Resistance Provided by MR soundboard?

[Master Valon]

I have the two-wire switch variant of the 2005 MR Mace Windu FX soundboard, and was wondering if I would run a Lux III off if it at 6V, how much resistance it would provide to the circuit, and if I would still need a resistor to protect the led. Thanks!

[cardcollector]

You might want to think about using a regulator to protect the board. MR boards generally don't like more than 5V....

[Master Valon]

Umm... sorry to sound like a noob, but... what's a regulator? Is it like a buckpuck?

[cardcollector]

A regulator is something that keeps a specified amount of voltage going to the circuit. In this case you would want to use a 5v regulator.

[Master Valon]

O OK. So, where may I purchase one of these fine pieces of equipment? Would my local Radio Shack carry these?

[Rhyen Skytracker]

Yes, Radio Shack should have a 5V regulator.

[Novastar]

Runtime can (roughly) be calculated by looking at the mAh (NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH "mA", which is current)... rating of the cells... then getting an idea of how much juice you're generally drawing when the saber is on (it will probably be around 1.1A or something, possibly a bit more). Then, you simply divide mAh (millampere hours) by your draw.

For example...
If you have "2600mAh" rated cells...
And you are basically drawing ~1A because of your LED, circuit, indicators, speaker, blah blah blah...
You are likely to get ~2.6 hours of runtime.
As always, your mileage may vary, due to companies "over-rating" themselves, and/or unexpected/uncalculated extras. But in general--unless you miscalculate HORRIBLY, you won't see a giant difference.

Usually, you can expect an "average bear" saber to run for ~2 hours. Not to mention, I usually (purposely) UNDER-calculate, and just assume I'll "magically" get LESS runtime from a saber... say 25% less... and then I'm rarely surprised if a saber runs outta da juice...

[Azmaria Dei]

when doing your calculations, generallising most soundboards as 300mA and the econo boards as 150mA is pretty safe. with your setup you're probably looking at ~1300mA draw with 850mAh batteries so i would say 30-40 minutes.

Nova - welcome back! it's good to see you posting here again! ^_^

[Master Valon]

Ok great thats a good formula to know Nova, thanks a lot! Azmaria, thanks for doing the calculations for me, I was expecting a little bit more out of these batteries. A recharge port would work with Ni-MHs, correct? If it does, it would be much more convenient to simply plug my saber in like a cell phone, rather tan have to deconstruct my beauty every 35 min. of runtime!

[Silver Serpent]

Yes you can wire in NiMH with a recharge port. Just make sure you have the right charger and plug adapter for them, and don't get the Li-ion by mistake.