(NEED HELP PLEASE) Custom LED lightsaber

[Alcfalath]

The max you really can get will be Luxeon III with the MR board... though from what you seem to want you would be much more suited for a Crystal Focus board instead of your MR.. though with your time constraints that may not be viable as they are very hard to get a hold of... Everyone wants them and they sell within minutes.

Making sabers in real life, however simple it may seem, is far from it for the first timer... I had been lurking on these boards and forums for a long time before i signed up.. Its a lot of learning and im only just about to build my first few sabers.. The key is Patience... you really will need it when it comes to this hobby...

I am starting off in the deep end, but only after much research, and advice from asking the right questions after reading as much as i could. But really, it is all here... you just need to have an open mind to see them. Sticking with the idea of a Lux V with an MR board wont get you far..

All that being said, welcome to the forums, and happy searching

[xwingband]

damn, that's a lot of talk but most of don't realize it won't help him all that much. If this is his first saber even mentioning a CF is near useless.

V with a straight up conversion is pretty hard. The voltage it needs is higher than an MR could handle or you'd even get with just the MR battery pack. So throw the idea out! Forget 'bout it!

Really there is no reason to use a V anyway. There are as bright or brighter options if you're willing to put in the effort. If not, get a III and follow the diagrams that are here. I'm not lying look in the diagrams section and you'll find an MR+Corbin (TCSS) driver diagram.

[sithlordfaust]

as a noob just finising what i consider my first saber here is my adviceas per what I did. I didnt have a mr to ypgrade but if i had i would have just thrown a lux III in it and been happy, but just with it.. I started out with a MHS4 piece hilt a p4 elctronics kit and a hasbro board. I quickly learned the basics of what and wouldnt work...hasbro board will not drive a p4 very well, and I wasnt happy with a basic screw together saber that in one way or another looked like others. so i gutted my mr joe jedi for its sound got a puck or in your case a corbin board and made it fit with the mhs parts i had. there was ALOT of trial and error. this is a diy site. and a kinda geekly hobby (no offense to anyone.. im one) and part of becoming a jedi is learning to build your own saber, and padawans dont become jedis overnight or with their hand being held. I appreciated the fact that you dont have much time, (Ive got a kid and non-understanding wife)but taking the time even if it takes you months is well worth it. id convert it to a lux III and then look to add the corbin once youve know the inner workings of and space of you saber

and knowing what you WANT is good. but you can want in one hand poodoo in the other... see which fills up first..lol sorry

[Lord Dottore Matto]

My man, you want to perform a cardiac bypass before you have mastered a simple lumpectomy! There is no shame in starting with the basics. How about a simple ultrasabers conversion kit? Ten you can convert your saber to a Lux III and retain the sound. You can learn a lot form that simple conversion! BTW, if you are like many here, you will build many sabers, having a "simple light-up saber" (referred to as a stunt saber) is not a bad thing! No one is saying that you are incompetent, but most of us have spent weeks to months reading these forums before our first builds, not just one afternoon! Unless your I.Q. is significantly higher than mine, you may need a little more time in study to be able to accomplish your goals.

Good luck...

[FallenJedi]

WOW...

Thats alot of replys :S

Ummm....thanks i guess, kind of ****ty i cant get what i want but hey thats life i guess.

I could swear ive seen it done on someones saber on youtube though, pretty sure thats where i got the idea from, they had their MR saber soundboard, LUXEON V LED, LUXEON driver, battery pack and speaker all put together and it functioned great.

I'll look more in the diagrams but if there is some way to make it work such as regulating voltage or whatever some advice would be helpfull.

Also with the LUXEON V kit from here it comes with a 6AA battery holder pack, would that not be enough to power everything i need?

If it cant be done Ill have to take what was said into consideration, so ill forgo the LUXEON V for a LUXEON III, however i still want to link the boards (driver from this place and MR sound) so i guess ill just have to spend every spare moment i have charging vigourously with supreme haste through all of the relevant threads i can find.

