Red/Orange underdriven

[Stinky Bantha]

I was thinking about putting together a saber with a R/0 LED and driving it with a buck puck. Do you think there would be that noticeable a drop in brightness over something like a resistored setup?

[Novastar]

Well, taking into consideration that a Lux III red-O is "looking" for 1540ma to be at (basically) its max continuous and brightest current...

...it all depends on what puck/buck you'll be using.

I'm going to assume you're thinking of purchasing the one Tim is selling that is 1000ma. It should work just fine, and give you a longer battery life.

If you're dead set on getting close to 1540... you could always wire 2 of the 700ma together in a specific way to get a total of 1400ma going in. You would NEVER visually notice the difference between 1540 and 1400 on the same LED. Never.

You visually *might* on 1000ma vs. 1540ma. Maybe.

[Stinky Bantha]

I didn't realize you could wire up two of the pucks to get a higher total current, but now that I think of it, it makes sense. I'll probably just go with the 1000ma puck, since I'm trying to put together a couple of relatively cheap sabers.

I know you have or had a Red or R/0 saber powered by CF. Have you tried running it at different amperages to see the effects on the brightness?

[Novastar]

My CF is v1.2, so it maxxes out at 1.3A...

But essentially, no, I have not tried it at differing current draws. What I can tell you from experience with sabers of many driver types, LED types, diffuser types, optic types, etc. --- is that things like a range from 100ma to 400ma or so... don't make much of a difference to our human EYES.

Sure, on a piece of hardware, you can read data telling you which is "brighter"... but I cannot honestly tell the difference between:

* an FX-driven saber on 4.5v Alkaline
* an FX-driven saber on 3.6v Li-Ion
* a Corbin board on 6v Alkaline
* a Corbin board on 3.6v Li-Ion

Thus far, the ONLY brightness difference I've been able to detect--is on my Plecter boards driving at 1.3A over other LEDs of the same color driven at much lower currents.

You will only be able to tell a distinct difference on something where the current is cut in half (i.e. if you ran a Lux III Red at 700ma instead of 1500).

Finally, remember that each LED is different, and thus--each driver must suit the action to the word, word to the action.