LED only Stunt Saber

Hi everyone,
I'm thinking about building an LED only stunt Saber. It's supposed to be quite simple, but I might want to upgrade it later. I have several questions and I hope that I can formulate them in an understandable way.

1. I may prefer to select the Tri Setup instead of one LED and control two LEDs. This would allow a later extension (FOC) to be done. Is the brightness of one LED sufficient or would you recommend two LEDs? Are there comparison pictures maybe?

2. I would like to select a Li Ion battery, the 18650 with 3.6V - 3.7V should do the job?

Attachment 15928

3. What Resistors should I choose (see wiring picture)? I think it makes sense to connect them in parallel (with 2 leds). Since the leds are the same, I should be able to use the same resistors. What resistors do you recommend? If one LED is sufficient, is a buck puck worth it or does a Resistor do the same job just as well?

4. The LED Calculator says for R1 and R2: 1 Ohm, 1 Watt each,
my calculation says: 0,3 Ohm.
Is this because its the next step for Standard resistors?

Thanks in Advance.

HI,

Hopefully this will help:

1. A Tri setup will give you a brighter and more uniform blade illumination along the length of the saber compared to a single LED, unfortunately the difference is difficult to see in pictures or videos as the lgith tends to washout the camera image but there are a couple of videos on Youtube that you can look at to see the difference.

2. Yes, an 18650 should be sufficient, make sure you get one with a protection circuit if you can.

3. A resistor on each of the LEDs should be sufficient, a buckpuck does make wiring easier though.

4. The LED Calculator rounds up to the nearest commercially available resistor but the lowest value resistor it shows is 1 ohm. I, personally, am using 0.47 Ohm 1Watt resistors on my build as they are fairly easy to source

Hello robwin. Two LEDs will be brighter than one but not twice as bright. As you are planning a later upgrade the tri led would be a good choice. The 3.7v 18650 will be fine but a 7.4v pack would give you a longer run time and also allow you to use the buck puck as it requires 5v to function. I've never used one but I believe they are more efficient than resistors. Personally, I would stick with resistors as the buck puck is not used with a soundboard, this would make a later upgrade easier. Resistor calculators tend to round up values. The 0.47ohm sold in store will be ideal unless you go with the 7.4v pack, then you will need to recalculate. Hope this helps a bit.
Good luck and MTFBWY

Greenie:mrgreen:

Thank you for your answers. If I use the Buck Puck and the 7.4V battery, I can't use it to power both LEDs, right? Parallel the current is not enough and for a series connection the output voltage is too high?