new persontrying to build first saber

[shaas0927]

hello Im building my first saber, and I have a couple of questions
1 Will a thinner wire ie 22-2 and a 5 watt resistor make the led dimmer the reason Im asking is i was wondering if the wires natural resistance would be a factor in the short run being used in a hilt?

2 I tried to use a 3 amp switch from radio shack( liked how it looked) and it didnt work is 3 amp not strong enough?

3 Where can I find a resistor chart ?

by the way I have been reading the forums for a while nowand I have learned alot.
thanks
scott
let the butchering of the noob begin

[xwingband]

No you're cool. Usually we can tell when a n00b has done some research and hasn't just dropped in to say "Tell me everything I need to know in one thread."

1) Wire... doesn't matter a stitch other than ease of soldering it all together. I actually need to get some different kinds because I used some 18 guage solid and it made my life so difficult on a recent saber.

The natural resistance is negligible, in fact the variance from LED to LED is more than wire could ever do.

2) We'd need to know more to figure that one out. What style was it. SImply saying 3 amps isn't enough to describe what might be wrong.

3) There is one stickied in one of the LED forums. It's easy to figured out though it's voltage over the diode (battery voltage - LED forward voltage) divided by the amperage you'd want.

[shaas0927]

thanks for the info xwing by the way here is the switch i used
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

I think I'm just going to use one from the store I know they'll work but id still like to know what happened

thanks

[xwingband]

That switch should work. Has to be some wiring issue.

[Marsupial]

What resistance did you use? I see you mentionned its 5W, but if you're running a 75 ohm, here's your problem - a too big resistor will dim the led. You're in the right way tough trying to figure out how to calculate it.

Another thing to verify is the batteries themselves. Make sure you're having ennough juice coming out of it.

In fact, led being dim is most likely a wrong battery output / resistor in your circuit. Therefore, without more info on your specific configuration, its hard to give advices.

[shaas0927]

2.2ohm this is the resistor THat came with the electronics What Im trying to do is savange an older led saber that I bought about a year ago from a different sight and build a custom saber with the electronis from it

That switch is momentary. I bought one thinking that it would work with a MR board. I thought that EL with no driver had to be latching.

Does it light up at all when you hold the switch?

[Yoiaholic]

That switch is momentary. I bought one thinking that it would work with a MR board. I thought that EL with no driver had to be latching.

Does it light up at all when you hold the switch?

I have one. It is not momentary. Clearly it states it is push on/push off. There are momentary switches like that at RS but the one he linked is not one of them.

I see that it clearly says on/off. The fact is that I'm in RS a couple times a week to bs with a pal and I've never seen a latching switch in that model. I've looked. I was just trying to help troubleshoot.

After all it does say that he's building his first saber. If he bought it from the store, maybe he picked up the wrong one and then linked to the wrong switch. I wont know until he responds.

[shaas0927]

no its on off Ive even double checked the package and then Ieven pushed the button a couple of times to here the "click" Ive also been reading the forums since oct.
btw thanks everyone for the help