Dead Tri-Cree LED?

[harmless_toast]

I'm wiring up my second ever tri-Cree LED from TCSS, to convert a "Rey's" Force FX lightsaber following this guide. It's a B/B/W star and I'm wiring them all up in parallel so I didn't bother to check the individual LEDs before soldering the wires on.

Unfortunately once I got it all wired up to the soundboard and tested it with the battery pack, I noticed that only the two blue LEDs were coming on. I unsoldered the contacts for the white LED and tested it with a button cell battery, but haven't been able to get it to light up at all.

Could I have blown it out while soldering? I don't think I ever touched the LED module itself. Or is there a chance I just received a defective star?

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

What are you powering it with?

[harmless_toast]

It's being powered by the 3 AAs connected to the stock Force FX soundcard. According to the conversion guide I'm following, you don't need resistors with this setup, and I thought white LEDs need less resistance anyway? Or am I misunderstanding that?

Then once I saw it wasn't working, I unsoldered it and tested it with a little 3v button cell battery that I keep taped to a couple of wires for testing situations like this (and which lit up the blue LEDs no problem).

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

It's being powered by the 3 AAs connected to the stock Force FX soundcard. According to the conversion guide I'm following, you don't need resistors with this setup, and I thought white LEDs need less resistance anyway? Or am I misunderstanding that?

Then once I saw it wasn't working, I unsoldered it and tested it with a little 3v button cell battery that I keep taped to a couple of wires for testing situations like this (and which lit up the blue LEDs no problem).

There is NO WAY that 3 AA’s can properly power a Tri-Cree. It may be able to light them up, but not at anywhere near full power. Also, you would need a resistor on the White (and the Blues). My guess is you may have popped the White LED.