Jay-gon Jinn's Luxeon Rebel Star Try-out

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-29-2009, 06:16 PM

Okay, guess what? I was digging through my parts bins, and found an older, aluminum MHS heatsink and soldered up the green Rebel:

This is the one that is rated for 145 lumens @ 700 ma, 3.15vf. I'll put it in CS-X for these test pics.

The sabers:

From top to bottom:
1. Chrome Saber X (CS-X); Rebel Star, 5 deg. optic, MR Luke ANH soundboard, 4-AAA battery pack, 6 volts, case fresh Energizer Max's
2. Chrome Saber (CS-1-25-10); Seoul P4 green, 5 deg. optic, resistor set-up for 1000ma., 4-AA battery pack, case fresh Energizer Max's
3. Brass Saber 1 (BS-1); Luxeon III bin 3, 5 deg optic, Luke ROTJ soundboard, 4-AA battery pack, case fresh Energizer Max's.

All three lit up, same camera settings as before with the blue Rebel tests:

Not as impressed with particular green Rebel....but then, it is the dimmest version available.

CS-1-25-10 (Seoul P4) v. BS-1 (Green Lux III):

CS-X (Rebel) v. BS-1 (Lux III):

I'm not sure this is a fair comparison, since the Lux III is a darker shade, but it looks like the Rebel is holding it's own there to me.

CS-X (Rebel) v. CS-1-25-10 (Seoul P4):

I have to give this one to the Seoul P4.

I'm not entirely thrilled with how bright this particular Rebel was....I might try this again using CS-2 instead of CS-X to test the Rebel. It uses a 4-AA battery pack like the other sabers, and it looks like the AAA's in CS-X can't keep up with the drain from both the FX board and the led. I metered the batteries before the tests, and they were putting out 6.42 volts, afterward, they were down to 5.54 volts.

I think if you're going to use one of the Rebel singles for a green blade, I'd spend the extra money and get the one rated for 180 lm @ 700ma.

**Sunrider** · 12-29-2009, 09:03 PM

Don't hold back on us & go for broke man.

The 160 @ 700ma is 6 bucks at Future Electronics. Turn dat sucka up to 1100ma so we can see what this puppy can do!

Please

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-29-2009, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Sunrider

Don't hold back on us & go for broke man.

The 160 @ 700ma is 6 bucks at Future Electronics. Turn dat sucka up to 1100ma so we can see what this puppy can do!

Please

Is it pre-mounted to star? If not, I won't be able to use it....I don't have the equipment to properly solder one of those tiny led's to a star myself. I've looked at that site and didn't see any Rebels pre-mounted to stars anywhere.....maybe I missed them?

Here's an interesting note on the green Rebel star....I put one in a PVC hilt that is running on 2 AA's and a 350ma micropuck and was fairly impressed with it:

The PVC saber is on the bottom here, and is compared next to BS-1's Luxeon III. not too bad for only 350ma.

It's a lighter shade, so it looks brighter than the Lux III in the pictures, but it's not too far off in person, really.

I left it sitting on the bench before I put the electronics in the hilt, and the star didn't get very warm, so I installed it in the same way I did the Lux I's without a heat sink.

Maybe they don't like being overdriven very much....not sure, but I think a much more fair test would be to build three sabers that all run from 4 AA's and 1000ma buckpucks and see how that works.

**Sunrider** · 12-30-2009, 06:05 AM

All you need is a small frying pan, regular small tip iron & solder wick to solder desolder those Little buggers. They do run super cool under 500ma & should ramp up nicely to 1100ma with good cooling.

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-30-2009, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Sunrider

All you need is a small frying pan, regular small tip iron & solder wick to solder desolder those Little buggers. They do run super cool under 500ma & should ramp up nicely to 1100ma with good cooling.

Maybe, but the Rebel led's are too tiny for my fingers to handle. I'd rather buy the ones that are already soldered to a star, since they are only a few dollars more. Much easier for me.

**Sunrider** · 12-30-2009, 05:56 PM

Oh yeah I forgot to mention using tweezers.

Don't use your fingers.

I was really surprised at how easy it turned out to be.

**killphil** · 12-31-2009, 12:35 PM

Something must be off with your optics. The green Rebel I have is rated exactly as yours is (that used to be the highest rated Rebel 2 years ago).

My setup fills up the blade very evenly and was much brighter than the green K2 I had at the time. I believe I posted some pics of it comparing to a K2 and a stock MR Yoda, and th Rebel was clearly brighter than any of those.

I also bought a Rebel on a star, but at the risk of sounding lie a complete noob, which are the pos and neg (they are labeled A and K as I'm sure you well know).

I will post pics of this when I get mine hooked up, but it will have to wait until after Tim re-opens the store so I can get a couple parts.

As for the optics, ask X-Wingband (he did mine) or Madcow. They have had great luck with the ones they use.

**Jay-gon Jinn** · 12-31-2009, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by killphil

Something must be off with your optics. The green Rebel I have is rated exactly as yours is (that used to be the highest rated Rebel 2 years ago).

My setup fills up the blade very evenly and was much brighter than the green K2 I had at the time. I believe I posted some pics of it comparing to a K2 and a stock MR Yoda, and th Rebel was clearly brighter than any of those.

I also bought a Rebel on a star, but at the risk of sounding lie a complete noob, which are the pos and neg (they are labeled A and K as I'm sure you well know).

I will post pics of this when I get mine hooked up, but it will have to wait until after Tim re-opens the store so I can get a couple parts.

As for the optics, ask X-Wingband (he did mine) or Madcow. They have had great luck with the ones they use.

I don't see how there could be anything wrong with the optics, Phil....I used the same one for the blue test (5 deg lens & holder from TCSS), and that looked much better. I also tried it with the 8.7deg and the holder that is sold to go with the Rebel Star singles, and it was no better. I've also tried it in different saber using different MR boards, and the results were the same.

A is the positive, K is the negative, btw.

EDIT:
Okay. I put the Rebel in Brass Saber 1 which is running a 4.8v rechargeable set up, and the Lux III green that was in it in CS-1, and the Rebel came alive! It must be something about the ROTJ board that allows it to send more current to the led than the MR Vader or Anakins do, even though all of them were running on a 4-battery (4.8v or 6v) set up. It also appeared to be a couple ticks brighter than the P4 to me, when I replaced the Lux III in CS-1 with the P4. I'd have to revise my earlier assessmant that this led wasn't all hat great, since I am now suitably impressed. Looks like I need to check the wiring in CS-X....

So, like I said earlier, if you want a really fair test, these led's need to all be run in stunt sabers using buckbucks or something like Ultrasounds or CF where you have greater control over the voltage and current the led is getting.