it works..or does it?

[fau-pa ramid]

So I just wired up my first 10w ledengin. It was not so hard just do as Bender says and it will all work out. I chose a RGBW cuz my girl wanted a blue saber. I wired the blue and white in series. To see if it worked I tested it with a 9v copper top. On camera it looks great but it is very underwhelming in real life. the colors (blue and white) are a bit seperated. Now I know that a 9v alkaline battery isn't an optimal power source for this led but I was just wondering how far off base it is from the 1.5v output of the PC. I mean idk what the power output of a 9v is benchmarked at but is it silly to think that if a alkaline 9v puts out 500mah then The led will be 3x's brigter on the petite crouton?

On a side note I want to thank the people that put the time into making these tutorials. I knew almost nothing about electricity or soldering before I started reading the information on this forum.

PS. I will be building a battery pack for the pc. the 9v was just a test to see if it lit up.

[Zzan]

the PC puts out 1.5 AMPS not volts, it puts out the required voltage at the config file set amperage based on the LED. The LED needs more than 1.5v to even light. 1500 ma is 3x greater than 500 ma :P Brightness isn't linear either, 3x more power does not mean 3x more brightness.

A 9v battery is not any comparison at all, and are not recommended at all for use in sabers.

As far as seperation goes try using a diffuser, or giftwrap in your blade.

[fau-pa ramid]

Right amps thanks for the save. (I don't wana be responsible for confusing someone that is reading this later on) this is good news though. It was one of those "it works!....wait is that it?" Moments.

[FenderBender]

Yeah, 9V batteries MAY put out .5A on a good day. Mostly they're around 300-350ma. So, you have an LED, that if you wired it in series, requires anywhere from 7V to 8V and 1A-1.5A of current. 9V battery is NOT going to cut it for anything, not even to test with. Now, most batteries, even Li-Ions can't sustain that for any period as the LED Vf is right at the pack voltage most of the time, so the pack drops quick. For any combination of 'cool colors' (B,G,W) I recommend wiring in parallel. The Vf of those colors are very similar so you won't get separation on ignition etc, and it will save your pack. Then set the PC to drive at 1.5A (70 in the config file). This isn't perfect, but its good. You wouldn't be underwhelmed thats for sure. For a 'blue' color though, I would have wired the blue and green. This would have given you a 'Sky Blue', whereas the blue and white gives more of a 'silver' or 'ice blue' color.

[fau-pa ramid]

So rewire it for blue green main and wire them in parallel? Parallel = positive and negative lead for each color die?

[Ka'getsu]

Yep pretty much in a nutshell

[fau-pa ramid]

kool i rewired the blue and green pads in parallel it worked out pretty good.

thanks bender the blue and green blend much better than the blue and white. i started this project kuz i wanted to learn something new so i have a question: how is wiring the blue and green in parallel going to make the pack last longer than wiring them in series? won't two leds still be drawing power from the same pads on the board whether i chain them together or attach them separately? 1.5amps fed to two color pads is still 1.5amps isn't it?

[FenderBender]

Well, blue and green in parallel are 1.5A at 3.4-3.7v, blue and green in series are 1.1-1.3A at 7-8v. Pack is 7.4v. Drawing 1.5A at 3.7V out of a 7.4V pack is less stressful on the batteries than pulling 7.4v at even 1A. At that voltage the pack can't sustain it for very long and voltage will drop quick, thus not driving the LEDs optimally.

[fau-pa ramid]

Powering all of this with the space I have is going to be an issue...

If I am going to run the blue and green pads In paralell on a RGGB ledengin 10w (with FoC™), a 5mm accent led (wired to behave like the blade), a 2w speaker, and the petite crouton 1.6 then I need a 7.4v pack pushing something like 3 amps? The only way ( from what i am reading) to get that kind of power is by wiring two 18650 cells in series with a PCB. If I don't use that is it going to work? I can fit two 3.7v 2200mah 17670 cells in there at the most. Will that cut it?

I have been reading about this all day and I keep getting more and more confused about the whole thing. If someone could shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated.

[Crystal Chambers]

2- 14500s (AA size) will do just fine. As long as you get 7.4V.