10w Seoul P7

[Novastar]

Although I probably shouldn't post regarding this... I'm sick of mixing sounds for the #2 CD right now, sooooo... here I go:

"I want to fit a P7 in a saber..."

Good luck... it's going to be tough, since the emitter area will have to be mighty wide to fit the LED & optics.

"I want my BATTERY POWERED saber to be bright in direct sunlight"

Very doubtful--good luck... yer gonna need it. As far as most aspects of light are concerned--you won't achieve this result no matter what you do. This is simply because the sheer amount of ambient light that the Sun creates... is MONUMENTAL.

Note that you COULD make a saber that is "viewable" while in the daylight... but... it would need to be more of an LED string or big, long lightbulb (such as a fluorescent tube)... and it would take some massive voltage/current to make it happen. And good luck wielding it without sunglasses.

"Over-driving a Luxeon-style LED kills its lifespan."

I hate to disagree with Psab, but... here's the general situation. If you're not feeding an LED (luxeon, seoul, whatever) WAY too much current/voltage... and only "pushing" it... you have the following data:

* I've been successful in DIRECTLY over-driving a Lux V @1280mA... for >1 year with no dip in brightness to this day. The heatsink isn't "special" either... it's not even one of the copper ones from TCSS, as they weren't being made yet. Here's the video. It's the brightest saber I have (by a landslide), and it's been used quite a bit.

* I've been successful in DIRECTLY over-driving Lux III blues/cyans for >1.5 years with no dip in brightness... and those I never metered the current on. They are brighter than other Lux III blues run @1A though... and I know they must be getting more current than that, as the hilts CAN get fairly "hot". More like "more than warm", but... whatever.

* The "spec" Luxeon III lifespan is 100,000 hours if you essentially don't go "nuts" with it. So, ok... how long is that?

~~ There are 8760 hours in a year...
~~ That means 11.4 years of usage...
~~ That's 24 hours a day... 7 days a week... 365 days: ALL YEAR LONG.

So... whatever. Fine. You wouldn't run them non-stop. That's silly.

But OK, let's say you overdrive the LED. Let's cut the lifespan estimate by 50%. No, no... let's call it 25,000 hours. Just to be "safe".

But OK, no one uses their saber 24/7/365. How about 5 hours a week? Really? Do you? I doubt it. I don't. But who cares, I'm gonna say we use the sabers TEN HOURS A WEEK.

~~ 10 hours a week for 52 weeks (1 year) = 520 hours of usage/yr.
~~ 25,000 hour lifespan for Mr. over-driven LED...
~~ and 25,000 divided by 520 hours of usage... A YEAR...

equals...

48 YEARS OF USAGE.

If you want that all again in a video... go to 7:52 HERE where I explain all of that...

So... unless you're feeding 7.2v to a Luxeon III red (or 3000mA to a Lux III red) like some moron... I seriously doubt overdriving will be a terrible thing.

Well. Unless your "heatsink" is a DIME.

[erv]

I do overdrive,
some of my lux III went to 1.5A (white & blue ones), on sabers I use all the time. Fine if the luxeon transfers heat properly to the blade holder since that's where the heatsinking happens (internal heatsink is useless).

I like bright sabers to but if I had to choose between an uber bright, daylight visible blade that works for 5 minutes or something slightly under that works for 1 hours, no hesitation what I'll choose.

just like on motherboards & processors, proper heatsinking is the key. As for lifeime, nova's maths are self explaining, I did the calculation myself long ago. And what if it was only like 2,000 hours. Well, it's cheap enough for me to change it. Like we do change parts on our cars, appliance etc.
I do consider the MTFB though, it's not like I don't *care* about a short life time, but it's a compromise. It has to be balanced for your own use... and wallet.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

Nova, erv,

Thanks for the weigh in, this was why I originally began the post. To hear things like this. Gave me a refresher in some things, pointed out others.

Thanks to everyone who commented...I think I have gained the understanding for which i asked

[Raith]

Nova, erv,

Thanks for the weigh in, this was why I originally began the post. To hear things like this. Gave me a refresher in some things, pointed out others.

Thanks to everyone who commented...I think I have gained the understanding for which i asked

all that, and no spoon feeding... lol nice.

Shadar, thank you for asking those questions, i gleaned a little bit of information that i think will be useful for when i start building...

[DJMoonbass]

who would drive a lux 3 red at 3000ma? omg. i would probably try 2000ma.

[psab keel]

That just happens to be my own design perspective, and not meant to be critical of others ideas on how to power their LED's. This is simply a matter where Novastar and I see things differently and rightly so on both of our parts. As fellow Star Wars fans, and saber builders, we can agree to disagree. : )

[Onli-Won Kanomi]

Yes different perspectives from/for different needs. What was it a wise Jedi once said about our own points of view? lol.

I have ENORMOUS respect for what Novastar has accomplished and contributed to this community but his needs simply arent mine...for live stage productions indoors where ambient light can be controlled to 'suggest' daylight or night scenes but characters may be onstage for extended amounts of time a sabers run time may be very important and brightness less so...for OUTDOORS cinema verite [no rotoscoping or SFX in post] which is WYSIWYG a saber's brightness can literally DETERMINE what kind of scenes I can write as far as setting is concerned and thus has a controlling and imo CONFINING influence on PLOT...whereas since batteries can be swapped every few seconds or couple of [or 5 ] minutes between shots...well unlike a stage production run time is almost irrelevant to me for my original purpose.

Therefore for MY original needs [your mileage may vary and Novastars DOES] a "an uber bright, daylight visible blade that works for 5 minutes or something slightly under that works for 1 hours" as Erv put it is also an easy choice - but the exact opposite from what Novastar and Erv would choose...that doesnt make them wrong, and indeed their perspective is probably more 'right' for most peoples general needs. Just not mine.

So yes Yes YES I want a daylight-visible saber and must cultivate Jedi Patience to wait for one...fortunately I came to appreciate sabers from a wider perspective than my original needs so can and do enjoy sabers that are possible now while I wait for Verite-suitable sabers...but every new development about more brightness will always draw my attention.

[DJMoonbass]

nuff said

[Novastar]

So yes Yes YES I want a daylight-visible saber and must cultivate Jedi Patience to wait for one...

Good luck, Onli... as I said... trying to rival the Sun with a battery-powered light source that is supposed to be in a ~11" long by ~1.5" wide tube... is going to be near impossible if not PLAIN impossible.

There is something to be said for "plausible" and just plain "busted", ala MythBusters style.

Sure, hook up to a wall outlet and draw 3218473437327989 amps and whatever volts, fine, fine... blow out your city's power grid... but I'm sorry... battery-powered + more powerful than the sun = NO WAY, JOSE'.

[DJMoonbass]

lol. wurd