AV LED Button Wiring Question

I've been lurking for a couple of weeks gathering information and specs for my first possible saber build. Here's what I'm understanding now, and if you can confirm or correct me, I would greatly appreciate it.

I plan on building it with PC 3.5 in the end, but I want to test my wiring connections and functionality of the individual "modules" as I go, and by modules I mean things like the recharge port recharging the batteries, the LED blade lighting up when power is connected, the LED switch lighting up and turning itself on/off when connected, etc. This is just in case I run into problems, I'll know where the problem will be clearly.

I understand that momentary switches don't work unless there's a board, but I'm not finishing the saber without a board anyway. I assume that for testing purposes I can wire a momentary switch and just hold the button in to see if the pretty light actually lights up. I also know a specific resistor is needed.

However, I'm confused about the AV LED button wiring. I just want the LED to be 100% on when the blade is on, and off when the blade is off even without a kill switch inserted.

Question 1: As I understand it, PC regulates the resistance going to the LEDs, but would it hurt if I kept the resistors in place from when I just test it with the battery? I'm inclined to just keep the resistors in place to safeguard the LEDs.

Question 2: Does the Anti-Vandal Short Momentary-Blue-Ring-Switch-P616.aspx fit on the Activation box, style 13?

Question 3: If so, the diagram on the short switch's page is unclear to me. Is there a switch+ and switch- labelled with the LED+ and LED-?

Question 4: How would I wire the short AV switch?

Question 5: If I have to go with the long AV switch, do I wire it like this:
NO1 to LED+
NO2 to blade+/PC Board Switch return pad
C1 to Battery+/PC Board Activation Switch pad
LED- to resistor to Battery-/PC Board-

Question 6: If wired as previously stated, are there any PC configuration settings that I need to reconfigure from the default settings to get the desired functionality, or should I wire differently that stated in step 5 so no default settings bite me?

Any insight is appreciated! :)

To get the switch LED turning on and off with the blade, look in the manual for the section titled, "Wiring a tactile feedback motor and a progressive power On LED" and it will explain how to do this. You could also wire the switch LED to one of the accent LED pads, and set up the behavior through the leds.txt file. Both are acceptable, though the second will give you more options. One of my sabers is set to blink when the kill key is removed, and then remain on with the blade.

Question 1: If you're talking about the main blade LED, then you want to remove the resistor when attaching it to the PC. The PC will regulate the power to the LED, and you won't need to worry about it blowing up. Note: Only Channel 1 has a driver built in. If you're using a multi-die LED like a Tri-Rebel, then the other 2 channels will still need resistors.

Question 2: Yes. It fits just fine.

Question 3: Switches don't have polarity. The two unlabeled terminals are used for the switch. You can't get them backwards, so it's all good.

Question 4: Hook up the LED+ and LED- as you would any accent LED. See the PC manual for details. Hook up the two unlabeled terminals to the switch connections on the board, again as detailed in the manual.

Question 5: That is completely incorrect, and will likely do bad things to your sound board.

Question 6: You will need to change the "switch" setting on the PC to the momentary setting. I believe the default is still for a latching switch.

Thanks! I'm currently spec'ing out the Tri-Rebels. I'm thinking Blue-Blue-White. Blue-Blue tied together and the White for FoC. (Of course, I see some talk of tri-Crees coming soon, so I may defer until they are available. I have a kid, so time is easy to burn.)

Follow-ups:

1. How to tie the Blue-Blue LEDs together? i.e.
a. In series without resistors to the PC main LED pads?
b. In parallel without resistors to the PC main LED pads?
c. In series with one proper resistor to some other pads?
d. In parallel with two proper resistors to some other pads?
e. Some other way?

2. Is there an up-to-date diagram for my original question 5. I got those connections from a couple of diagrams on these forums, but they seem to be based on PC 2.0. PC 2.0 seems to have a second board in the diagram and a different layout on the main board. After your post, I'm inclined to light the switch LED with an accent pad if it offers more configuration options. Let me update my connections to avoid confusion (please correct me):

Final Setup:
Accent LED Wiring Pad to LED+
LED- to resistor to PAD- (Ground)
PC Activation Switch Pad to C1
NO1(?) to PC Switch Return Pad

Test Setup with blade, no PC
NO1 to LED+
LED- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1
NO1 (or NO2, understand they're interchangeable) to LED Blade+

Test Setup without blade, no PC
NO1 to LED+
LED- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1

For wiring with a Petit Crouton, option "A" will give you the longest runtime. Option "B" will be just as bright, but you'll have to double the current output for half the runtime.

