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TOPIC: First Saber; question about LEDs
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42649
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I'm thinking about purchasing my first saber and I am not sure which to choose, 12W or 6W LEDs. Is the 6W strong enough with a 27inch blade, or should I go with the 12W? I see a lot of 12W in the forums. Basically I'm curious if the 12W is worth the extra money or not..
Thanks for any suggestions! |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42691
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I think you will find that folks generally advise that if you can swing it, the extra money is well worth it. I can honestly say that I have never read a comment that a saber was TOO bright (unless they looked directly at the LED when ignited), but there are laments about wishing they had just gone for it to get the brightest saber possible.
Another school of thought would be, if you cannot swing it this time around, you can always send it in for an upgrade later. So, there really are no bad decisions. Just a matter of picking the one you can live with.  Food for thought. |
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Imagine what you will know tomorrow....
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42708
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12w is the better choice
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The light shall burn away the darkness
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42710
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If you can do it, 12W all the way. It is by far the better choice.
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MTFBWY
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42726
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12w all the way dude. Good thing 12w+ has become the standard LED. Sweeeeet
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Light and darkness, you cannot have one without the other. To achieve equilibriem you must be in harmony with both; the path between.
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42733
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Definitely go with 12W, not only because it is brighter but because LED colors that use 2 different colors dies (like royal blue and red for purple or green and amber for yellow) will be mixed better. Plus if you are only getting a warrior tier (light only), the 12W comes with a rechargeable battery, while the 6w runs on regular batteries (which you will go through very quickly).
If SF's crossguard sabers didn't use 6w LEDs for the side blades I think they probably wouldn't continue to offer them (I even remember there being talk of 6W going away in the past). |
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Own: 2005 MR ESB Vader, Korbanth Graflex 2.0 (self-install)
Waiting On: ASP "Interceptor" Want: Vanquish |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42745
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I would definitely suggest the 12W, just due to the color mixing being better as Jaden said, in addition to the rechargeable battery.
But if you're getting the 27" InfinityEdge V4, a 6W will be fine. I have a 6W Fury that I got from someone here on the forums, and a 27" v4 blade looks "totally dope" on it. See below for a pic of how the 6W with a 27" blade matches up to my 12W with a 32" blade. |
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Owned: Champion Bane 12W Bl. Org.
Champion Fury 6W Green Warrior Chosen 12W+ Mint Green Ordered: Champion Jinsu Razor v2 (ASP build) 12W+ Red |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42747
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And now that I think about it, I'm not sure colors like indigo or the newer frost white are available in 6w, as they need 3 die of one color and 1 of another (6w only have 2 die).
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Own: 2005 MR ESB Vader, Korbanth Graflex 2.0 (self-install)
Waiting On: ASP "Interceptor" Want: Vanquish |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42762
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12W no longer exists. There is only 12W+, which is an even brighter LED configuration for the same price. 6W is great, but 12W+ is just that much of a difference to make it worth it.
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Lovingly,
SithLordLim "Too many Urkels on your team; that's why you're Winslow." -Kanye West |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42844
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There is a 6w+ that SF is using that offers all the benefits over 6w that 12w+ offers over 12w. They are putting it in all saber orders, same as the 12w+. So don't let the "+" be the deciding factor.
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The above post may be subject to editing. A lot of editing.
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42872
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Ryan-Rising wrote:
There is a 6w+ that SF is using that offers all the benefits over 6w that 12w+ offers over 12w. They are putting it in all saber orders, same as the 12w+. So don't let the "+" be the deciding factor.
Especially since all the "+" means is that the dies are closer together so they fit under a better optic. |
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Own: 2005 MR ESB Vader, Korbanth Graflex 2.0 (self-install)
Waiting On: ASP "Interceptor" Want: Vanquish |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42876
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Jaden Korr wrote:
Ryan-Rising wrote:
There is a 6w+ that SF is using that offers all the benefits over 6w that 12w+ offers over 12w. They are putting it in all saber orders, same as the 12w+. So don't let the "+" be the deciding factor.
