Question about swapping LED's in CF v4

[NeptuneTQ]

This may be a stupid question... but does the Crystal FOcus board automatically adjust voltage for LED"s? So if I had a quick connect on the CF, could I just swap out to a Seoul P4, Lux V, Lux III LED whenever I want and the board would power it correctly?

[xwingband]

All the CF's need a reboot to swap LED's. So either you can reboot with the aux or a hard reset that I like to just put a kill key in and out.

[NeptuneTQ]

but after a hard reset and the swapping of the LED, it'd be fine? Doesn't matter if I go from a 7v LED to a 4.8v LED?

[eastern57]

Standby 1...

If you're going to be swapping LEDs, you'll have to change the current settings (on the card). Yes, voltage is adjusted by booting/re-booting, but the amount of current is regulated with the config.txt file.

If you don't want to pull the card out every time you change LEDs, you can have certain sound banks set up for which LED you'll be using: e.g. Novastar set to 1A (3w, P4), EPII set to 1500 (k2) etc.. The problem with that is you can't use all sound banks for all LEDs.

If you want to use colors or LEDs that use the same current that would fine: 1A good for 3w (b,g,c,w) and P4s (and 5w if you're cool with overdriving); 1.5A good for k2, 3w r,r/o,a....

You'll even find more work-arounds, but still, as Novastar (and others) always says "it's all about the current"

[Novastar]

Just to chime in a bit here... it can be a little dangerous to have certain fonts aim for currents that are "too high" for LED X. If you (or your pal) accidentally choose a sound font that sports 1500ma instead of 700ma... that's an easy way to kill the LED.

Plus, it wastes a sound font in CF, lol...

I say--just get yourself another SD card, label it, program it, and be done with it!

[CybKnight]

Considering the cost of a SD card, that sounds like very good advice.

[xwingband]

Yes, that's current dependent. Really you'd have to consider it ahead of time. Having specific banks for specific LED's is possible, but like Nova said it'd be a good way to send a lot of current to the wrong LED.

[eastern57]

If you (or your pal) accidentally choose a sound font that sports 1500ma instead of 700ma... that's an easy way to kill the LED.

LOL! ah, yes... friends. I forgot about that. Quick insight to my life: my friends don't touch my sabers, I hang out with sports nerds... and they're rowdy.

That extra card idea is great, I just bought a 2pack (1G) SD cards for $15. Best Buy doesn't even sell anything smaller than 1G

[NeptuneTQ]

Thanks for the all the replies guys! That's really helpful The idea of multiple SD cards is good (I have tons of 512mb and 1gb's sitting around). I'm really only swapping between a Lux V and a P4, which is why i was asking about the voltage. Would overdriving a Lux V make it brighter? then perhaps I can just stick to one SD card then

[Novastar]

Technically, this thread belongs under the LED sections, but... whatever, I don't manage these threads. Just remember to please help Tim keep the TCSS threads organized. This isn't really a "saber sound" issue.

But anyhow... overdriving a Lux V will almost always make it brighter. Eandori knows a great amount regarding this, as he drives one at 1000ma (instead of the mfc. spec'd 700ma). It's brighter. Much brighter than a K2 @ 1500ma.

I've never over-driven a 1500ma K2. I don't know any drivers that pump out (for example) 2A or whatever.

Overdriving a Luxeon III from 1000ma to 1500ma... I don't know what will happen.

Overdriving a Luxeon V from 700ma to something like 1200ma... I don't know what will happen. I think it would die pretty quickly, and the heat would just be MASSIVE.

What is the P4's max cont. current ? Maybe find a nice "middle ground" if you're dead set on using only a single SD.