Red CREE and MR board

[Wickedreamz]

I will be doing a vader conversion in a few days and I have a question about the new Crees that are offered in the store and resistors. In the past I have wired a Royal Blue rebel to an MR board running on 4.8v with no resistor and everything is running fine.

My question is, Will I be okay running a Red cree straight from the board with a 4.8v power source or will I need a resistor. In one of the MR conversion threads there was a post saying it is okay to run straight from the board, but that applied to rebels/p4 leds. I did order a resistor with my vader conversion but the resistor is huge lol. Im not sure Ill have room.

Thanks for any help!

[Whi-ja]

I assume you're using one of the Crees that TCSS sells. If so, you'll have no problems running it off the MR board with no resistor. The Cree red-orange is more red than orange, and my Vader uses 2 Crees run in parallel off the MR board. Using the 2 red-orange Crees ups the lumens from around 100 for a Cree red to more like 230 for the red-orange pair. (I custom-ordered a three-up red-orange Cree LED, wired two to the board, and left the third unconnected.) Here's a pic of a single red:

IMG_6141.jpg
It's a deep red, as you can see. Looks great, and not bad for a first build if you're not as confident in this hobby yet as you might like.


And here's a pic of the dual red-orange Cree near a wall, so you get a sense of the color:
VAder_Red-orange.jpg

And one more to show that the MR board running two Cree red-orange LEDs is more than bright enough to appear fully lit even in a fully lit room (in this case the kitchen...
Vader_RO_Kitchen.jpg

[Wickedreamz]

I assume you're using one of the Crees that TCSS sells. If so, you'll have no problems running it off the MR board with no resistor. The Cree red-orange is more red than orange, and my Vader uses 2 Crees run in parallel off the MR board. Using the 2 red-orange Crees ups the lumens from around 100 for a Cree red to more like 230 for the red-orange pair. (I custom-ordered a three-up red-orange Cree LED, wired two to the board, and left the third unconnected.) Here's a pic of a single red:

IMG_6141.jpg
It's a deep red, as you can see. Looks great, and not bad for a first build if you're not as confident in this hobby yet as you might like.


And here's a pic of the dual red-orange Cree near a wall, so you get a sense of the color:
VAder_Red-orange.jpg

And one more to show that the MR board running two Cree red-orange LEDs is more than bright enough to appear fully lit even in a fully lit room (in this case the kitchen...
Vader_RO_Kitchen.jpg

Whats your battery solution? I'm running 4.8v triple AAA rechargeable batteries. Will that work okay?

[Whi-ja]

The MR boards can usually handle up to 6V before they fry, so 4.8V at max charge will work fine. The board regulates current and voltage to the LEDs, so you only have to worry about the current to the board. If you are using AAAs, though, be aware that every 3W (Cree or similar) LED you use is eating 700-900mA per hour. So they may eat through batteries, which is why rechargeables are so popular in the forums. (The avg alkaline AAA stores around 1800mA hours, and the avg alkaline AA capacity is 2500mA hours if I remember correctly.) the capacity won't affect whether the circuit works, but I mention it in case you decide to use a multiple-LED solution like the one I wrote about above. The trade-off for that brightness, I you use AAAs, is swapping out batteries more often due to their lower capacity. I use rechargeable AAs whenever I don't include a recharge port since the client can find them on the market easily to augment or replace the batteries for lengthy uses like cosplay at shows.

[Zeni]

Hi everyone and sorry for the mini "necroposting"...
I was wondering if the same wiring concept would be appliable to an Amber tri-cree powered by a MR soundboard...
Sorry for the noobish question but I AM a noob!

Really thanks for suggestions!

Zeni

[Whi-ja]

Sure, that should be fine if you're talking about wiring a tri-Cree to an MR board. But like I said, you'll want to wire only two of the three LED dice on the tri-Cree; the MR board doesn't really put out enough current to power all three.

[Miraluka]

I'm actually really surprised by how red those red orange LEDs are.

[Zeni]

Many thanks for the kind reply!
So, I can expect to gain lumens connecting in series the two leds instead of use a single amber cree... wonderful!
This forum is a mine of learnings.
So, my idea is: 4x1.5 AAA rechargeble batteries (6v) - recharge port - latching sw - tri amber xp-e2 and -of course- a speaker. Reading the forum it could work.
Now since I'm a total soldering noob I finally have all the chances to fry my board! :P

[DarthDimitri]

hello! i will be wireing the tri led in parallel and i need the schematics. also how to wire the led.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

A few MR board schematics: http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com...iring-Diagrams Just so know, the MR boards cannot provide enough current to effectively run two led's in parallel, nor can they run them in series as the voltage required for a series connection with burn out the board. If you're using red, red-orange or amber led's, then you can run them in series or parallel, but the greens, blues, and whites need too much voltage and current and will be under driven by an MR board.