Quote:

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Final Setup:
Accent LED Wiring Pad to LED+
LED- to resistor to PAD- (Ground)
PC Activation Switch Pad to C1
NO1(?) to PC Switch Return Pad

---

This is fine.

Quote:

---

Test Setup with blade, no PC
NO1 to LED+
NO1 to LED Blade+
LED- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
LED Blade- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1

---

I made a few adjustments. The NO2 pad will do nothing unless you are also connecting to the C2 pad. They're two completely isolated circuits.

Quote:

---

Test Setup without blade, no PC
NO1 to LED+
LED- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1

---

This is also fine.

Keep in mind that the resistor used for your accent LED will change depending on where you're plugging it in. If it's going to the 3.3v regulated pad, it will need a different resistor than if you're testing it with the 7.4v li-ion pack.

Thanks! I appreciate the clarification that the switch has two isolated circuits, 1 and 2, independent of the other. Makes sense now. Unfortunately, I now have more questions. LOL.

1. A power regulated Blade LED + and - pads enable me to run the two Blues in series without resistors, got it. However for testing with a 7.4V 3400mAh battery, considering the specs on Blue are 70lm @ 700mA 3.4v - Run at 1000mA, I don't see which resistor I should use. The various calculators...do not seem to like these LEDs in series at that battery voltage. Any insights? Seems like I need to test a battery-only setup with two 4.7ohm10w resistors on the LEDs in parallel.

2. The accent LED pad is 3.3V? So my calculations say for the 7.4V battery setup, use a 220ohm 1/4w resistor. For the 3.3V pad, use a 1ohm 1/8W resistor. Correct? I don't see the latter in the store.

3. Or for the switch, should I just get the 20mA DynaOhm Variable Resistor as the only resistor for the Switch LED wired the following way?

Final Setup:
Accent LED Wiring Pad to DynaOhm+ (In)
DynaOhm- (Out) to LED+
LED- to PAD- (Ground)
PC Activation Switch Pad to C1
NO1 to PC Switch Return Pad

Test Setup with blade, no PC
NO1 to DynaOhm+ (In)
DynaOhm- (Out) to LED+
NO1 to LED Blade+
LED- to Battery- (Ground)
LED Blade- to resistor to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1

Test Setup without blade, no PC
NO1 to DynaOhm+ (In)
DynaOhm- (Out) to LED+
LED- to Battery- (Ground)
Battery+ to C1


4. For FoC White running off the PC FoC pad, what voltage is that pad? Also 3.3V like the accent LED pads, 7.4 like the battery, or another value?

1. In series, you add the forward voltages of the two LED dice together. 2 x 3.4v = 6.8v. Plug that into the calculator in my signature and it'll complain, but still give you an appropriate value. You can also read up on Ohm's Law here: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...e-to-Ohm-s-Law and do the calculations yourself.

2. Wattage is a minimum. If you can't find a 1/8 watt resistor, you can use a 1/4 watt, 1 watt, etc. Don't go overboard, since the higher wattage resistors take up a lot of room. 5 and 10 watt resistors work, but they're HUGE.

3. The DynaOhm works great here. It'll do the job at 3.3v OR at 7.4v. Just be sure it gets connected to the positive leg of your accent LED. Polarity is important for the DynaOhm, as opposed to a resistor (which can go nearly anywhere and in any direction).

Your setups look fine.

Thanks for all your help! I found the part in the manual for FoC. Where can I get the 2512 / 2w SMD resistor?

(White 320lm @ 1000mA 3.1v - Run at 1000mA --> 1 ohm 2W according to the calculator.)

If you don't have experience with SMD soldering, I'd recommend just bridging that connection and using a regular resistor. 2512 components are TINY.

If you've worked with that sort of thing before, you can usually find those parts online at the various electronics parts retailers.