I just did some digging, and found that the PNP equivalent of the TIP120 is the TIP125. I'll pick one of those up, too, and see how it works. But I'm not going to get any of these transistors in time! Argh!Originally Posted by Rhyen Skytracker
I just did some digging, and found that the PNP equivalent of the TIP120 is the TIP125. I'll pick one of those up, too, and see how it works. But I'm not going to get any of these transistors in time! Argh!
There's always a bigger fish.
I grabbed all the PNP transistors Radio Shack had at the time and I guess the TIP120 was in with the other ones. I can't believe it is not even marked that it is NPN on the packaging. Thanks again for the tip on the tip. LOL
That's Radio Shack for you. Reason #264,768 why Radio Shack will probably disappear by next year.
Of course, the big mystery is why it didn't disappear years ago.
There's always a bigger fish.
I am still looking for the best way to wire these new boards. This wiring looks like the best way, but you said the LED was "not blinding". I need to hook this bourd up to a P4 with the same 6V battery pack/speaker combo as in the diagram. I would like to use this set up and get the maximum brightness from the LED. Please let me know if you discover a sure fire, simple way to wire these new boards to a P4 with the best results.
When you use the 2010 soundboard, or any hasbro board for that matter, you are going to lose some brightness.
Now, I think that by themselves and for the price they are plenty bright. Just look at all the sabers in my sig. Every one of them uses a hasbro board.
Bottom line.
A Hasbro soundboard saber is bright
Any other Saber, whether it be direct drive or a MR soundboard, is brighter.
I think that Matt, and Rhyen are close to finding a better transistor. But they can speak for themselves...
Got a Question? There's a thread for that...
~Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.~Teddy Roosevelt
SollusVir everywhere else... FXsabers, Youtube, etc...
At this point, the TIP42 transistor Rhyen used seems to be the best confirmed option. I am still waiting for mine to arrive, as well as the TIP125 transistor. But since I have an absolute deadline (a birthday), and only one of these boards on hand, I don't know if I'll be able to confirm their usefulness this week.
There's always a bigger fish.
I just tried the set up on another saber and still had the same results. I got 1.3A with 4 AAA akaline batteries and with 4 AA NiMH I got 1.6A. I did figure out how we were getting such low currents too. It would make sense to have the battery + go to the collector and the emitter go to the LED right? WRONG I swapped the collector and emitter wired and that is what solved the problem. Everything worked as it was supposed too to. The LED turned off when the sound board turned off and LED came on when the sound board turned on. I guess my first try I had accedently swapped the wire and got the higher currents. I wired it like I thought it was supposed to be wired this time and had low currents like everyone else does. That is when I had the idea to swap the collector and emitter wires and it worked great. Be very careful, it does also drop the voltage too but not by much. You will have to add a resistor since the voltage is not enough to use a buck puck. I will post pics of my temp set up and my meter readings with different types of batteries later tomorrow. Sorry it is taking me so long to post all my results. Just remember, in this set up if it sounds logical be sure to swap it. LOL
Wait.
So you're saying the proper wiring diagram is not the one I posted earlier, but rather this one:
Dude...
Why didn't you say so earlier!?
Now I can't wait to get home and try this. (Yeah, I'm doing this at my office. Shhh.) If this works, the birthday girl will get a nice, bright saber...and on time.
EDIT: Confirmed! With my set-up, this sends about 1180 mA and 5.5V to the LED.
Last edited by Matt Thorn; 06-22-2010 at 02:32 AM.
There's always a bigger fish.
Okay so if I am seeing this diagram right, there is not a resistor in the set up? All is see is the transistor, a TIP42? These are carried regularly at RS?
If thats the case (no resistor) then that can be a good way to save some space for a set up with a sound board.
Let me know if this is correct. I would like to build my new set up with this diagram.
edit. If you could post the part number (Looks like you did) that would be cool.
edit. Answered my own question on the part number.
Last edited by Noyl Wendor; 06-21-2010 at 11:50 PM.
It depends on how much voltage is actually going to the LED, what the forward voltage for your LED is, and how much, if at all, you want to over-drive it. First, measure your voltage. The multimeter is your friend. Then check out the handy Resistor/LED Charts that newcomers all seem to overlook. Rule of thumb: you are more likely to need a resistor if you are using a red/orange/amber LED than if you are using a green/blue/cyan/white LED.
Living in Japan, I don't know beans about RS, other than that it has one foot in the grave. (See earlier post.) "The Google" is your friend. "TIP42" and other transistor numbers we give here are generic names for transistors of certain types, and are manufactured by many different companies (mostly in China, using children who are chained to the assembly line and force-fed lead and mercury twice a day). So using these numbers to find the transistor you need is easy. Unless you live in North Korea. In which case you wouldn't be participating in this forum. Unless you were a government agent.
If you can do without one, yes. See above.
Like I said, it depends on all those different factors.
After typing all this, I noticed that you have been a member since 2006. No offense intended, but, based on your questions, I thought you were a newcomer.
There's always a bigger fish.
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