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Author Topic: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
JayNobELblade 
Registered: May '05
20252_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 5/18/05 7:36am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial - Date Edited: 5/18/05 7:37am (1 edits total) Edited By: JayNobELblade
Coolneon just sent my order out today. WTF? I ordered friday. It's not like I had a huge complicated order or something. Since I went cheap on shipping I'm most likely not gonna get my stuff untill Monday at best sad The hilt is coming along nicely though and I've been monkeying around with power supplies.

 
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Lord_Brainsss 
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 7:48am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
we do have 9v batteries in Sweden, the issue is more that of the hilt. its just a tad more narrow than most hilts so a 9v battert wont fit in the tube, shure i could create a pack thing that sorta looks like Lukes ROTJ saber but i want all the equipment conceled within the hilt, have it nice and sleek, so thats why i want to opt for small 3v or less lithium batteries in a sequencial connection.

 
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sporty  146 posts
Registered: May '05
6537_Green Lightsaber
Date Posted: 5/18/05 7:54am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
Ya that sucks jaynobel,

Accordiing to my ups tracking number i was suppose to have 2 shipments yesterday. So I am hoping today.

The question for myself is can I get another saber done in less than 6 hours tomarrow. When I go and pick up my machined piece for my blade. I dont wanna rush it. So we will see. Either way my son will have one.

Now if im not mistaken, 2 9 volts is not 18 volts. its still 9 volts, just more amps and longer battery life. unless somehow it was connected inline. like with AA and AAA, you are able to do this -AA+-AA+-AA+-AA+ = 9.2 volts, but you loose some in the process. So likely 9 volts. so 8 AA batteries like this likely give you 18 volts. SO a nine volt might be like this

look at this link, good example how to fet 18 volts

http://www.fulltone.com/PDfFiles/18v_snap1.pdf

sporty

 

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Lord_Brainsss 
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 8:33am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
would the same princible work on 3v lithium batteries as well?

 
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sporty  146 posts
Registered: May '05
6537_Green Lightsaber
Date Posted: 5/18/05 10:18am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
I do not see why not, as long as you connect it the way the link shows, and the battery allows you to connect that way.

Lithuim is just a higher grade battery, meant for more power consumption items, Like camera flash, to regenerate quickly after a high discharge for the flash.

sporty

 

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hphoenix  61 posts
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 11:21am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
Just a little electronics for everyone working on their sabers.

Batteries connected in series (+ terminal to - terminal) the voltage output ADDS. So,

....-AA+-AA+-AA+

would give an output of (3 x 1.5v) = 4.5v

If you connect them in parallel (+ terminal to + terminal, and - terminal to - terminal) then the voltage output does NOT add, but current sourcing capability increases (put simply, you can get more current). So,

(forgive the primitive alignment, I can't use <code> tags to force a fixed-pitch font)

. . .+=====+=====+=======V
. . .A. . . . .A. . . . .A
. . .A. . . . .A. . . . .A
. . .-=====-=====-=======GND

would give a voltage at V of 1.5v (same as a single), but you could draw three times the current.

You can put, say, 3 pairs of AA batteries in parallel, with each pair in series.....that gives the same effect as having three 3v batteries in parallel.

Rechargable batteries have an Ampere-Hour rating. Usually, it's in mAH (milliampere-hours), or just how many milliamps you can draw per hour before it drains the battery. So a 15mAH battery can produce 15mA for an hour before it is drained. Or it could produce 7.5mA for 2 hours, 30mA for 30 minutes, etc.

D,C,A,AA,AAA and several other batteries are single cell batteries and they all produce 1.5 volts.

9v batteries produce, suprisingly enough, 9 volts.

Other batteries produce other voltages.

To get 9v out of AA batteries, you need 6 of them in series. And to answer the earlier question: Two 9v batteries in series produce 18v, two 9v batteries in parallel produce 9v.

