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Topic:
LED Blade Q and A's
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JonYo
Registered:
Apr '04
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Date Posted:
6/21 12:25pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Sat on the Joe Jedi waiting for the price to drop to salvage for parts. Guess I waited too long. All sold out near me...meh.
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
6/21 3:34pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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ardavenport posted:
One note about brightness. The human eye is more sensitive to different colors than others. Basically, the eye is more sensitive to green light than any other color. So, if you have two lights, one green, one red, putting out the same amount of energy, the green one is still going to 'look' brighter.
You and add in the complication that red light photons are lower energy than green photons, but that difference is not as big as eye sensitivity to different colors of light.
Essentially, this is correct--but only to a point. As... every human perceives color differently. The only way we know that is via science and experiments, but on our OWN, we cannot individually tell another human that color X is definitively brighter than color Y... because THEY might see it otherwise. Even if the lights are RIGHT there in front of us.
Still, that being said... yup... green and red are what the AVERAGE human's eyes are most sensitive to. To this day, I've never seen a brighter LED (in the same power/watt/current/etc. class) as Red or Red-Orange. To me, a Red-Orange Luxeon III is quite a bit brighter than a Green Luxeon K2... although not by a LANDSLIDE or something.
But... to others... a GREEN K2 (or Green Lux V) might "trump" a Red-O Lux III. Whatever. My eyes are my own, heheh. 
Oh--finally: Muffin, don't feel bad... both of my CF sabers are doing some BIZARRE things ever since Erv and I were doing some interesting tests with them (firmware-wise--to test v4.x and so forth). They are both out for the count and doing some *REEEEEAAALLLY* bananas things that I may simply be unable to resolve alone (with my limited electronics experience / tools).
Muffin--check in with Erv... he might be able to suggest a plan to help repair your CF... or at least suggest some tests to make with the multi-meter in order to get an idea of what exactly is going wrong. He takes care of his people... just like I try to do!
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HisshouBuraiKen
Registered:
Jun '08
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Date Posted:
6/26 7:08am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Hi guys!
I'm building my first saber (which ironically isn't a saber at all, it's a "beam katana" from the video game No More Heroes for Wii). I've been reading through this thread and absorbing bits and pieces of what's been posted and it's been very helpful. So thanks!
What I've got now is the sound unit and 3AA battery holder gutted from a a Hasbro toy (slightly modded to keep the battery holder held down and the connections re-soldered to be stronger). I'm thinking, based on what I've read here, that I can drive the speaker and a green 3-watt Star III off those 3 AA's with the right resistor. I won't be doing any real heavy dueling with it but I do want it to be able to take a few hits, however brightness is the higher priority. So my questions to you guys are:
1) Does that power setup sound like it'll be okay?
2) I'll need to use a polycarbonate blade with 1 1/4" OD. Which wall thickness will give me a better glow, 1/16" or 1/8"?
3) I had an idea that wrapping the part of the blade inside the hilt in some kind of reflective material (shiny duct tape or tin foil) would reflect more light back up the exposed part of the blade - will that do anything for me?
4) Where should I buy the LED, collamitor lens and tubing from? Cheaper is better.
Thanks a million!
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
6/26 10:52am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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I personally would purchase the LED and lense from thecustomsabershop.com But I would buy the blade from ultrasabers.com as I've found it's overall brightness to weight ratio to be superb.
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HisshouBuraiKen
Registered:
Jun '08
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Date Posted:
6/26 11:57am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Oh, I guess I should also ask what lens I'd want for a 1.25" OD tube? I'm guessing the lower one, 5-6 degrees?
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
6/26 6:58pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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I don't know of any 1.25" blades, but the lens is relational to the LED... not so much the blade.
It's been said that there are slight differences (LED saber-wise) between 10 degree and 5 degree lenses, but... 5 degree is generally the best unless you have a pretty insane polycarbonate blade tube length (insane being 40" +). Even then, a 10 degree lens isn't going to help a 40" blade be very well lit. It will start to look pretty dim.
