Wiring a puck!

[chase]

ok...I'm buying a 700mA puck for my 5w cyan and since it has about 3984 leads coming out of it...which leads do I use for wiring everything up? I looked up this on the search but couldn't find anything so I figured it would benefit someone other than me.

[xwingband]

http://www.luxeonstar.com/3021-buckpuck.pdf

Forget the control leads. Snip them... Use the LED and power leads. Put a switch on the power leads. Pretty simple.

[Wu-Li Ruwashii]

I've just begun construction on my new saber and had some trouble. Wiring the buckpuck seems easy enough-- it was more or less just like X-Wing said, forget about the controls just wire the power leads, switch and off you go.

However, I got all that taken of and presto the K2 ignites a vibrant green, the switch works pefectly.... then tragedy strikes.

I noticed the area around where the battery was housed felt warm, then way hot! By the time I had removed the rechargeable battery pack it was melted to a gooey mess! It took all of 15 seconds.

I thought I had everything working. I'm running a green K2 with a buckpuck and was using the 4.8V 4AAA 1000mAh recharge pack. Any reason the battery pack would go nuclear on me??? Any help is appreciated, I've been reading these foums for months trying to eliminate the noobie learning curve and thought I had it down.

Perhaps my overconfidence is my weakness...

[xwingband]

You have a short somewhere. When that happens you are right that it can melt the holder pretty fast... good way to make fire or ruin some batteries.

You need to check that all your joints were isolated. All wires heatshrinked?

[gman666]

I have a quick question also and I didn't find it when I used search. Can I use a MR sound board with a puck and do I wire it like I was using a regular driver? Do I have to worry about the volts frying the board if I am just using it for sound?

Thanks!

Greg.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

youll have to run the board at whatever the voltage requirements are, any more will possibly fry the sound board. so a dpdt latching switch, would run the puck and led on one side of switch, and the other the soundboard, but youll need a regulater on that lead to drop the voltage down to the boards limits.

[Wu-Li Ruwashii]

I suspect that when I pushed everything into the hilt one of my joints got a little exposed and maybe made contact with the hilt. If I'm not mistaken that could be enough to cause a short...

I'll get hold of a new pack and some heatshrink wrap and make sure it does not happen again. Luckily, only the battery got fried, eveything else seems to be in good working order.

What is the best way to secure and isolate the joints?

[Lord Maul]

Heatshrink tubing works best, but you could use electrical tape.

[Jedi-Loreen]

Electrical tape is better than nothing, but compared to heat shrink, it's bulkier, doesn't always stay put, and leaves sticky residue when it shifts.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

i have been usin heatshrink on all soldered wire connections for a while now. its the best and most durable to use. but in a extreme pinch, electrical tape will suffice. before i started with shrink tubing, thats all i ever used, with no probs at all. so i know it will work out, but the tubing stuff is best.