 
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JayNobELblade 
Registered: May '05
20252_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 5/18/05 12:24pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial - Date Edited: 5/18/05 12:25pm (1 edits total) Edited By: JayNobELblade
Thanks for the electronics lesson hphoenix. So then could you some how wire a single 9V and 3 AAAs in series to get 13.5 volts? Things are pretty tight in my hilt and I'm thinking this would be the best config for max power and space. at least until I figure out a leave in re-chargable solution.

 
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hphoenix  61 posts
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 12:57pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
Yep. Put all in series (- to +) and you've got a 13.5v battery.

I've just gotten started trying to design/assemble my own EL lightsaber, and I really want some reactive sound in it. So I'm trying to find good resources to build the audio & sensor circuit. I can get good 2g Accellerometer chips from digikey for about $8.50, and those are 2 axis. And I believe I can get both Vout and PWM out versions.

If I could get a good oscillator circuit (enveloped) that sounded like a standard lightsaber hum, I should be able to either frequency or amplitude modulate it based on the output of the accellerometer. That would give the saber the nice 'vruuuuum' sounds when you swing it. I'm going through my circiut encyclopedias tonight......

Ignition/powerdown and clash sounds would have to be separate, though. The accelerometer would work fine for detecting impact vibration as well, so it can trigger the 'clash' sound.

The trick here is I'm trying to develop a circuit that is cheap, relatively few parts, and sounds realistic. Then I can just share the circuit with everyone, and you can all build one for your own sabers.

 
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Seanohue 
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 1:04pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
So will a 12v inverter be able to function with just 9v going through it?

 
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hphoenix  61 posts
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 3:25pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial - Date Edited: 5/18/05 3:32pm (1 edits total) Edited By: hphoenix
Powering a 12v DC/AC inverter with a 9v source MAY work. It also may not. It depends on how the inverter is built.

Time for another quick lesson.

Getting the source voltage you need from batteries you have.

First rule: It is easier to drop voltage accurately than to raise it.

If you need 12v, and you want to use 9v batteries, use two in series for 18v.

Second Rule: Use a voltage regulator IC. No, honestly, they are easy to use. They have three leads: Voltage IN, Voltage OUT, and COMMON(or GROUND). Voltage regulators come in a variety of output voltages. 5,6,9,12v are all available. And if you don't mind a little extra circuitry, you can use a VARIABLE voltage regulator (Like a LM317) and set it to whatever voltage you need.

Some of the better Voltage Regulator ICs use capacitance-pumped outputs, which means they can also RAISE the output instead of just drop it. So you could get 12v out of a single 9v battery. But you'll want to filter that output. A single 0.1uF cap will smooth it out nicely (between output and ground).

Just a couple of these (they are the size of a typical discrete transistor) and you can have all the voltages you need for your circuit without any problems.

Third Rule: Current drain ratings must NOT be exceeded. Every Voltage Regulator has a current source rating it can produce for its given voltage. If you try to draw more than that, the output voltage will drop, become unstable, the regulator will overheat, and eventually fail. So if your Voltage regulator IC says maximum current output of 500mA, don't draw more than that!

Fourth rule: Use a circuit dictionary/encyclopedia. For standard circuits (like voltage regulator stuff) any good circuit encyclopedia will have stuff already laid out for you. You just hook the parts together. I highly recommend the McGraw-Hill series of "The Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits" vols 1-6. Even just ONE of these will have enough to keep you occupied for months.....






Now, as an aside, I just found a local source (for me) for 3/4" OD 1/2" ID 1/8" wall Polycarbonate Pipe. It's Calsak Plastics and they just quoted me $16.75 for an 8' section. That's about $2.10 a foot. Only problem is they won't sell less than a case (6 tubes), which comes to $100.50......I'll see about getting some this next paycheck.... They have sales&distribution centers in LA, SF, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, and Portland....So chances are good there is one not too far from you. (I'm in Atlanta, so....)


