saber3_small.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/dooku.jpghttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b121/curtainguy04/sidious.jpg

[informalmyx]

i use two 9 volt to make 18volt in my everyready hilt it makes the saber quite noticeable in daylight and great in the night and it only takes upabout 3 inches of space great if you dont want sound cards

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[suit_man]

has anyone else used two inverters with two 9 volts? for my saber, i wired the two inverters up in series. i am not sure if it makes is any brighter than with one inverter. most people wouldn't be able to do this, though. i have a long hilt, but i think that stuff would fit into a graflex if you do it right. what are other people's thoughts about using two inverters for 18v as opposed to one?

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[Strydur]

two inverters in series??? can you draw a diagram of how you did this because it doesnt make sense that it would work.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[suit_man]

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/casey_the_mexican/18v.jpg

if this confuses anybody, let me know. i don't know how easy it is to follow

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[Strydur]

Ok, that makes my head hurt to even try and figure out what it is doing by hooking it up that way.


Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[suit_man]

it gives you 18v. that is how the guy at coolight.com told me to hook it up so that i get 18v, without the inverter getting hot or anything.

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[GeluKhanGharr]

Why on earth would anyone tell you to do it that way is beyond me. Yes, the battery set-up gives you 18, but then the voltage splits in 2 to the serialized inverters. So each inverter gets about 9 volts if they are identical. When connected to the jack they are in paralel so the voltage there is the same, 140(?) volts, but the current should be higher. So you probably get a few more miliamps than if you simply used a single battery with a single inverter. As we know, EL is almost insensitive to current change. Only a different voltage or frequency(particularly the frequency) would make a differrence in brightness. So that renders one battery and one inverter completley useless in this set up. However, I am thinking - WTF is applying 140 volts to the output of an inverter going to do to it? Doesn't look good, mesa thinks. Blow-up in your face? It might...
Like Tim said, it hurts to try and think about it, kinda like quantum mechanics.
Don't try it Suit-man(or the higher ground is gonna git ya)
I have learned that if the inverter is rated for 12 volts you can pretty safely apply 18 volts to it. Just make sure you always have load on it. Do away with one inverter and you should be fine. Add a 1 MOhm resistor in paralel to the jack so you have some load if you turn it on without the blade in place.

Man, those guys will do anything to sell an extra inverter, won't they? :-)

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[informalmyx]

with my setup i notice a little heat but nothing mor ethen a gentle warmeth

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[suit_man]

hey, gelukhangharr, i don't appreciate being talked to like i am an idiot. no, it doesn't render one of the inverters and batteries useless. my blade is much brighter than when i had just one 9v. this has been wired up and in my hilt for a few months already, and it is probly not gonna blow up. please, don't talk like i am a moron just because i am less than half your age.

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[GeluKhanGharr]

suit-man, my friend, I have no ideea why you feel I was talking down to you, but I appologize if I came accross that way, that was not my intention. I was actually just trying to be helpful, thus my suggestion to drop one of the inverters from the setup and see what happens. I fed quite a few 12 Volt inverters from 18 volts and they get the wire quite bright without overheating.
Again, don't take my words the wrong way. I genuinely wanted to help not to treat you disrespectfully in any way. Peace?

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[suit_man]

thanks man, yeah, peace. i am not gonna drop one of the inverters though, i don't want to totally redo the inerds of my saber, i will try just one inverter in my next saber though. i am gonna make a graflex, which will be about 4 inches shorter than my saber now, so i need all the room i can get.

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[GeluKhanGharr]

So what is the size ot the hilt? I was able to fit all my stuff - holder, inverter, sound chip, speaker, switch and 2 AAs in about 8 inches. Really crowded in there, but it worked. I had to do it that way so I can do a Obi/Luke style hilt and I couldn't put anything in the thin section. The whole thing still came to about 13 inches, though.

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[suit_man]

my hilt is just over 14" long. with about a 4" blade holder. i think that if i can drop an inverter and shorten the blade holder, i should have no problems, especially since my switch will be outside the tube. i am making a special clamp so that the switch will be kinda like the one on the anakin fx. has anyone else tried to do the switch like that?

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[GeluKhanGharr]

you mean like this?
http://www.saloncatalina.com/images/11.JPG

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[suit_man]

kinda. it will be a sliding switch though. and it will be on the side of the boxie thing that sticks out.

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[GeluKhanGharr]

I've been thinking about a side sliding switch for a while too. It's just hard to find a switch that will fit well inside the box. And I'm not thrilled about the rivets I used to attach the box. Any suggestions on attaching the box so nothing shows on top?