@ Madalorian, a group effort sounds great, bound to get somewhere

[Jedi-Loreen]

Maybe you can find that YouTube video and ask that guy how he did his saber?

Also, sometimes people think they have one kind of LED, when they actually have another, or they're just calling it the wrong thing. Unless you actually saw all the parts he used laid out, outside of the saber, I wouldn't necessarily take it as gospel.

I've never personally heard of anyone doing the set up you want, not on the message boards I frequent, at least. Not that I've read every single thread on every lightsaber oriented message board. I think I've read almost every thread on this board, which isn't hard, since I've been here since the beginning.

That battery holder in the Lux V electronics kit holds 6AAs which is 9V, and is too much voltage for your MR board, it'll fry it, that's one of the reasons people are trying to dissuade you from this idea, not that there aren't ways to do something about that but it needs more electronics knowledge.

And, you're really going to need to figure out just how much extra space you're going to have in your hilt. Which I don't know if you're going to be able to do, till you take it apart.

I don't see why you are so resistant to trying a simpler saber, to get the basics down, first. You could always sell that saber, or give it to someone as a gift. It will be good practice, and a learning experience.

[sithlordfaust]

I'll look more in the diagrams but if there is some way to make it work such as regulating voltage or whatever some advice would be helpfull.

Also with the LUXEON V kit from here it comes with a 6AA battery holder pack, would that not be enough to power everything i need?

like JLo said.. 9v is WAY too much for the MR. i understand they often fry with more than 5v and you can put a 5v regulator in but the regulators change the extra voltage into heat and I imagine an extra 4v would heat it up pretty quickly and pretty hot... needing a good size heatsink which would take up even more room

[FallenJedi]

I KNOW how to make a simple "stunt saber" from a battery pack, a buckpuck, Luxeon LED, and switch, THAT is easy.

What i DONT know is how to wire up two boards (driver and sound) together with the motion sensors all with the LED and battery pack. Ive found a usefull diagram on it just recently, but i am hesitant to try anything without knowing if ill make everything expode in my face like a deathstar + Luke = epic fail.

I am so against the idea of a simple saber because:

a) I already HAVE a simple one that i made.

b) I have no use for mere lighting as an only feature.

c) I want to move onto something more complicated that has the features i desire.

EDIT: "i understand they often fry with more than 5v and you can put a 5v regulator in but the regulators change the extra voltage into heat and I imagine an extra 4v would heat it up pretty quickly and pretty hot... needing a good size heatsink which would take up even more room"

Now you see THAT is helpfull, if someone told me that earlier i would have just gone with that idea and instead on using my MR hilt ill go with a modular design from this place. Im not looking for running it for long periods of time, and im not really wanting to wack it against others at all, just want a bright custom saber with some cool effects.

[Lord Maul]

Dude, use a Rebel. The thing is just as bright as a 5W and you can run it straight off a MR board. That problem solved.

I'd avoid doing the corbin/MR combo on your second saber. You'll need to find an extra clash sensor for the Corbin board (Unless the V2 board solved that problem...Xwing?), all new electronics housings, a DPDT switch (In the saber dictionary if you don't know what it is), and VERY good wire space management. For your second saber it's a tall order.

My advice: Do a MR coversion but use a Rebel. Work your way up to more complicated stuff otherwise you'll FUBAR it.

[FallenJedi]

After careful consideration ive decided to purchase parts from the MHS to make ANOTHER saber, but this time ill just go with the Luxeon V kit and the Luxeon III v2 driver how does that sound to you people?

After i try that maybe then ill move onto what i actually want, and holy crap im spending alot of money on all of this

As far as im aware after reading about it, i dont really need a resistor or buckpuck if i have the driver board? and i can wire it all up so i have the effects i want from the driver, but jsut lacking sounds?

REALLY hate sabers without sounds so this is going to give me a royal case of the ****s

Ah well, have to start somewhere...