What is the Brightest LED and Battery combo

[airsoftmode]

Hi, i just bought my first saber from tim. Im using a direct connection to the led with the standard 4aaa battery holder and 3w green led and 10 degree lens. Im very pleased with the machined parts there great quality, and the assembly was very easy, the holes were just were i wanted them. However, although the green 3w led i got creates a blade that is much brighter than my parks el blue im wondering how I can max out my next sabers brightness. Basically I want my next saber to be as bright as I can possibly make it, so what do I need to do, what is the best led, battery voltage, and collor to go with. Thanks for the help bye

[Enolmano]

what I understand of your post i seems like you don't use any resistor, and that's not very good for the luxeon. You can fry it. The blade are bright enough with a resistor.

If you want a really bright blade you should get a 5 watt. There are only three colors avaliable with 5 watt: green, cyan and blue. All of these are mad-bright.
You could also get a hyperblade, but they are wickedly expensive and no one have really tested the blades duelability.

EDIT:Isn't there a white 5 watt?

[james3]

Welcome to TCSS. The topic title just begs for a flaming though.

Enolmano pretty much nailed it. You can get a 5 watt royal blue, blue, cyan, green, or white.

I am going to guess that your direct connection includes the 2.2 ohm resistor that is sold in the kit.

There are some options on how to drive or for that matter overdrive the LEDs to get some happy results. It really just depends on what you want to do.

[airsoftmode]

Yeah im using the 2.2 ohm resistor that comes in the kit. If I go with a blue 5w LED what voltage and mah battery do I need and what resistor. Thanks for the help

[supertrogdor]

Do Clo once gave us a formula for how to calculate this, but i always used this

http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

[xwingband]

Yeah im using the 2.2 ohm resistor that comes in the kit. If I go with a blue 5w LED what voltage and mah battery do I need and what resistor. Thanks for the help

Forget what trog posted... how about the stickied topic in this very forum?

http://thecustomsa.web133.discountas...pic.php?t=1624

[james3]

Yep. Those are all good options.

I can tell ya that a bin 4 blue and white looks awesome with a buckpuck. I still want to do some more but that won't be for a while.

[airsoftmode]

Ok couple questions, first of all total noob question, what is a buckpuck? Next does blue or royal blue in the 5w look brighter to the human eye. Also, does the battery voltage or amperage I use effect the brightness of the LED. Finally, i cant make much sense of that chart in the sticky link, can anyone just help me out and let me know the optimal voltage and resistor to use? Thanks a lot for the help guys u rock

[xwingband]

Voltage doesn't affect brightness until you are below the forward voltage. When you are above it don't matter a danged bit. The amperage is what matters.

Follow the chart. It's meant to show the resistor you use for the battery pack you have. If you want to use a 5W you can't use any lower than the 6.8V forward voltage of it and expect optimal brightness.

The simple answer is with a resistor there is no one optimal setup. Theoretically they are all the same. If you want to get technical with optimal battery life the lowest resistor you can use is best, but again that doesn't change the brightness.

For the buckpuck... look at the FAQ in the "general store Q&A" forum.

[james3]

A resistor is a nice cheap quick and easy way to do a LED setup. If that is how you want to get-er-done then go with as close to the forward voltage as possible. Doing a 5w setup would mean going with 7 volt pack.

We have gone around in circles about the whole royal blue/blue debate. Everyones eyes will percieve color and brightness differently so asking all of us really don't mean jack as we will all have a different answer.
There really is no better answer.