Ezra inspired saber build for son...sound board advice?

[FenixFire]

Yeah, I thought it was short too. I put the batteries on my multimeter and they were all at 0.81v when the blue finally cut out, I since learned this is the cut off voltage for AAA batteries. Though if you wait 30 minutes you can get another 2-3 minutes of purple and an additional 5-6 of blue only. I assume the power draw is very high and as the voltage drops the AAA's just can't keep up. I only base that suspicion on the spec sheet I pulled up on the standard Duracell (900mA for 1 hour run time; Energizer Max has a 1250mA with 1 hour runtime rating)...looks like I will be investing in some rechargeables. Also learned that AAA batteries are designed for an ideal draw of 10mA...blue is at 900mA, red is at 650mA, guess that is a little higher than designed for...

Though he already wants to start on a new build...two matching hilts one with a silver blade and one with a gold blade...that lock together for a dual blade...what have I started!

[CET]

I've never run my charges out, but I've had them going for nearly an hour.

Yes, you've created a monster!

[FenixFire]

[FenixFire]

[darth_chasm]

That's one happy camper Nice!

[Kouri]

Perhaps bump up resistance on the LEDs a bit? I've got an RGB LED with red and green wired up, combined current maybe 1500mA, and the saber lasts an hour or two on three AAA alkalines. Or perhaps there's something in the circuit pulling power even when the LEDs are off.

[FenixFire]

I did notice that if I let it sit over night he can use it for another 5 minutes or so. Pull them out ant put them back in and he gets a few more minutes. Blue alone has been on for over an hour after the purple started shutting off. I did check and did not find any more shorts. Blue is running at 900mA red is about 650mA.

[Silver Serpent]

If you want better runtimes, you'll probably want to look at li-ions. You can easily get an hour's worth of play out of a single 18650 cell. Longer if you stick to a single die.

With a Tri-Rebel, I've found that the Red runs down my batteries faster than the other colors. I'm assuming that's due to the extra wasted energy from the resistor.