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[suit_man]

well, my switch will be part of a "graflex" clamp. there will be no visible screws or rivets. also, if you can get me more detailed pics of the box, i would be glad to try to help you mount it with no visible screws or anything.

i am a nerd, if you don't like it, i will cut you with my lightsaber

[informalmyx]

can someone so how they made the box for the switch

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[StrangeWings]

I dont have a box on mine what I am doing is using the switch from a 3 d battery maglight. If you have a 1 1/5" hilt it fits perfectly inside. So the switch will sit flush with the body and actually be recessed a bit. Plus they do require a bit of a push to get them to work so don't think that I will bump it off. Only draw back is that it takes about a little over and inch of space in on the inside. My hilt is fairly long so it's not a problem. I am using the 8 aaa battery holder and have a 4" blade holder. I havn't installed the switch yet but I will let everyone know how it works out.

[GeluKhanGharr]

Myx, go to Lowes, hardware isle and pick up a "U" profile aluminium rod. Cut a piece, install your switch, wrap the piece in electrical tape and fill it with silicone. I actually kept the electrical tape on that one, but you don't have to once the silicone has dried. I installed the rivets too before filling it in. So suit-man, that's what it actualy is - a u-profile, not a real box.

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[informalmyx]

hum interesting

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[GeluKhanGharr]

"interesting" Again? lol

Born of Sith, seduced by the light side.

[informalmyx]

interesting i my favorite word it drives most my friends nuts example" Hey Myx(yeah theycall me myx) wanna play some xbox. Sure guys it sound interesting" i generally use interesting in the place of words like fun, cool, sucks , and many other descriptive words

<center>http://home.earthlink.net/~myxmyth/infomyx.jpg
"Many claim to have found serenity, and through serenity to have overcome anger. Such arrogance is astounding."</center>

[IsaiahRitchey]

[8D]I made a my EL wire light up by gutting two 9 volt batteries and gluing then together "in series". By making one big battery. Which produces about 17.5 volts. I used rechargeable batteries so I would never run out of batteries. I hooked up the batteries to a 3.5mm jack and hard wired it to the batteries. I connected a 3.5mm jack to a 9 volt clip, so I could recharge it any time. This will allow the batteries to stay in the saber indefinitly. I have an EL blade of purple color. It lights so brightly that it reflects off the walls. I'm very pleased. And the battery size is only about half the size more then a normal nine volt.

stealth

[IsaiahRitchey]

Don't try this battery setup. After trying to recharge them it destroyed the battery, litteraly fried it up. And it only charged to 9 volts. I have to revert to two seperate rechargeble 9 volts in series, which works wonderfully.

stealth

[Luke-SkyMarcher]

hmmm, I have been thinking about using rechargables in my hilt, once I have enough spare money to build myself a nice hilt. What I have used for switchboxes is this 1/2" square acrylic rod usPlastics used to sell, but I just looked it up and they don't sell it anymore however thishttp://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=21315&product%5Fid=21156might work as well, you would just have to hollow out the inside. On each end I glued one of thesehttp://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=21316&product%5Fid=13361 and it could be painted black or silver. Radio Shack has some slide switches that fit in there nicely. The hard part is covering the top up. I somehow managed on a darth vader one to have those bubbles glued on top. It looked great, but it still has some glitches I am trying to work out.
here is a link to a pic of it. http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-5/1016453/Copy(2)of100_1152.JPG (I couldn't get the picture function or the hyperlink function to work)

[james3]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">GeluKhanGharr - I've been thinking about a side sliding switch for a while too. It's just hard to find a switch that will fit well inside the box. And I'm not thrilled about the rivets I used to attach the box. Any suggestions on attaching the box so nothing shows on top?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
What about mounting with flat head screws and then glue on a piece of tin,copper,brass,circuit board, etc. sheet over the mounts.

[xwingband]

Wow, he posted that a while ago.[:p] A two piece cover would probably work. 1 piece screwed onto the sliding switch then a 2nd more decrative piece to cover the screws glued on.

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www.dewbackwing.com</center>

[james3]

yea, I just noticed that. oops.

[darkjedimaster07]

hey there ive been looking at buying the materials to make a saber for a while and i just wanted to know whats the bigest battery holder tcss sells that will fit in the mhs el hilt starter set thanks for the info

<font color="red">Zack</font id="red">

[xwingband]

Biggest how? in size or amount of batteries?

The MHS won't fit any of the AA's that have four in a square... otherwise the rest are fine.

<center>Read the FAQ (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=552) or x-wing won't be happy. :(
Before posting did you check the Thread Index (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=577)?.

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[darkjedimaster07]

i wanted to be able to get 12v from the pack so iwas thinking an 8AA or 8AAA battery pack

<font color="red">Zack</font id="red">

[xwingband]

8AA will not fit the MHS. 8AAA will.

<center>Read the FAQ (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=552) or x-wing won't be happy. :(
Before posting did you check the Thread Index (http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/sabers/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=577)?.

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[darkjedimaster07]

cool thanx for the help

<font color="red">Zack</font id="red">