LED string bladed saber expertise requested...

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Still dinking away on my custom lightsaber. I know all the arguments for or against particular types of blades, but I'm sticking with the LED string version. That out of the way, I don't know where to go for advice and instruction on load, wiring, mounting, power requirements, etc.

I'm intending to power as many of my props as possible with rechargable Li-ion battery packs, including this one. I have a damaged LED string from an old MR ForceFX saber on which I want to swap out the LEDs for all new ones, and I don't know what the MR LEDs were rated at, I don't know what the string they were mounted on was intended to handle, and I want someplace where I can double-check everything in the circuit before I accidentally blow myself up. I don't know if anyone on here has the know-how I need, or if there's a good forum elsewhere I should check out. This is one of those areas I haven't delved into much, so I don't know what's out there save places like the Custom Saber Shop or UltraSabers, and a few others like that...

--Jonah

 

[mugatu]

I'd try to contact Hyperdyne blades. I think their webpage is on the fritz, or unmonitored (or updated) though.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Is that related to the Hyperdyne Labs that does/did various electronic components for other sci-fi props, such as the remote-control switch and servo unit for a Boba Fett rangefinder?

--Jonah

 

[H0llyw00d]

I would start looking for your answers here first:

http://www.fx-sabers.com/forum/

There's also a lot of info in the Custom Saber Shop forum:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/forum.php

I found this guy's flash-on-clash mod to be pretty cool and he discusses the tolerances IIRC:

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.co...-boring-LED-string-blade-with-FOC-like-effect

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Thanks, @H0llyw00d. A week on, I've gone down the rabbit-hole of the FX Sabers forum. I'm starting to define the edges of what I knew I didn't know, and ran across a bunch of what I didn't know I didn't know. I've also attracted the interest of a local friend who knows a bit more about pushing electrons than I do (he saw me fiddling with the blade scaffold). Thanks to him, I know/realize the LEDs on the string aren't what burned out -- it's the teeny-tiny delay chips each LED is wired through. The blade string I'm starting with is from the 2005 Master Replicas Anakin Force FX saber, which was prone to such burnouts. But it has 64 LEDs, which I believe is the max MR did on any of their sabers. So I've acquired 75 of the brightest LEDs I can find, and a pack of a hundred of those little chips. Much unsoldering and re-soldering is ahead of me.

Then I move on to control board, power supply, and other such minor considerations. *heh* Looking forward to posting the finished item in the custom-saber thread...

--Jonah