Parts Selection Help Needed

[Silverwing]

Hello all.

Im ready to purchase my parts to build my first lightsaber. Wiring is not my problem, my problem is what parts! I know from reading the forums what is good vs. what is better etc. and so forth, so I know a few things/features I want in my saber, which I will order MHS parts for.

I want to use a green LuxV. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for brightness.) I want it to have sound but with Corbin boards, Ultrasound, and lastly CF's sold out all over the place, I dont know what to do.

That said if anyone has an older CF board they want to sell, tell me! I just need sound. I dont want to strip my MR boards because I plan on using them when I convert them later on.

Like I said, I dont know what I need to achieve my goal.

Please lend your help to a padawan learner.

[DarthFender]

Silverwing. Currently the Corbin lux driver is in stock. But, as far as I know it will not stand up the the voltage needed to drive the LuxV. As far as soubnd goes...

You might be able to find the MR Construction Kit (SW-616) at a Radio Shack near you. They are currently selling for about $50. You could wire that with a DPST or DPDT switch and a regulator to the sound board. You wouldn't get the cool ramp-up ignition/retraction effect, but it will be bright.

Or you could forget the LuxV untill the next batch of CF is in. and just use a LuxIII with the corbin driver (latching). That setup is what I'm using right now, it I gotta say.. .the LuxIII is considerably brighter than a stock sw-616 (Joe Jedi).

Best part about the Joe Jedi sound board is that you can choose "light" or "dark" sound banks. Anyways that's a couple of options for ya. Hell, if all you need is sound to "tide you over" until the next batch of CF, you could get a $20 hasbro saber. I you go that way... get the Force action ones they have OK sound and can directly drive the Lux III (a little underpowered).

[Novastar]

Yikes, I have to step in here.

That is NOT correct: Corbin's board is PERFECTLY capable of handling the voltage (and current) that the Lux V desires.

However, one caveat of Corbin's board is that it will drive essentially at a nice even 1A (1000ma), and that is the way it is. It is not configurable.

This means--if you want a Lux V, and you use Corbin's board with it--you will be over-driving the Lux V (which prefers 700ma, ideally). This is not inherently bad. In fact--it's probably a good thing. But it is good to know that you will want to very much properly heatsink the LED.

Now tying in SOUND with a Lux V is an ENTIRELY new story. The Lux V requires a bare minimum of 6.8v to run, and you would probably be better off giving it 7.2v or more. That voltage is WAAAY out of sync with any MR Force FX (or Joe Jedi) board, and you will kill it with so much voltage.

There are ways to tie it all together (using a relay), but it's pretty complex for a beginner.

My advice:

* Force FX board
* Luxeon III (either "color side", lol dark or light)
* 3.6v to 4.5v

That's about it. Essentially, I think you should convert your MRs FIRST... and THEN get all complex with a custom saber. You can have the conversion done for you, or DIY. I suggest DIY for the experience.

[Silverwing]

Thanks you guys for your advice.

CUSTOM-

So far this is what I've decided: I'm getting the parts I need for my MHS and going to take some prelim steps planning the electronics with help from a friend who is a machinist and electronics whiz; he's the one that taught me how to work with my guitar's pickups and such.

Okay, I think Im about to show my newbie-ness but is TCSS's "Luxeon 3w driver" what you all refer to as Corbin's board? Because I've ordered one of those because i like the idea of ramping up and the clash effect. That said, I went to radio shack today and picked up a momentary pressbutton switch along with an on/off pushbutton switch for use with it.

Im thinking my first custom may be (for now) silent.

As for sound... I went thru some junk and managed to find an OLD Luke ROTJ hasbro circa 1995. Novastar, perhaps you can lend some help as to how I can use that in conjuction with that driver?


FX CONVERSION-

HOWEVER I think I'll take Novastar's advice and gut my Anakin ROTS FIRST because I looked over Ultrasabers' tutorial and it looks simple enough. Do you guys know where I can get a conversion kit for it? the only ones on TCSS right now are Maul and Luke, and Ultrasabers does not have one for it anymore.