Recommend 32" to 36" of exposed blade. Any more usually makes a saber horribly unbalanced anyhow.
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
7/9 2:50pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Ok folks, I got my first MR DIY Lightsaber kit in the mail today. Before I start tearing it to pieces, any ideas on what to expect? Like, can I run a Luxeon III Star off of the driver already installed in there?
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
7/9 4:06pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Yes.
As long as you put the Luxeon III on a heatsink.
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
7/9 4:47pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Exxxxcelllllent.
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
7/10 12:02am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Keep in mind that if it's the RGB kind of setup... all three are basically splitting the current, each around 0.3 amps. This is not entirely true, since red takes less than green and blue, but... it's still a total of about 900ma or 950ma. Something like that...
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TheMuffin
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
7/10 5:26am
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Makes sense. I wonder though, do we have a chart of what each color requires for the best brightness output?
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
7/10 3:54pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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No, because most every LED is different--even if you buy two of the "same" saber.
You would get the best results by using a dedicated power supply to feed current + voltage into each LED color individually, and sort of "dial it in". Then, you'd mark down what voltage and current was best for that color, and do the other two.
At that point, to set it up for a battery-driven power source, you'd either have to find the closest resistor that would yield the ideal current and voltage for each LED (kind of tough)... or hook up some POTs (potentiometers), which are essentially variable resistors. Then you could dial it in again--much like you had earlier with the dedicated power supply--and get the best results.
HOWEVER... this is "going waaaaaaay too far" in my opinion. Ultimately, you would go with the manufacturer's specifications and be happy with that. I do not know the specific specs for the RGB that's in your saber... but if you pull it out, find the model number and name (it's probably a "Prolight"), you can likely look it up.
If I recall correctly, Grayven (Robodragon on youtube) has talked about the exact currents he found to be good for the RGB SW saber:
http://youtube.com/user/robodragonsdf1
It was something like Blue & Green are like @350ma, and red is 290ma. Should work pretty well if you try those, although I'm not 100% sure.
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Corbin-Das
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
7/12 8:15pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Hi all!
I haven't messed much with blades larger than 1" OD, but I'd suggest getting whatever polycabonate material you can in 1.25 OD. I'm not sure if they routinely make it with both 1/8" and 1/16" sidewall, so you might be stuck with little choice there anyway. Don't forget that a thick walled 1.25" blade will be pretty heavy.
Your idea about putting reflective material in the base of the blade where you don't see it, has been done for a long time and some folks seem to like it, while others don't see much difference. I personally like doing it and have been incorporating that into my blades for years. To MY eyes, I think it looks nicer.
As far as lens design, you're probably going to have to go with whatever is available for the particular LED you're using. I generally use 5 degree lenses, but for the fatter blade, a 10 degree one would likely be good too.
These are just my opinions, obvioiusly.... but I hope they help.
Corbin Das
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LAN-ED-TUL
Registered:
Oct '05
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Date Posted:
7/12 11:26pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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i gutted out my joe jedi saber for the internals. theres like 4 wires soldered to the star.
i assume one of those is the common ground, and the other 3 are hot leds to each led die. that right? if so, then i assume also you just wire the 3 hot leads together, and to the hot terminal on the lux 3 and the common ground to the neg side? i havent looked close yet to see if the rgb led has the neg and pos marks on it, thats why i asked.
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GreytaleNovastar1138
Registered:
Dec '05
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Date Posted:
7/13 12:00pm
Subject:
RE: LED Blade Q and A's
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Lan, I am just guessing, but essentially yes--at least one of those leads is the common GND/neg and the other three MUST be for R, G and B.
If you're planning simply to do one color, just test it out by touching the leads to the LED in the way you're saying. It SHOULD be fine, considering you'd just be combining the current from each lead to get around 1A for the Luxeon III (or whatever) LED.
Additionally, as far as I know, there would be no issue if you got it wrong--the LED just wouldn't light up. But you're probably going to see light the first time you try what you said.
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