Yes, Matt you are correct... you do not want to feed ~5v or ~6v into LEDs (in this case, the LEDEngin reds/ambers) that are best with ~3 or ~3.5v max...
BTW... a quick lesson in batteries and how they are rated for "draw"... you'll usually see something like "2C" or "1.5C" or something if a spec sheet is offered.
What that means is "2 x the current/present capacity" and "1.5 x the present capacity"...
Therefore... if your cells are at max charge and have:
a 1500mAh rating... 2 x that (or 2C) would be 3A.
a 1500mAh rating... 1.5 x that (or 2C) would be 2250mA.
However... don't forget that the total capacity (quite naturally, duh!!) lowers as you use the batteries (again, DUH)... and therefore, you max draw will decrease as the cells get used up.
This is why you want a "C" rating (amp draw) that is fairly higher than the maximum you ever wish to draw. Since (hopefully) when your pack is even at 50% capacity... you may still be able to draw what is needed.
Almost lastly, I'll just say... when you have 4 dies (LEDEngins that "we" are using--we as in saber dudes)... you can wire:
* in series
* in parallel
* a mixture of these (what I like to call "paraseries" or "seriallel", lol)
FOR LEDS:
Wiring in series "keeps" the required amp draw, but DOUBLES voltage requirements...
Wiring in parallel "keeps" the voltage requirements but DOUBLES required amp draw...
For example...
LED = it wants ~3v @ 1A
Series of 2 of those LEDs = ~6v @ 1A needed/being drawn
Parallel of 2 of those LEDs = ~3v @ 2A needed/being drawn
Finally... now that I've said a THRONG... I'll close by saying that your choice of how you'll wire the dies will determine how much voltage and amp draw is going on. In some cases (of course) it's prohibitive...
Some boards can't handle ~7.4v... so you'd go in parallel...
Some boards can't handle ~4A... so you'd go in series...
And if you have problems feeding a device both ~7.4v ***AND*** are asking it to spit out ~4A--and it can't... uh oh!! Yer in trouble, and you probably need to do SOMEthing with "paraseries" or "seriallel"... lol. (if that even works)...
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