 
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sporty  146 posts
Registered: May '05
6537_Green Lightsaber
Date Posted: 5/18/05 3:56pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
Frustration at a alltime high.

UPS has lost or misplaces or damaged my order for the polycarbonate tubes.

I went in there to find out what was going on, I had a arrival date of yesterdat (17th).

I sure do miss USPS, i always felt they do it better and get it to ya quicker.

SOrry for the outspokeness. Looks like I will have to re-order and file a claim with UPS.

sporty

 

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Lord_Brainsss 
Registered: May '05
Date Posted: 5/18/05 4:06pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
does anyone have any suggestions on european based supliers for polycarbonate polyethylene and polypropylene tubings?

Because i havent had much luck in sweden itself, so far ive only found polycarbonate sheets, but they seem to only carry Acrylic tubes otherwise.

 
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Strydur  259 posts
Registered: May '05
39869_Aragon
Date Posted: 5/18/05 10:42pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
hphoenix,

Can you point me to a chip on www.mouser.com that i could use to take 2 9v's and knock it to 13.8v from 18v?

Thanks, Strydur

 

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Darth_Roadkill  92 posts
Registered: May '05
7976_Lowbacca
Date Posted: 5/19/05 8:21am Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
I started my blade on monday evening. Here are the problems I experianced so that others will not make the same mistakes.

1. Ordered the thicker walled, 5/8" OD stuff for the blade and the diffuser to go with it, the diffuser fit perfectly inside however I got the 5mm EL wire and it wont fit into the diffuser, so mine is run in the polyc without a diffuser.

2. I ordered Orange EL thinking I would be cool, should have gone with yellow I think. The Orange looks like dull red and does not glow well at all, cant even tell its on unless it perfectly dark, of course this could all be the result of 5mm wire. Dont order the 5mm unless you feel like testing it. Dont order the orange because it isnt orange its dull red.

3. I ordered the pipsqueak inverter for my wire, however the pipsqueak does not fit inside my standard sink pipe hilt, it is probably 1/4" to thick with the screw holes on the sides, I tried to remove the plastic shell but it is filled with that polymer or whatever and doesnt want to cooperate. So for now the inverter hangs on the outside.

4. I decided to try the quick connecters already on from coolneon.com. This works ok, especially so I could get it done in time for this mornings premier. However I have manually connect the wires to turn on the blade and this requires unscrewing my endcap. Probably work fine all internal once I get my switch installed.

5. Finally after "dueling" with it lightly I think I broke one the wires on the inverter so now It wont turn on again. Picking up a new battery on the way home to see if thats it.

I really wish I had followed the instructions to a T, because they seem very very well researched. I suggest you do this unless you have unlimited budget to find your way.

Thankyou Jedi Loreen for the inspiration. Im happy to report, that although it wasnt perfect, it was at least mine, not some cheap toy. And I got alot of comments (in the dark) about it being very good for a first try (most people wouldnt try to make there own anyway.

I will be ordering more parts and see if I cant retrofit my current blade, also think I will keep my thick Poly C but get the 3/4" OD 5/8" ID and put it around the 5/8" OD for an etremely sturdy blade. I will let you know if this turns out well.

Respectfully,
Darth Roadkill, Lord of the Street Pizza

 

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sporty  146 posts
Registered: May '05
6537_Green Lightsaber
Date Posted: 5/19/05 3:16pm Subject: RE: Jedi-Loreen's EL Lightsaber Blade Tutorial
Well what could go wrong has gone wrong, but I stay happy and positive.

They found my shipment had been sent to california, Another 5 days of wait.

I did get my aluminuim insert for the blade. I am gonna have more of these made and better design.

here is link to pictures, just click on pic to enlarge for better view.

http://home.insightbb.com/~jedijohnson/wsb/html/view.cgi-photos.html-MerchantID-1359802-Publish-t-makestatic-true-skip-5.html

sporty

 

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