Miscellaneous Questions: LEDs, Blades, Switches, etc...

Hey folks!

Sorry to post this, but I'm hoping I can get a few short answers and then be on my way to finishing a few things...

1) I'm using an econo board for my son's saber pike and I pulled the LEDs out of the LED pad. He wants an amber blade. Can I pick up red LEDs and use a yellow filter? Should I find two yellows and a red?

2) Also, can anyone tell me, is it the higher the wattage the brighter the bulb or the other way around?

3a) I would like to use an AV Switch and the bezel but was hoping for a switch that is not illuminated. Can I wire the illum switches and not use the illumination, or is that a necessary?

3b) what size of hole needs to be drilled in for the illuminated AV Switches?

4) I have a guarded momentary switch from the shop here and might not have to buy another switch (see Q#3) if the guarded switch will fit snugly into the bezel for the av switches... Anyone have any info on this?

5) Can someone order for me the green LEDs that Tim sells here in the shop as to their brightness? Starting with brightest to not-the-brightest?

Thanks in advance for all the help amigos!
CMills

I'm going to try my hand at this... but I'm relatively green to the saber building side so master smiths correct me if I'm wrong.

1. Why not use an amber LED? if you're going to use filters I would use a white LED and get the desired shade by using filters, or try an RGBA LED and get the right shade of amber that way.

2. The wattage has a little to do with the brightness, but mostly it's the batteries you're using, and the resistor you're using that is going to determine your brightness factor... remember these are LED's... we're talking class II lasers here... To loosely quote Han Solo... they're bright enough for you old man.

3a. You can wire a lit AV switch and not light the switch, but you can also get AV styled switches that don't have lights in them... probably be more cost effective to do so.

3b I am actually not sure about this one, I do believe the sizes are metric though.

4. I may not be understanding your question properly, if you are asking if the guarded switches will fit the AV bezel, then I do not believe they will. However the guarded switches come with their own bezel.

5. I'm not sure what you're asking here again... maybe clarify. If you're asking the differences between 10W green 3W green or rebel stars and lux V. You are going to get varied responses... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you're asking about brightness of LED's think ROYGBIV, Red being the weakest wavelength and violet being the most intense... Granted generally purple blades aren't as bright as blue ones... Blue LED's tend to be the brightest IMO, but it's close on a few.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucien Kane

4. I may not be understanding your question properly, if you are asking if the guarded switches will fit the AV bezel, then I do not believe they will. However the guarded switches come with their own bezel.

5. I'm not sure what you're asking here again... maybe clarify. If you're asking the differences between 10W green 3W green or rebel stars and lux V. You are going to get varied responses... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you're asking about brightness of LED's think ROYGBIV, Red being the weakest wavelength and violet being the most intense... Granted generally purple blades aren't as bright as blue ones... Blue LED's tend to be the brightest IMO, but it's close on a few.

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Thanks LK for the response...

With regards to #4 and #5... The guarded switches may have a bezel but it's not curved to fit the curvature of the saber hilts, so the sides stick out and look stupid. So, if the bezel designed to fit the av switches actually fit snugly over the guarded switches, it might solve a problem. Also, I know (as a physicist) that green and blue will be brighter than the other colors, being closest to the center of the vls... What I would like to know is which of the green LEDs sold here are the brightest (i.e. brightest being the Rebel Star, followed by the LEDengin, and then the Seoul P4... kinda thing)...

I thought of another question though for those who can help...

6. What is the outside diameter of this heat sink found in the tcss shop?
http://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Sc...sink-P321.aspx

I'm not sure about the bezel thing...I don't think so. My understanding is that those bezels are designed to RAISE the AV switch further up off of the hilt of the saber, kind of like the switch boxes, just without the box :) .

Here's THE place for LED brightnesses (though this does not include the LEDengin 10W LED of doom. But good luck getting enough power to run it all out on a standard battery pack. Darn thing needs like a 11V battery pack and 2000+ma to run all 4 dice in "seriallel," i.e. 2 sets of 2 dice in series (so two parallel circuits that each run 2 dice)).
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ightness-Chart

Hope that helps! For the green saber I'm building now, I'm personally leaning towards a GGW tri-rebel star, or the equivalent Cree LED...though TCSS only stocks the rebel.