2010 Electronic Lightsaber w/ DVD Tutorial

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I just used the set up with the transistor for the first time and it works great. I can't believe no one thought of using a transistor as a switch/relay before. Great thinking.

[cardcollector]

This may be me, but using Jagahti's diagram( with a darth Vader board instead of obi's) and 4.5V I am only getting 350-400ma to the LUX III...

Any ideas as to why?

[Rhyen Skytracker]

I haven't measured the current to mine yet. I just hooked it up to a blue CREE. I will measure the current and post the results.

EDIT: I just measured the current and I am having the same result. I am only getting 685 mA through the card and transistor and 2244 mA going straight through the 2 AAA battery pack. I am not sure what is going on yet.

EDIT AGAIN: I swapped to a 4.8V AA 2300 mAh NiMH battery pack and I was able to get 1540 mA through the card and transistor. The only major downside to using ANY econo board is the time out feature where it automatically shuts off if no motion or clash after a short time period.

[Causa]

Between Jagahati's diagram and Zook's design (Mat's diagram), is there a noticeable difference in the illumination for the primary LED? I don't have any plans for accent LEDs...maybe an illumination switch, but that's already been address in one of these Hasbro '10 threads. I'm looking to power a rebel Green.

I'd prefer to use Zook's, since it looks simpler, but if Jagahati's provides more power to the Rebel, then so be it.

Also I think it was already mentioned, but that white square on the positive wire, between the transistor and the LED is a resistor, right?

[Zook]

Between Jagahati's diagram and Zook's design (Mat's diagram), is there a noticeable difference in the illumination for the primary LED? I don't have any plans for accent LEDs...maybe an illumination switch, but that's already been address in one of these Hasbro '10 threads. I'm looking to power a rebel Green.

I'd prefer to use Zook's, since it looks simpler, but if Jagahati's provides more power to the Rebel, then so be it.

Also I think it was already mentioned, but that white square on the positive wire, between the transistor and the LED is a resistor, right?

its actually the exact same thing except I am using a low voltage power supply so I dont need the V regulator. The other difference is I solder the trans onto the board and jumper a wire from the pos. input wire to the trans. This bypasses the resistor they have on the board for that leg.

Since I am using just a single Li-Ion battery you do not need the regulator and the voltage is close to the requirements of most normal LEDs (P4, rebel, lux III, cree xre) so you do not need a resistor.

[JEsse_Chalmers]

i just took apart a anakin lightsaber, the one with the dvd from 2010, but the problem is that the 3 LEDs are mounted directly to the soundboard, my problem is, after i end up removing them, how will i know which of the 4 connections are which (led1led2led3ledpos), they arent labeled in any way because the i repeat, the LEDs that came with the crappo stock version are mounted to a very tiny chip, which is mounted sideways to the main soundboard. any ideas?:P, sorry dudes, first sound mod, i have done a lux mod before but not sound

[Zook]

i just took apart a anakin lightsaber, the one with the dvd from 2010, but the problem is that the 3 LEDs are mounted directly to the soundboard, my problem is, after i end up removing them, how will i know which of the 4 connections are which (led1led2led3ledpos), they arent labeled in any way because the i repeat, the LEDs that came with the crappo stock version are mounted to a very tiny chip, which is mounted sideways to the main soundboard. any ideas?:P, sorry dudes, first sound mod, i have done a lux mod before but not sound

a real easy way is to take a meter and measure. Since I used an anakin I can tell you though.

if you look at the bottom of the board (where the LEDs were soldered and other solder joints are visible) with the part where the LEDs were facing up, the far left lead is + and the three next to it are all -.

[cardcollector]

i just took apart a anakin lightsaber, the one with the dvd from 2010, but the problem is that the 3 LEDs are mounted directly to the soundboard, my problem is, after i end up removing them, how will i know which of the 4 connections are which (led1led2led3ledpos), they arent labeled in any way because the i repeat, the LEDs that came with the crappo stock version are mounted to a very tiny chip, which is mounted sideways to the main soundboard. any ideas?:P, sorry dudes, first sound mod, i have done a lux mod before but not sound

Watch the darth Vader tutorial video in the first post...
The Darth Vader and Anakin boards are the same.

[Causa]

I went to the local walmart today, and they had 2 of the obiwans and 2 darth vaders 2010 w/ DVD for 16 dollars each. Picked up one (and may go back for the other obi-wan)

The only question I have left is: If I am powering a Luxeon Rebel green with this setup, and I'm using 2x3.6(7.2) Li-Ion's set up with a PCB, will I be able to fully power the rebel green to 180 lumens @ 1000mA?

Above it was showing that only 500mA might be getting through, though it looked like the 4.7 v pack fixed that.

[cardcollector]

You may want to try a relay instead of the PNP transistor. although the principle is basically the same.

What the transistor/relay does (in theory) is redirect the + battery power Directly to the LED so you would be getting the raw current from thebattery without going thrugh the board....

More testing is going to haveto be done to figure out why the transistor setup doesn't give off much ma...