Brightness and battery life vs EL

[MtnJedi]

From what I've read and seen, it seems that an LED saber (with one LED in the hilt) will be brighter than an EL saber. Is this true? My EL has 4 khz and 18 volts. Second, which would have a longer lasting battery life? Thanks for any info.

[Strydur]

It depends, a red EL blade is going to be allot dimmer than a red LED. But a lime green EL running at 4khz and 18v would probably be pretty dang close to a green LED. LED and EL both have diferent brightness depending on color and other factors.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[MtnJedi]

Blue?

Also, my new blue EL blade seems dimmer than my old blue Parks blade. Maybe that's cause it's a deeper blue. I'm pretty sure I put it together correctly.

[Strydur]

A true blue is dimmer than aqua.

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[GeluKhanGharr]

my 1W Lux Royal Blue is way brighter than any blue EL I've built or have seen. Tim's 3W blue Luxeon is bound to be way brighter than mine.

Born of Sith, seduced by the light.

[vadeblade]

I think this stays on topic. For the Luxeon III what is the order of brightness between these four?

Blue
Royal Blue
Cyan
Red

Or should I just get white and buy the filters. I'm ordering two today.

And one more question, will the filters melt if it is too close to the LED?

Lightsaber Warning Label: "CAUTION: Do NOT attempt to sharpen blade."

[Strydur]

The lens and holders are made of plastic and those are between the led and the colored discs..so nope

Tim
The Custom Saber Shop

[vadeblade]

OK, I think I found answers to my own question.

Applying 3.9 volts to a luxeon III Star gives the following results according to the Luxeon data sheet:

Color Lumens
Red 140
White 65
Cyan 64
Blue 23 []
Roya Blue 340 mW [?]

I really wanted to build a blue lightsaber, but boy, do those numbers suck compared to red, red-orange, and amber. White maybe an option but how much will the lumens drop when a blue filter is installed???

[LAN-ED-TUL]

you'll probably lose a few. maybe a drop to 50 if i remember right from something i read about.

[UltraSWG]

Hey yall, if you want blue just get a Star III blue, the lumens numbers don't mean crap for the blue spectrum. I use Star III blues in my blue sabers and they are bright as hell. Even the blue Star/O's are blindingly bright. Try it, you'll see.