Wiring a Darth Maul for Lux III

**Forcestruck** · 08-29-2008, 05:46 PM

Hello! I've been on FX-Sabers for almost two months but I have been reading these forums for a little longer, just haven't posted until recently. I have been reading and searching for the last two days and I think I have a good grasp of everything but I want to post my idea before I try it and possibly burn out a sound board.

I have a full double maul that I bought used with broken blades and without battery packs. The remaining portion of the blades and the sound boards do work, that was demonstrated to me, so I know the electronics are fine. I want to convert them to Lux III Red and install new blades using the TCSS conversion kits but I have read that the MR Sith sound boards do not drive the Red Lux IIIs to their full potential. I also know that I need to keep the volts below 5 or risk burning them out.

Two ideas:

1. I have read that two 700ma buckpucks will provide the full 1400ma that the Lux IIIs want and drive them at their full potential. Can I use a 4.8V AA 2600mAh NIMH Rechargeable battery pack and go to two separate 700 ma buckpucks and connect the MR soundboard to one of them? Something like this:

Battery--->Buckpuck 1--->MR Soundboard--->LED and then
Battery--->Buckpuck 2--->LED

2. Would I even notice an increase in brightness from driving the Lux III from two buckpucks or should I just use the MR soundboard and just go from the 4.8V AA 2600mAh NIMH Rechargeable battery pack into the MR soundboard and then to the LED? I know it can handle the volts but what about the ma?

Thank you all in advance for your time.

**Arm on Fire** · 08-29-2008, 06:15 PM

1.first MR boards will take a 6V pack no problem (4 AAA or 4AA).I beleve if you want to use the pucks and the MR board they must be wired in parallel to the power source. Im pretty sure the pucks will not drive the sound board and/or the sound board will not drive the pucks.

2. unless you hold the 2 differnt setups side by side you wont ever know the difference.
but if you drive it to the recomended 1400 you will know you have the optimal setup and wont always be wondering what if.

**Forcestruck** · 08-29-2008, 09:08 PM

Im pretty sure the pucks will not drive the sound board and/or the sound board will not drive the pucks.

Ah ok. I saw one thread where someone mentioned using the pucks to drive the soundboard and nobody said anything so I thought it was ok, but now I see that everywhere else agrees with what you say. Thanks, that's good to know.

Does anyone know what the ma is the MR soundboard will regulate the power to? Has anyone wired a puck and soundboard in series to an LED?

**Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie** · 08-29-2008, 09:13 PM

I got a red Lux III on my last order, just for fun, and I've been playing around with it.

First, I set up one sound bank in my Crystal Focus to run at 1500 mA. This thing is really bright! I really love the rich saturated color of it.

The only problem is that a red blade just didn't look right in my brass saber, so I put in in my MHS saber, running off a 1000mA buckpuck. It's still very bright. I'm sure that if you could measure the lumen output, you could see the difference, but I really can't tell.

I'd say that if you ran a Lux III at 1000 mA, you would still have an impressive saber. I was carrying mine at Fan Expo last weekend, and even under-driving it, it still blew the MR sabers out of the water.

Just my $.02, FYI. Do what you will with it.

**Forcestruck** · 08-29-2008, 09:21 PM

I think I just have the noobie "my lightsaber must be as absolutely bright as it can be" bug.

After all the extra reading I'm going to just start with using the MR soundboard and see how that looks. If I need to really push the envelope later I can always toy with it then.

Thanks

**Novastar** · 08-30-2008, 04:15 PM

Regarding Obi-Dar's comments... yup, it's hard to tell the difference on a red LED @ 1A vs. 1.4A or whatever. Either will blow away a standard MR by quite a lot.

Crystal Focus can be set to deliver a maximum of 1.5A (LED=70).

Ultimately, the diffuser and optic solution play key roles in how bright everything will be overall... sometimes moreso than just "dialing in" the current.

If the LED wants 1500mA and you give it 1000... it's still going to be plenty bloody bright. If you want to squeeze EVERY single solitary last lumen out... you're better off using a dedicated power supply to see what EXACT voltage and exact current the LED is "happiest" at. It will always differ from LED to LED... even in the same color... and negigibly in the same bin of that color.