some help with wiring plz:10w ledengin(green)cf4.1 +clash flash-shimmer!

[Eandori]

I think something is wrong with that diagram that Eastern57 is showing...

The power extender board probably needs to have one input tied to ground, the other input tied to some dependable + power source, and the digital input pin tied to some input on CF. What I see is TWO + inputs tied to CF and one to ground. That would mean it's getting the power for the 2 LED's it's driving from CF.... that does not seem right...

Also what is the "BP" that is labeled in between the power extender and the Luxeon?

[8lade]

bp=buckpuck1000
Just to clarify,there is diagram by madhatter on how to connect the 2 power extenders and the buckpuck and the trimpot.Here it is http://www.lucid-blue.com/buckpuck.gif

But I just cannot figure it out!

Thanks guys!

PS:I think the buckpuck needs to be wired on the battery and use the ctr/ref lead to connect to the power extenders so that they will act as switches for the shimmer/clash flash.

[8lade]

here is the latest design...but I seem to get some weird results...if I connect the second power extender to the - of the cf and the cf doesnt boot.
if I leave it disconected everything works fine apart from the fact that the clash effect works the oposite way(instead of ramp up it ramps down etc) and when you turn off cf the secondary led dies remain on powered by the battery...
I am very confused...
any ideas?
madhatter?

[Vallen Kel-Romarr]

I have to admit, I'm a little confused, too, so I'll let someone else field the rest of your questions, since it's been a looooooooong time since I've done any wiring (and never on a saber -- starting my first one soon, yay!). This one, I should be able to handle, though.

...and when you turn off cf the secondary led dies remain on powered by the battery

Unless I'm reading your diagram wrong, the Low-batt LED is OUTSIDE the circuit controlled by the main switch. If you've got it wired the way your diagram shows, the secondary LED is joined to the wire in front of the main switch, so it'll always get power from the battery.

...Uh, I think...

I'ma gonna go sit in the corner and read my old textbooks again.

[Eandori]

Whoa dude, that CKT is all kinds of wrong. Don't power that on!

I think perhaps you have mis-understood the purpose of some of the components you are using. First, let me make sure I understand what you are going for here... then I'll help you design a working circuit that will fit that desire.

=====================================

It seems to me that you want to run 2 of the LED's on that star in series and power them from the CF output.

It also seems that you want the other 2 LED's on that star to shimmer during lockup, and to flash on clash flash.

So during hum and swings, the LED is running at half power just on CF. On shimmer/clash then all LED's on that star are running and the blade is much brighter.

Is that correct?
=======================================

I'm also curious to the EXACT specs of your battery and that LED you are using. You probably listed it earlier in the thread... I'll go back and see.

Cheers.

[Mad Hatter]

If I remember right, the buckpuck main and led ground wires need to be share a common ground in order to use the CF voltage as a controller. Once you clean up the main wiring, you may want to try with a single power extender (the clash flash) to make sure you have it right. That should turn the second LED circuit on and off with the clash signal. Once that works, then add the second extender to make the flash shimmer.

[8lade]

hahahha!correct Eandori!

[Eandori]

Ok, got what your goal is. Here's a few quick responses to start this off.

You have a power problem. Your battery is a 7.4v Li-Ion yet your LED is 17.6v/2 = 8.8v. With a LED setup that requires 8.8v to be fully turned on you are going to need AT LEAST a 9.6v battery to run that. Otherwise, your saber will either never run at full power, or only for a few short min run at full power. As I've said in other threads, you NEED a battery voltage at least 1v above the required voltage of your LED for the driver circuit (in this case CF) to do it's job.

Now... even if you set up a 9.6v rated battery... that's right at the PEAK of what CF can accept. The max voltage input for CF is 11v and a 9.6v (rated) battery will put out like 12-13v when not connected. That is above the max voltage rating and CF might not like it. Perhaps we can get Erv' to respond here and say if he thinks it will be ok. I can tell you personally that I fed 13v into my CF one time and it was not happy... It's a risk.

Now next topic is the BuckPuck. I'm not sure what the response time is on a buckpuck, but I don't think they are made to flicker on/off really fast. It needs to be verified... if you hook up a shimmer effect through the buckpuck it might not give you that kind of effect on the output at all. A buckpuck is meant to drive a SET value of current as long as the supply voltage is high enough. It's not a transistor or an analog amplifier...

Next issue is the power extenders. If I understand how Erv' designed those right... they are simply a high power transistor. Meant to take a voltage in, and drive it out the other side but with more force. So... a power extender is meant to accept a low power analog reference voltage on it's input, and drive that similar voltage with more force on it's output. As in... the power extended itself is meant to drive a high current device. But the way you have it wired seems that you want to use a power extender to drive the input of the buckpuck.

Thats kind of like hooking an amplifier up on the end of an amplifier... not what's meant to happen.

