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Using an 18650 with arduino diy setup. Hilt works great no pixels. One strip ignites and sounds are great. After adding 2nd strip boots up but on ignition freezes or reboots. The batt is a panasonic li-ion mh12210 with 3a output. From what i read 3a will work for one but need a 10a min to use 2 strips. Did i read that correctly?
Dave
Also can anyone recommend a 3500mah 18650 10a batt?
Why don’t you use the 15A battery the store sells???
I am ordering that one. But im a max battery guy. Old habit from my racing days lol. Can the one TCSS has be used in series to have longer run time?
Neopixel and “max battery“ don’t really go together. Can you wire them in series? Yes, but that opens up a whole other can of worms.Quote:
Originally Posted by BanthaPooDoo
Oops meant parallel. For mah boost
Unless you are using a matched pair of batteries or a battery pack it is not a good plan to wire lithium cells in parallel.
Yeah, unfortunately, neopixel and long battery life don't really go well together. Although the brightness and effects of the pixels are awesome and definitely worth doing, they draw alot of battery power and will shorten run time regardless of what you do. It's just the trade-off you have to be ok with. Go with the 15A single cell battery, and don't try wiring multiple ones, it's not worth it
You are better off running your blade at around 80-90% brightness from the start. It will reduce the drain and improve the battery life significantly, and the brightness won't be affected that much overall.
I'm using 3124 mAh 18650s, in single color with moderate usage, I get about an hour with a dual strip neopixel blade. I have also used 26650s in a Kylo BS Conversion I did, and can get several hours out of that. The key with neopixels seems to be swappable batteries if that is a big concern. Wiring dual batteries is fraught with peril. If you put in 2 batteries and wire them independently through a toggle switch, where you can run one down, then switch to the other, that would work. Fett263 did that on his Kylo V2 build down in the forums, here: Fett263 Crossguard
Certainly anything less than 10A protected circuit will trip the protection circuit with dual strips, particularly when RGB diodes combine to create white for FOC. That is when you see peak draw out of the strips. 15A cutoff PCBs seem to be working the most consistently with neopixels.
I have thought about the dual switchable batteries and the link you showed is a nice tutorial and some ideas for another build. Given that ive got large hands i need bigger hilts to fit more comfortably, so that gives me a few ideas about some custom ones to play around with. This has been such a learning experience and ive got the bug now.
I just finished buttoning up my first chassis and electronics today, also got my neopixel blade ready or the final wrapping of the diffusers and buttoning it up, those parts will be here tomorrow. I even though about making a neopixel blade plug with the cutoff pixels for show when on the stand.