RGB lightsaber

[Picky]

I hope this has not already been asked but I made a Search and I found no match, so I will ask: I'm already employed with a project, but I'm thinking to my next saber. The idea is to build a RGB lightsaber with three different switches, I saw that JQ Sabers has in stock an RGB star LED but (from the picture) I cannot see the - connections, maybe it is only a my disattention but I'm asking myself how I can use that LED.

My idea is to use the cheapest way, the resistor, because of a question of space: there will be 3 resistors for three switches and six wires (two -plus and minus- for the red, two for the green, ...), to create a saber similar to the one sold by Ultrasabers. Do you think it is realizable?

Thank you all

[Silver Serpent]

I have seen sabers done with a rotary switch for color selection. You could easily save a lot of space doing that instead of separate switches for each color. I thought I had seen a wiring diagram on the forums before, but I can't find it now. For a direct driven lightsaber, the wiring shouldn't be too much more complicated than normal.

[Lord Dottore Matto]

There are wiring diagrams posted here and it has been done a TON of times (It kinda sucks to do though). The latest one was done by Matt Thorn. Maybe, if you can't find it you could drop him a visitor message and he could point you to it.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Here is a wiring diagram I made for using a BCD rotary switch to change colors. Also, here is a saber I made with this set up. http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ead.php?t=8363

[Matt Thorn]

I made just such a saber about a year and a half ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okUxFxRVXSc

The build thread is around here somewhere. I was obsessed with the idea of using a Clone Wars Ultimate Lightsaber Kit (or whatever it's called), but in retrospect that whole aspect was a waste of time. It would have been easier to just separate sound and lights entirely.

[Picky]

Thank you all, I really don't understad why the search command didn't show those threads yesterday. The idea of using three switches had as target the possibility to build a lightsaber that can mix colors: turning on the red and the blue there will be purple, with blue and green there will be cyan and so on. Now I will study your diagrams, thank you again.

[ecko]

...I really don't understad why the search command didn't show those threads yesterday...

My guess is, if you were searching for "RGB", only words with 4 or more characters are searched.

[DJMoonbass]

um.

the most recent one was Shockwave i believe, LDM, since matt just said his was a year and a half ago. (could be wrong but i havent seen one, there might have been one in JSS) but i do i think he was the first to use that BCD rotary switch to. shockwave used two of those and man with all the accent LEDs, lighted switches, and all the wires and yuck those BCD were the single most, biggest PITA'es i have ever wired. that saber was an epic nightmare.

heres the link:
http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...ad.php?t=10929

feel free to send me a PM Picky and id be more than happy to walk you through wiring it up or answer any questions you have.

[Matt Thorn]

DJMoonbass, that saber is insane. (Note: "insane" in a good way) I was trying to get hold of those very BCD rotary switches, but I couldn't find a vendor who would send to Japan, so I ended up using ordinary "twisting" rotary switches (16 positions) in my other multi-color sabers. I didn't mention those, though, because Picky was asking specifically about a setup with separate (latching?) switches for each color.

[Rhyen Skytracker]

You can also use dip switches. In this video you will notice that I used the DIP switches to enable the pots for each LED. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzUUkDrjmmU If you don't want to use the pots you can use a 5 or 7 DIP switch and have 1. Unresistored red 2. Blue 3. Green 4. Cyan(blue and green) 5. Purple (resistored red and unresistored blue. 6. Amber (Green and red) and for 7. You can have it with RGB or have it OFF with no LEDs.

The BCD rotary switch works very close to the way this works except with the DIP switch set up you have more flexability. With the BCD it automatically combines the colors, so if you wanted one red to be unresistored (when trying for the brightest red) then when you tried for purple it would be pink and if you put a resistor on the red to get a nice shade of purple then when the red is by itself it would not be as bright. If I get any free time soon I will make a wiring diagram with the DIP switch set up.

The only major problem with those is they are kinda hard to mount. I think I will do this set up on a saber I am working on now.