Possibility ???

[Wildfyre]

First, I would like to admit that I have been lurking on these forums as an observer for years. Throughout those years every question I have had has been answered without me having to actually post. (*kudos to the forums*) I recently had the idea to make a saber hilt with a reveal of 2 crystals. I know I'm not the first to think of this, and the basics of electronics make the majority of the wiring easy, yet I've run into an obstacle that I don't have an immediate answer for, and have yet to find an answer for on the forums. Is there a way to drive a 3rd RGB LED (1 blade LED and 2 RGB accent LEDs). The thing that actually makes this question difficult is that I want to drive the color independently, both from the blade and from each other. My favored boards are Plector Labs boards and if this is possible it will be using the newest Crystal Focus V. 8.+. I have read, and re-read the manual for the Crystal Focus, crystal shard, and petit crouton sound boards to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious but I wanted to ask this here prior to trying to ask Erv himself. Again, many thanks to this community, you are a bunch of brilliant, out-of-the-box, thinkers and is anyone came help me bring my concept to reality its you guys and girls.

~WildFyre

[Greenie]

My current build is a NB3 running two LEDs for two crystals one red main LED and a white FOC. So I would think the more complex PC, CF or CS can accommodate what you are aiming for. Someone with more experience with those boards may be able to advise you better.

[Wildfyre]

Greenie, thank you for your response. I am a little confused if you are talking about accent LEDs or main LEDs for the blade. I know that with the newer CF boards you can drive multi di LEDs such as the tri cree/tri rebel, and with the Color Xtender board I can drive the tri/quad LEDs, but on a more simple basics, im asking if there is a way to run 3 tri LEDS or basically a total of 9 color channels. the CF 8 has the ability as does the crystal shard, to do 6 channels: 3 to the main LED and 3 to an accent LED from separate pads.
CF8.jpg
Now imagine a second RGB accent LED running independently from the first one OR the blade... that's the best way I think I can describe it.
thank you again for your response.

[rlobrecht]

As far as I know, the CFv8 only supports color changing a single RGB accent LED. I wonder if you could do something with the accent LED sequencer to pseudo color mix a second RGB accent LED?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

You could theoretically run 2 accent RGB LEDs off of a CF v8, it would take a lot of work (and wiring) and programming to get it to work the way you want though.

[Wildfyre]

I think I Understand what you are saying. If I use 3 of the PLI/accent LED pads outlined in red in the picture below, and I tinker with the LED sequencing configuration for the PLI setting I could in theory create a blended color on an RGB LED...
AccentPLI LED pads.jpg

Theoretically that is possible. Thank you FJK!!! with that being said if that is the only route I can take to independently drive both of these RGB accent LEDs it will only retain that color per sound font. meaning if I use the 10x color presets using the aux and power switches the LED sequencer wont be affected meaning only the 1 accent LED and the main blade LED will change colors. I'm starting to think that it may be easier, until ERV comes out with a new version of the board that allows is to have a 3rd set of pads for color-change, to have white Accent LEDs and a way to quickly and easily change a colored crystal.
as a reference you can see the color change in this video by Rob Petkau (MADCOW), thank you and God bless you Rob.
at about 2:28


Again thank you FJK and anyone else's comment/ideas are greatly appreciated.

[Wildfyre]

So after some thought, and a hint from my wife who is currently in school to become an electrical engineer, I thought up a second way to independently run 2 RGB accent LEDS. I would love comments and feedback though. So here's the idea; use 2x 6pole 5 position rotary microswitches. One to drive each LED. The microswitch looks like this for those who have a hard time visualizing it.
$_3.jpg
And
$_3-1.jpg
They are tiny and cheap on ebay here:
http://m.ebay.com/itm/181266348796?_...25.m3641.l6368

Theoretically I should be able to drive them with 4 color presets, using splicing and resistors, and the press in to turn them off. I could then run them from a single accent LED pad to mirror the pulse option or flash from Fox but still be independent on color...
Any thoughts or suggestions? Thank you again

[rlobrecht]

I think that would work, but you'll end up with a bunch of wires to cram inside.

[xl97]

not to mention difficulty soldering that... (and the additional pcb or perf board to secure it too)

[Wildfyre]

Soldering luckily is one of my strong points. I'm a helicopter electrician by trade so I've hade years of training and Soldering in less than optimal situations.
Although, that route really wasn't the way I wanted to go, asthetically.
After speaking with Erv' Plector from Plector labs, it would be more economical as well as more in line with my original idea to wire the RGB accent LEDS for the crystals from the PLI/Accenture LED pads and just tweak the sequencing to achieve the colors I want. (Similar to the way the PICO Crumble soundboard does its color changing) the only hurdle or exception now is that I will have to save separate color combinations saved to different sound fonts