Duel Color LED sabers

[Kastor]

I would like to know if anyone has tried or thought of how you could make a saber with a multicolored blade. NOTE: not a blade that switches colors like and RGB might be able to but flickers between 2 colors. i.e. a red/amber blade that would have a sort of fire effect or a blue/purple blade that had an electric pulse effect you get the idea.

Obviously there is the space issue getting 2 LEDs in the same blade holder but I was thinking you could run it off 2 Drivers that have the pulse effect that where not synchronized. Of course you still have the power requirement and space issues.

Might there be a way to do it with RGB? I've never worked with one.

Thanks all,

[Rhyen Skytracker]

You can get up to 4 Led die on one star. Most of the RGB LEDs are like that. You would need a driver designed to give you that effect to flicker each LED die. I am sure there are some out there.

[DJMoonbass]

i have been thinking of this same idea. except use an RBG and smoothly transition between each color so you get every spectrum of color. so it fades between colors. but i like your idea. wade could figure it out. im going to make a multy colored blade. using a white LED and colored PolyP. have blue at the bottom and red up top. then overlap in the middle.

[B5813]

I'm thinking you'll just end up with a blade that has obvious overlap lines when lit. Even when lighting the blade with the standard clear celophane/diffuser you get that material overlap line running down the length of the blade. It seems two leds of the same color but slightly different hues alternating in output intensity could produce a live looking blade pulse of sorts though.

[Darth_DevilGuy]

I'm not sure what effect you're going for, do you want a blade that has two similar hues pulsing to make it seem more realistic? or are you going for a blade like some described in the books, that has radically different colors in one blade?

for option one, it's possible, but I think you'd just end up looking like one color between the two.

For the second option, you could do it if you obtained a driver that alternated rapidly between two outputs, but if you went too fast it'd just look like a combination of the two. Then again if you timed it right you might be able to win fights without taking a swing as your opponent would just suffer a seizure when you lit it up...

[Matt Thorn]

What you're talking about is a variation of something that I've been trying to do for months.

Since you are aiming for two similar colors rather than, say, red and blue (which is what I'm trying to do), the only way I can think of is programming a microcontroller (PIC, Arduino, whatever) to use pulse-width modulation (PWM) to create the effect using an RGB LED. The microcontroller sends each color LED the right amount of power to create the color you, then, after a programmed amount of time, changes the signals to make another color. (Actually, PWM is more complicated than that, but that is the end effect.)

But as someone who has been trying for months to do this in a saber using Arduino and still hasn't nailed yet, I can tell you that programming a microcontroller and then actually embedding it in a saber is not like learning to calculate LED resistance. I am assuming you don't know how to program a microcontroller (or you would have already known the answer to your question), so I just thought you should know that the learning curve is really steep. Not only do you have to learning the programming language, you need to learn about resonators, capacitors, transistors, etc.

So, the short answer is, yes, it can be done, but it's really, really complicated.

If you search for "flashing" and "microcontroller" here on the forums, you'll find some more information about it.

[Kastor]

Yeah I most likely will not be going in that direction. Right now I'm trying to build my own LED star from Luxeon. The actually allow you to build them with all separate hookups so I can run each half of it's own driver then it would just be a mater of desynchronizing them so they alternate.

[Matt Thorn]

Yeah I most likely will not be going in that direction. Right now I'm trying to build my own LED star from Luxeon. The actually allow you to build them with all separate hookups so I can run each half of it's own driver then it would just be a mater of desynchronizing them so they alternate.
"Just a matter of desynchronizing them"...? Well, maybe you know something I don't, because to my mind, that is the most difficult part. Please let us know how that works out for you.

An easier solution, it seems to me, is leaving one color on constantly, and using a 555 timer to make the other color blink on and off. For the red/orange effect, you could leave the red on constantly, and have amber flash on (using a resistor to get just the right intensity to make the color you want). For the blue/purple effect, you would leave blue on and have red flash on (again, using the right resistor on the red LED to create the purple you want). This is the easiest solution I can think of, but even with this, you will need to use transistors to get enough amperage to the LEDs, since the raw output from a 555 will not be nearly enough to power a 3-Watt-ish LED.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, chances are you are out of your depths.

[Kastor]

No, I understand. I've just been trying to see if there is a simpler work around. I tend to find there usually is with this kind of stuff. I feel that too often we try to go strait for the "proper" or "precise" way when something more crude my get the job done, messier or less effective but it works.

The first thing I'm was going to try is just putting them both on different circuits and just turning them on at different times with 2 switches in the hilt. That creates a space issue but I hadn't thought of what you said leaving one on at all times and the other flicker I think this will help a great deal as rather than have 2 circuits with drivers that flicker I can simply have one on all the time and then the other wired through a US 2.5 or something and allow it to mix with the other color. Thank you for this idea. I shall let you know if it works well. Unfortunately it sounds as though that would be of no use to you.

[Matt Thorn]

Kastor, I'm trying to think of a way you could do that using single on/off switch. The US 2.5 requires a momentary switch. There are momentary DPDT switches out there, but you would need a driver for the "constantly on" LED that would work with a momentary switch. The catch is, once it's turned on, the US 2.5 doesn't behave like a straightforward LED driver. Hit the switch again, and the blade lock-up effect kicks in. Hit it once more and it stops. To turn it off, you need to hold down the switch for 2.5 seconds.

The only one-switch solution I can think of is to use two US 2.5 boards, with only one hooked up to a speaker. Then you would use a momentary DPDT switch to activate them both simultaneously. But you would have to preset the US 2.5 for the "constantly on" LED to "solid blade," and the other to the flash setting that achieves the effect you want. Once they're hooked up to the DPDT switch, you won't be able to change the settings without making a mess. A more primitive (and much less expensive) solution would be to direct drive the "constantly on" LED without a driver and have a separate latching switch for it. You would then have to practice using the momentary and latching switches in unison for power up and power down. You would also need some way to adjust the brightness of the US 2.5-powered LED.

Anyway, please let us know what you come up with.

[Kastor]

Yeah I thought about the direct drive but it did seem quite bothersome perhaps there is a way to make a piece of hardware that will allow me to decide when I want to press the buttons in unison or not. Well regardless I'll be working on this for some time let us all know if you work out your end. I think this kind of effect would be something that a lot of people would use if a solution is provided.

If only we could get the next CF v5 to have this built in as a new feature Ha Ha.

[SpexSkywalker]

It may be much more expensive... but why not make a string LED saber? If you fix the LEDs in a pattern of RYGB (red, yellow, green, blue) and drive each color of LEDs on a separate circuit it should make a great rainbow color effect throughout the blade. Just ensure each color set has it's own resistor to prevent frying the whole set and you should be fine... or is my idea so completely out there that it seems i'm blowing smoke... i'm pretty sure it would work.

[KuroChou]

I know it's come up multiple times on these forums that add-on cards exist, that turn a momentary signal into a faux latching (which is essentially what the CF/Hasbro/whathaveyou does anyway....).

assuming you use a DPDT momentary, with one set of leads controlling the soundboard, and one set of leads controlling the converter board, it's still possible. clunky and unecessary, but possible.

Instead, I'd splice an accent LED pad from the board, to a transistor controlling the main die(s), and then let the pulsing CF control the secondary die(s)

Problem solved.