New Saber Build

Heya all,

I am new to the saber building scene and wanted to do a conversion of a cheap Hasbro plastic lightsaber into a led saber on the cheap

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Jinn.../dp/B006665XCC
That is the hilt, and soundboard I will use as the base

And if possible, I wanted to solder an led lightstrip; A 60 LED (1M) 3528 strip
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331531351620...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The blade will be a PC 1/2 OD x 3/8 ID Tube

As for a diffuser, I might get some of the foam packing material and or the saber light wrap

My question is would it be possible to do a straight solder to where the old bulb used to be, and if so, would the 3528 leds run hot?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gustan

Heya all,

I am new to the saber building scene and wanted to do a conversion of a cheap Hasbro plastic lightsaber into a led saber on the cheap

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Jinn.../dp/B006665XCC
That is the hilt, and soundboard I will use as the base

And if possible, I wanted to solder an led lightstrip; A 60 LED (1M) 3528 strip
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331531351620...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The blade will be a PC 1/2 OD x 3/8 ID Tube

As for a diffuser, I might get some of the foam packing material and or the saber light wrap

My question is would it be possible to do a straight solder to where the old bulb used to be, and if so, would the 3528 leds run hot?

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No you need 12v to drive the LEDs. The board will only take around 5v max. That saber is wired for a single 20 mA 5mm led, and only puts out 15mA.

.5 inch blade might be very thin, the opening in the hilt is over 1.25".

Thanks for the reply. So in order for this to work, I'd need to split off the board from the light, and add a resistor to the board (to handle the 12 v power source), then wire the led separately?

Yeah, I was thinking the tube might be a bit on the thin side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gustan

Thanks for the reply. So in order for this to work, I'd need to split off the board from the light, and add a resistor to the board (to handle the 12 v power source), then wire the led separately?

Yeah, I was thinking the tube might be a bit on the thin side.

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Thanks for the help FenixFire! I found a thread based on my lightsaber board while looking around:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ghtsaber-board

That's for reference. (I accidentally linked the wrong saber, I guess mine was the 1999 one)

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...Sound-Tutorial

And one more great link for that

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gustan

Thanks for the reply. So in order for this to work, I'd need to split off the board from the light, and add a resistor to the board (to handle the 12 v power source), then wire the led separately?

Yeah, I was thinking the tube might be a bit on the thin side.

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Essentially, but personally if you want a string blade you would be better off following the tutorials here to build your own, or use a Cree star. By the time you find a 12v setup to fit in the hilt it will be a very expensive custom built battery. Also since the LEDs are designed to be used with a 12v ac/dc converter for room accent (under cabinet or cove) lighting their power draw is fairly high so the battery run time would be very short as well. Basically 10 rechargeable AA stacked into a Nun-Chuck style (dual 5 battery sleeves) pack, that would mean a 10.5"x 1.22" plus the charging PCB just for the pack...or 5 two-up AA battery holders wired together with removable batteries, but that would be closer to 10.75" in length and 1.25 in width.

Honestly, at this point I've given up on using that for the board and realized a 60 led on can run off of a 9v battery so going to use that for a simple pvc bladed lightsaber. In the blade, I will have 1 or two strips of leds surrounded by polypropylene for luminosity.

Since I'm new to this, I'm just going to follow an already provided schematic for the Qui Gon by Matt Thorn:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...&pictureid=368

Unfortunately I am unsure of what LED to use. Would this work? I believe the board outputs a straight 4.8 and is fit for the LUX I or the P4, however I do not have a large budget and would like to seek alternatives until I get better at building sabres so that I do not ruin components. Also, I believe that I can only drive the 1W,right?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cree-XP-E-XP...uwKbC1PXa1oM9A


I realized I can just wire this board exactly as it is in this saber minus the switch which I'd need to use a momentary switch for. This means I can wire the led directly to the board without a buck pack! The schematic shows no resistors, is that correct?

This will be powered by a 3 AAA battery pack!

Wow $55.00 & $15.00 S+H! I paid $20 at a local Toys 'R' Us, several years back. Maybe they don't carry that version anymore but I'd still look around to save some money

Ehh. Already have the saber at hand and like the soundboard on it.

Attachment 13967

I have tried calculating this myself (although I can be completely wrong as my electrical skills are elementary). Does this look correct using the Royal Blue cree from this page?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YRUTNJI/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

(Not buying it from there. Found a cheap place locally)

Thanks again for the ongoing help!