Again, I'll read up on the exact design of Erv's power extended and the buckpuck so I can give you a better answer. But that's how I think they are meant to work.

More later, cheers!

[8lade]

Ok, got what your goal is. Here's a few quick responses to start this off.

You have a power problem. Your battery is a 7.4v Li-Ion yet your LED is 17.6v/2 = 8.8v. With a LED setup that requires 8.8v to be fully turned on you are going to need AT LEAST a 9.6v battery to run that. Otherwise, your saber will either never run at full power, or only for a few short min run at full power. As I've said in other threads, you NEED a battery voltage at least 1v above the required voltage of your LED for the driver circuit (in this case CF) to do it's job.

Now... even if you set up a 9.6v rated battery... that's right at the PEAK of what CF can accept. The max voltage input for CF is 11v and a 9.6v (rated) battery will put out like 12-13v when not connected. That is above the max voltage rating and CF might not like it. Perhaps we can get Erv' to respond here and say if he thinks it will be ok. I can tell you personally that I fed 13v into my CF one time and it was not happy... It's a risk.

Now next topic is the BuckPuck. I'm not sure what the response time is on a buckpuck, but I don't think they are made to flicker on/off really fast. It needs to be verified... if you hook up a shimmer effect through the buckpuck it might not give you that kind of effect on the output at all. A buckpuck is meant to drive a SET value of current as long as the supply voltage is high enough. It's not a transistor or an analog amplifier...

Next issue is the power extenders. If I understand how Erv' designed those right... they are simply a high power transistor. Meant to take a voltage in, and drive it out the other side but with more force. So... a power extender is meant to accept a low power analog reference voltage on it's input, and drive that similar voltage with more force on it's output. As in... the power extended itself is meant to drive a high current device. But the way you have it wired seems that you want to use a power extender to drive the input of the buckpuck.

Thats kind of like hooking an amplifier up on the end of an amplifier... not what's meant to happen.

Again, I'll read up on the exact design of Erv's power extended and the buckpuck so I can give you a better answer. But that's how I think they are meant to work.

More later, cheers!

1)The battery will be overcharged to 8.4 if I remeber correctly.
2)The secondary led(die 3 and 4)are powered through the buckpuck and not through the cf(because the cf cannot hadle that power output).
3)the p.extenders are used as controllers for the buckpuck using it's ctr and ref inputs.

Madhatter has done this and it worked...
I can get the thing to work but my problem is the wiring of the buckpuck...how to make it run properly and not the opposite way?it shimmers and pulses with the main blade fine but when I switch on the main power switch,the 3 and 4dies of the led are fully on and the slowly ramp down.
I hope this helps...
cheers guys for all your help!
waiting to hear from you soon

[Eandori]

I think you are still not understanding what's going on.

1)The battery will be overcharged to 8.4 if I remeber correctly.

Right... now pull 1 amp out of it and watch the voltage drop to like what... 7.5v? Your LED requires 8.8v to run at full power the way you want to set it up. (two of the Dye's in series, each at 4.4v for a total of 8.8v) You cannot power an LED that requires 8.8v if your battery is at 7.5v while sourcing the current!!! You need a battery outputting around 9.6v WHILE SOURCING THE CURRENT. Which means it will charge up to 12-13 volts while on a charger.

Let me try to explain this another way... You obviously are using this high power LED because you want your saber to be BRIGHT! Right? Well, you are shooting yourself in the foot with that battery. You are sabotaging your own design by under-powering it. It will light up yes... but it will NOT be driving that LED at full power. And what's the point of using this difficult LED that requires all this extra stuff... if you are not going to drive it fully?

Make sense?

2)The secondary led(die 3 and 4)are powered through the buckpuck and not through the cf(because the cf cannot hadle that power output).

I don't know why you think I didn't understand that... but I do. I clearly stated understanding of that in my reply. I'll go ahead and quote myself for ya

It also seems that you want the other 2 LED's on that star to shimmer during lockup, and to flash on clash flash.

So yeah, I fully understand that is your intention. But I think you are not following what I was telling you about that setup.

3)the p.extenders are used as controllers for the buckpuck using it's ctr and ref inputs.

Exactly what I think might be the problem... I don't think that's needed. It seems like overkill to me and not how power extenders are meant to be used. I'll go find a spec for a buckpuck and verify though...

Madhatter has done this and it worked...

Are you saying Madhatter had the exact same setup as you? Well then it was wrong too. Just because electronics work does not mean they are being used right. Parts may be getting hot, on the verge of breaking, under-used, etc. Electronics is not just a hobby for me, it's a career. I design embedded and PC systems for a living so I'm not coming at this from a beginners perspective or "guessing" at the things I'm telling you. I know them to be factual. A 7.4v battery driving an 8.8v LED is a problem. Devices meant to amplify power being used as logic input is a problem. Let's get this hammered out!