Kylo v2 electronics parts advice

Hopefully others in the same situation will find this useful.

I have my Phoenix Props Kylo v2 and I want to do the electronics install myself but I want to make sure I get the correct parts for it. I haven't done a lightsaber install before but I do have some experience with machining and wiring electronics. I also have a friend who builds electronic devices regularly who can help if I need it. This will be my first functional saber. I won't really be dueling with it, but it will experience some contact from time to time.

I watched the recent video by SoCal Sabers and gleaned some info and luckily a lot of what he did matches with what I'm planning, but I don't know if I need the same stuff for everything or why he chose what he did.

Chassis: I'll be using Goth-3Designs standard.
I am not doing a crystal reveal.

Sound Board: CF8 (in possession)
Should I use a Color Xtender board?

LEDs: 3x Tri-Cree
Full rgb vs only red? What are the trade-offs?
Assuming only red, I'm thinking deep red for 2 and unsure what the FoC one should be. White? Lighter red/orange?
No quillion FoC so I assume the 3rd LED doesn't matter there unless I want some other effect like a flicker.

Blades: ?
There are so many and it is somewhat subjective. Depends on color as well from what I gather. Any recommendations are welcome.

Battery: 18650
3.7v vs 7.4v? I read through the CF8 manual and can't remember which it recommends off the top of my head, but wondering what others have to say.
Also, is there a recommended recharge port people like?

Speaker: Need recommendation.

Power/Aux switches: Need recommendation

What gauge wire is recommended? Wasn't sure if SoCal went overkill or not.


Have to give a shout out to dday for making an amazing saber, and GeneralFROSTY for the superb paint job. Can't express how pleased I am with it.

Skooma
Rgb vs only red. Going only red will be brighter as the triCree has 2 red diodes vs just the one red diode in an rgb setup. I like a white foc led. Socal is only running one red diode in each quillon but the sockets we're developed around a triCree and it's lense so 2 diodes will be unused, one is plenty bright for the side blades. Flicker isn't determined by adding light from a second diode. The crystal focus has parameters for controlling flicker and pulse of both the main and side blades
What you could do is get a couple different triCrees with Different foc colors, test them, and then use the one you like for the main blade and stick the other in the sides where you just need one red.
You should definitely run the color extender. There's more than enough space

Blades. Vader's vault is where you want to go. I'm not a fan of trans white for red.

Battery's. 7.4v pack is what you want. This will fit dual 18650s if you want to go off the shelf tcss and solos hold are good here. If you want the most runtime a custom pack of Panasonic's new 20700s could be attempted. Recharge ports can be found at tcss.

Speaker. You absolutely have to get a speaker from saber essentials. They're incredible.

Switches from tcss or mouser/digikey

Wire. 28awg for everything is what I think socal ran. I usually step down to 30 for switches if you need the space but I don't think these will be difficult to wire

l33tLX
Thanks for the info, that's a good idea for the LEDs. I see a bunch of people who used yellow FoC for red sabers but its hard to see it in videos. I think I'm just going to do red, full rgb seems like more trouble than its worth for this build.

Does Adrian from Saber Essentials have an alternative to Facebook for ordering? I don't use Facebook and never will.