Multiple LED drivers with a common positive?

[Strydur]

The string blade section should work correctly now.

[Matt Thorn]

Thank you, Tim!

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Hey Matt, have you checked the specs on the bucktoot drivers? They are 10mm in diameter and 19mm long, are you going to have room in the hilt for 6 of them? They also have a minimum voltage requirement of 5 volts, so the stock battery pack may be too little to drive them properly.

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks for the response, Jay-gon. Four bundled together will fit inside the blade holder, the two others can be squeezed in somewhere. But you're right about the voltage. To get the Buck Toots and 66-LED string to work with a Force FX board, I would need a different battery pack, a voltage regulator for the board, and six relays or transistors, so packing all this into a Force FX hilt would require so much modification that it would be easier to start with an empty hilt.

I ended up doing a straightforward 5W LedEngin red conversion so that the guy I did it for would have it in time for a Halloween party where he entertained the children in full Darth Vader costume. He was quite happy with the conversion.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Ah, glad you got it going for the guy....I thought it would be a challenge to get all that into an fX hilt, even with their immense size when compared to an MHS.

[Matt Thorn]

Ah, glad you got it going for the guy....I thought it would be a challenge to get all that into an fX hilt, even with their immense size when compared to an MHS.

Indeed. The direct drive would have worked if I had settled for a smaller number of LEDs. But now that I have this perfectly good LED string, I think I'm going to put it in a 1" blade (this guy wanted a 3/4" blade, but there's no way to hide the edges in such a narrow blade) and do a build from scratch that uses the Buck Toots and a 7.2V li-ion battery pack.

People had been asking (Don't remember if it was here or on fx-sabers) about how to make a really solid plug and socket so you don't pull the guts out of the blade when trying to remove it. For what it's worth, here's how I did it in the 3/4" blade:

Wires soldered and held in place with hot glue.

The plastic shield wouldn't fit into the blade as is, so I cut off enough of it to make it fit.

Drill and tap two holes through the blade and the metal case of the plug.



Screw in two retention screws.

I used an M4 size screw.

I clipped the flanges of the socket, so that it would fit into the 1" IO blade holder, and fixed the socket in place with J-B Weld and hot glue.

This setup is really solid: easy to plug in and remove.

[Skottsaber]

Nice setup with the blade, Matt!

I take it your screw didn't go all the way through? Because it would go through the connector?

Just for general info, the Parks Phase blades have a screw running through the entire blade, but it goes through the PCB, like so:

[Matt Thorn]

Nice setup with the blade, Matt!

I take it your screw didn't go all the way through? Because it would go through the connector?

Correct. There are two short screws on each side.

Just for general info, the Parks Phase blades have a screw running through the entire blade, but it goes through the PCB, like so:

Whoa! First time I ever saw the electronics of a phase blade. I had no idea the driver was built right into the blade. Slick stuff. Makes the HyperBlade seem primitive in contrast. Thanks for that photo.