Voltage Regulator or other device

[Rhyen Skytracker]

The initial topic of this thread is to try to regulate 13 - 15 V to 12 V. A zenner diode would probably work but I couldn't tell you what size to get. I only know enough about them to be dangerous. LOL I am sure someone with more experience in electronics could tell you which one to use.

[8lade]

Thanks Nova!
you are right about the regulators and as I recall Erv was talking about a "switching voltage regulator"
Anyone used one before?if so what type should we use in order to drop the voltage from 3 li-ion batteries to a safe 11v and still get the maximum output of amps...say 4A or 5A.

EDIT
Maybe this would do the trick!
http://www.micrel.com/page.do?page=/.../mic2184.shtml
what do you think?

[Sunrider]

Nova is right here. In the confined space we have to work with it is impractical to use a regulator unless it's a fixed one to drive a couple hundred ma load. To have a complete saber run on regulated power is inefficient & a waste of battery power.

What exactly are you trying to do?

[Jase Kala Maris]

just to keep the voltage from spiking to over 12v, but I didn't want to waste the volts and the heat sink thing would just take up to much room cause to much heat and just be all around lame now that I understand it better... the diode sounds interesting also the resistor idea seems the simplest.... but as the voltage drops during usage wouldn't the resistor keep, well, resisting? Droping the voltage even more... don't want that right.

I just wanted something simple to attach to the battery pack before the voltage and current went to anything else.

[Sunrider]

If you are talking about the LED dimming down. What people try to do is. 1st use li ion batteries cause they don't droop in voltage near the end of charge as bad as other batteries. 2 go to extra lengths to sink the heat away from the LED so you can over drive it about 15% when batteries are fully charged By the time the voltage droops it will run more or less at normal specs.

[8lade]

Sunrider I don't think you understand what we need here...
We need to keep the voltage output of a 3xli-ion pack to a certain maximum.

3x li-ion =4.2x3=12.6 volts fully charged.

Jase wants to keep it at 12V and I want to keep it at 11V(in my case I want to run a 10W led through a CF4.3 and if I use more than 11V the CF will be toasted!)

As for hilt space I have plenty so don't worry about that at the moment.
Cheers

[Jase Kala Maris]

update

I'm useing a US board and I thought it was up to 12volts- even saw a video on youtube with a guy useing a 3x 3.6volt li-ion set up fully charged and he said it runs fine... but the specs for the ultra sound board now read 9v max input... did they change something?

from the ultrasabers website
Battery input voltage:
Maximum for board = 9.6V
Minimum/Maximum for Luxeon 3, K2, P4 = 4.5V / 7.2V (6.0V recommended)
Minimum/Maximum for Luxeon 3,P4, Red/Amber = 4.8V / 6.0V
Minimum for Luxeon 5 = 7.2V
IMPORTANT! (be sure to use the correct voltage/power with corresponding LED type)


I'm doing an led string on one of my blades need to with 3 segments splitting up the voltage so I need to run 3 segments at around 3.5 volts each and have a volt for the board yada yada yada.

I could prolly use the resistor to limit the power outta the battery pack I guess seems the simplest and the least space consuming.

[Sunrider]

I may be mistaken as i don't have a cf 4.3 but generally with the LED drivers or regulators the supply voltage must be at least 1V higher than regulated voltage. If you want to try running a 10w use the parallel pad PCB & divide the supply voltage so you can run safe sound board voltages. LEDengin 10w are something like 14v all in series 7 two in parallel & 3.5 4 in paralell. I don't think you can run 10w on a CF4.3 but It sounds like CFV will. mmmmmmmmmmmm yum yum yum

[Novastar]

I have a few more things I could say, but... I gotta run off to my cousin's.

Quickly I can make a slight warning: keep in mind that most of the Radio Shack (and therefore, common) regulators have a LIMIT of 1A that they will feed through. Yes, that's right, as well as regulating the voltage, they will limit the current too.

I noticed this especially when I saw the "variable" regulator that seems to not have any way to adjust it, lol. It's too bad that the thing doesn't just have a SCREW like a POT or something...

Gotta run... I'm late!

[8lade]

I may be mistaken as i don't have a cf 4.3 but generally with the LED drivers or regulators the supply voltage must be at least 1V higher than regulated voltage. If you want to try running a 10w use the parallel pad PCB & divide the supply voltage so you can run safe sound board voltages. LEDengin 10w are something like 14v all in series 7 two in parallel & 3.5 4 in paralell. I don't think you can run 10w on a CF4.3 but It sounds like CFV will. mmmmmmmmmmmm yum yum yum

Do some reading first please!
Yes you can run a 10W Ledengin of a CF4 by wiring all 4 dyes in parallel or even 3 on the main output and 1 on the clashflash output through a power extender.