Hyperdyne/Luxeon System comparison

[Eandori]

Ok, here's the start of that information I've been promising for awhile. This is not the comparison video YET, just a quick video to set up the groundwork for the comparison. In this video I have shown what I have on hand for Blue Hyperdyne. Some facts about it's operation and some video of the internal hardware.

More videos will be shown later, and when everything is proper for a comparison, then the comparison will finally happen.

JEDIBUM... I need that light meter from you. I also need the values we discussed which are measured light values at 10 cm from the blade in a dark room at 3 locations (near the hilt, middle of blade, and top of blade.) I would also very much like to get some current measurements on a working blue Hyperblade at full power from somebody else, maybe you. I need to verify the hardware I have now is in working order.

Without further ado, here's the first level setting video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypLIM5dG4To

[Hasid Lafre]

When you talk in the first part of the video you so remind me of that painter guy from the old pbs shows

[Eandori]

LOL! Definitely not the response I was expecting. Very funny. "and... here's a happy little tree..."

I believe the batteries that came with this saber are 7.2v Lithium Ion at 750mAh of capacity. That means the given battery pack should provide .750 amps for 1 hour before going dead. Since the setup roughly uses twice that current, we would expect the saber to last around 30 min... And in fact... I timed the saber from full charge to self powering off at 34 min 20 seconds.

This means a few things... first of all, Hyperdynes are 3x the duration I typically heard quoted. I heard (10 min run at full power) again and again. Well, at least this one looks more like ~30 min. Not 10.

This also means with a bigger capacity battery a Hyperdyne could get some very decent run time. With some 2400 mAh lithium ion cells (like the panasonic 18650's) a Hyperdyne lightsaber should last about an hour and a half on a full charge. Based on the testing I have done, that would be my educated guess to the run time with a better battery.

I should note though, the Lithium Ion cells were warm after the 34 min run. The blade was warm too. Jim Shiima is definitely driving those in-blade LED's pretty hard. I have to wonder if he intentionally put a smaller battery in the Hyperblade so it would not get too hot? If I had to guess, I would guess that the setup could run for much longer before worrying about heat. It was only warm. Not hot.

[Hasid Lafre]

Well you pritty much answered my question there. 30 min run time is still rubbish.

[Novastar]

With a little perspective, 30 minutes is ok for most usages. True, I wouldn't like it (I like 2 hours or more), but 30 minutes would suffice for playing around.

And listen to what Edwin just said... if the H-blades had a pack of 18650s... they'd probably do just fine.

MY guess is that Jim didn't use that pack... because it's pretty expensive all things considered. But it's just a guess. I use the dual 18650 packs (for 7.2 or 7.4v) in the Flange III sabers... and yes, they get like 3 hours of run time. That is with flickering and extra LEDs and all that... on LEDs that are asking "1.5A, please", lol.

So... all things considered... I could have mentioned that higher mah rated cells would last longer. But... um... that's pretty obvious, all things considered.

I mean... does ANYONE think that (for example) an Alkaline AA cell will ever last as long as... say... a lead-acid CAR battery? No. Size matters, and energy density as well.

[Eandori]

Thanks Novastar, you brought up a good point that I wanted to mention but forgot to write so far.

None of my comparisons or tests or data is meant to be negative in any way to Novastar's comparison, Jedibum's comparison, etc. I'm simply making an effort to take qualitive data, show facts about the setup, and answer other questions that fans on both sides have been asking or wondering about.

My videos and posts in this thread are entirely meant to just call it like it is with verified facts. That's all. I'm going to try my best to avoid opinions and just show what the reality of each setup is. Everybody who reads/watches can draw their own conclusions.

I've been learning from Novastar, Erv', and many others on these boards for awhile now about Luxeon setups. Lately I've been in direct contact with Mark Cheng and Jedibum getting information about Hyperblades. I'm making a large effort here to ensure that each system type is working PROPERLY before I do any comparisons.

Having said that, if any of you have questions or information about something I need to check, or change or verify, please feel free to list it here. The actual comparison will happen AFTER I have verified both setups are working properly.

Cheers,

[Eandori]

I've been informed that to hit full brightness for the blue Hyperblade setup I need an 11v battery. So I'm planning on building a 9x AA cell battery (10.8v rated) and I'll connect that to the blue Hyperblade system for future tests.

I believe that each Lithium Ion cell is actually 3.6v and 750mA that Hyperdyne uses by default in their setups. So their "3 cell" pack is actually the same rated voltage... 10.8v So that should be totally safe. Only difference is I'll probably use 2500mAh NiMH cells so I'll get much more runtime.

If the current draw stays the same (average 1.5A on max setting) then we should expect the blue Hyperblade to last for 100 min on a full charge with the 9x AA battery I'll make.

2500mAh/1500mA = 1.67h or 1 hour and 40 min of expected runtime (if the current stays at 1.5A)

BUT.... they said the blade will be brighter. So that most likely means more current is used which will drop the runtime. So I'll just have to see how much juice that system pulls out of the battery at 11v. Remember, the run time is DIRECTLY TIED to the current taken from the battery.

Edit: one more quick note.... this DOES mean though that if the Hyperblade was built with a 7.2v battery at 2500mAh it should last over an hour and a half before going dead. So right off the bat, we need to throw all that stuff about 10 min run at full charge out the window. It's not true... it depends on your setup.

[Novastar]

Did "they" tell you what version the H-blade blue one was supposed to be? I asked for clarification on that but no one spoke up. I always thought it was a version 1 since version 1 seemed to be sold with the 7.2v battery, and v2 with the 11.1v. At least on the website.

Maybe it means that a version difference is just more voltage from one version to the next--if you can just put an 11.1v pack in there? I don't know. Whatever the case, I didn't (VISUALLY) find the green at 11.1v to be all that much brighter than the blue at 7.2v, so I'm not sure what that is all about. Maybe it was due to the damage you said you found on the sabers? Although the green seemed ok.

And again, as to the runtimes--well, obviously the larger cells + larger mah ratings will yield longer run times. And naturally it should be comparable if a Luxeon style saber is doing 1500ma and then we have an H-blade doing 1500ma... the battery run time should be the same... energy is energy, power draw is power draw.

I think the issue was simply what was the truth--low mah rating batteries in the sabers? I mean neither of those packs were higher than 750mah, right? I've never tried packs with such low energy density, I only use the 18650s, so... there you have it. It's like hey if a lux owner used a 750mah pack... he/she would get about 3/4 of an hour runtime (@ 1A draw). Duh. At 1.5A draw... just like you said, around 30 minutes.

[Blazemann]

Where at Hyperdyne can I buy a blade like this? I can't find them... Did they stop making them?

[Eandori]

I believe they said these boards are version 2, and the blades might be too. They said to just switch out the 7.2v battery for an 11v battery. Maybe I should double check first... Don't want to fry anything.