MR Soundboard voltage/amperage question...

[Darth Morbius]

And to add to Novastar's posting, there are other combinations that you can do with serial+parallel that van vary the voltage and current output of your battery packs, but that is bordering on custom battery pack making, and perhaps a little advanced for your purposes, judging by the sessions we have had at FX, regarding this very subject...

[Sohryu76]

I really appreciate all the help guys...

you guys all rock!

[Matt Thorn]

Two circuits! Ah-hah. So is that why some of the MR boards used DPDT slider switches? A switch for each circuit?

I've been looking into Li-ions (which I've never tried), and am seeing surprisingly low amperages for all of them. The Trustfires Tim carries are just 900mA. Novastar, where are these 2400mA 3.7V Li-ions you mentioned? And how do the Trustfires get enough current to the LED? I know that some LEDs are happy with 700mA, but what about those that want 1000mA?

[Sethski]

But that's current (mA) rather than the capacity (mAh), which are different thangs...

...not that I could give you a proper explanation, mind, but I'm sure someone who's a better explainifier and knows their electronical stuff could

[Jay Dee]

The "bigger amp ones" Nova talks about are 18650. The ones Tim has are 14500. !8650's are huge and I've yet to find a holder for them. So you have to make a pack or get one made. If you do get one made make it a stick (end to end) cause they aint fittin side by side in mhs.
Corrected sorry Nova I must of had an exra bowl of stupid that night...

[Matt Thorn]

Thanks for the clarifications. So a pair of the 14500s Tim sells would be fine for running any of the popular LEDs (Luxeon III, V) at full brightness through some kind of driver, such as a US, CF, MR, or Corbin?

[cannibal869]

I think the general consensus is that the MR boards can take up to 6.5 V, so 2 of the trustfires = 2 x 3.7 = 7.2V... so I'm guessing probably not an MR board. The other boards...well, I know for a fact that the US 2.0 and 2.1 can take the 7.2V. Dunno about Corbin's or CF.

Oh, but if you use a 6V voltage regulator, then yes, they'll work... sorry forgot about that part.

Perhaps one of the more experienced sabersmiths will chime in...

[Novastar]

Cannibal... hmm. 6v for MRs would be best. I wouldn't try 6.5v unless you simply had an endless source/supply for them. A 6v regulator would be stylin' (in my opinion). Corbin's board (all iterations) can handle 7.2v. Erv's board (all iterations) can handle 7.2v.

JayDee... no, you mean the 18650 Li-Ion cells. I'm only correcting you so that people don't go searching in vain for the other ones. And YES the 18650s will NOT fit "side by side" in an MHS. That is a good portion of why I did not use a totally MHS hilt for the Flange III sabers.

Matt Thorn... Sethski is 100% all over it! "mAh" and "mA" are different things, and--although they are easy to confuse--you can think of it like "miles per hour" versus "miles". One is a measurement over time... the other is simply a measurement.

By the way, 900mAh is fairly normal for 14500 cells. As "low" as that might be to some people's standards.

Regarding the DPDT switches... well... no on the MRs. That is to say... if there WERE DPDT switches being used (I think they might have some like that)... they're not tripping two circuits.

But... they CAN be used to run two circuits if the switches are indeed DPDT.

[Matt Thorn]

You folks are a font of information and wisdom. I still feel out of my depths, but the bottom line is that a pair of 14500s with a 6V voltage regulator will work for just about any setup I would be likely to use, no? I ask because I just acquired a pair of 14500s through Yahoo! Auctions Japan. Believe it or not, 14500 are not available through ordinary channels here in Japan, and Mouser won't ship them here. Apparently they are not approved for retail sale out of fear that people would mistake them for AA batteries and burn their neighborhoods down. It was only after I won the auction that I remembered I would also need a smart recharger for them. Obviously, I would have bought both batteries and charger from Tim, but he doesn't have either in stock at the moment.