Especially since all the "+" means is that the dies are closer together so they fit under a better optic. As far as I know, the die themselves are being replaced by by another model with a narrower view range. Less light directed towards the side of the hilt and exiting the base of the blade, more light directed towards the tip. I originally thought the XB-D's were being replaced by the XP-E's, but I recently saw in an old post that they were actually going to use XQ-E's. That also means die with overall better luminous flux values might be able to be utilized.
Q - So, they're releasing a new 12W+ LED. When will it be available fully and what are the details?
A - Let's start with a rundown of what the new 12W+ LED is. As stated by Phil: "Our current 12w LED is made with four CREE XB-D dies, our new LED array uses four CREE XQ-E dies. The new dies are smaller and sit closer together under the focusing lens, this produces less base flair and a much brighter and more evenly lit blade." So, this is not only an upgrade to the lumens but an overall LED upgrade. That being said, it is currently (as of today, 7/12/15) available to purchase for an extra $25 fee for a new saber order. All colors and combinations (even for Hero Tiers!) are now available for purchase. These are slated to release fully with the new ASP system, and will be available for regular purchase at that time for $5 more than the regular 12W LED. |
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Jaden Korr
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42877
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Snakeeyz99 wrote:
As far as I know, the die themselves are being replaced by by another model with a narrower view range. Less light directed towards the side of the hilt and exiting the base of the blade, more light directed towards the tip. I originally thought the XB-D's were being replaced by the XP-E's, but I recently saw in an old post that they were actually going to use XQ-E's. That also means die with overall better luminous flux values might be able to be utilized.
Q - So, they're releasing a new 12W+ LED. When will it be available fully and what are the details?
A - Let's start with a rundown of what the new 12W+ LED is. As stated by Phil: "Our current 12w LED is made with four CREE XB-D dies, our new LED array uses four CREE XQ-E dies. The new dies are smaller and sit closer together under the focusing lens, this produces less base flair and a much brighter and more evenly lit blade." So, this is not only an upgrade to the lumens but an overall LED upgrade. That being said, it is currently (as of today, 7/12/15) available to purchase for an extra $25 fee for a new saber order. All colors and combinations (even for Hero Tiers!) are now available for purchase. These are slated to release fully with the new ASP system, and will be available for regular purchase at that time for $5 more than the regular 12W LED. Thanks for the clarification. I remembered that the dies were closer together because they were smaller, but I forgot that they were also better than the old ones. |
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Own: 2005 MR ESB Vader, Korbanth Graflex 2.0 (self-install)
Waiting On: ASP "Interceptor" Want: Vanquish |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42878
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Snakeeyz99 wrote:
As far as I know, the die themselves are being replaced by by another model with a narrower view range. Less light directed towards the side of the hilt and exiting the base of the blade, more light directed towards the tip. I originally thought the XB-D's were being replaced by the XP-E's, but I recently saw in an old post that they were actually going to use XQ-E's. That also means die with overall better luminous flux values might be able to be utilized.
This has me pretty stoked too. Previously, a Tri-Cree XP-E2 would easily outshine a 12W LED. However, a quick glance at the XQ-E spec sheet has them rated at about the same base light output of an XP-E2, just in a smaller form factor. If the XQ-E work as well at higher currents as the XP-E2s, and if the optics are a better fit, this could prove a nice step up in saber brightness - not just for Saber Forge, but for saber tech in general. I'll have to see about ordering a custom RRGG 12W+ module for experimenting with my ASP hilt and a Spark 2 board. |
First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42880
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I was excited for the prospect of trying out a photo red XP-E in a saber to see what the difference in wavelength did to the blade color. Haven't had the time to try that out, though, and I'm not even sure I could do it without a proper 4-die star sized for the XP-E's.
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42884
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I tend to refer to them as "blood red" LEDs when showing off my MR Vader running a one-up Photo Red XP-E.
It's a true, deep red that makes standard Red LEDs look orange in comparison, but you lose a bit of visible light to the Infrared spectrum, so Photos are slightly dimmer. It still outshines my P4 Red though. LED Supply stocks them in single and tri-stars that have no problem fitting in a 1" heatsink, but you'd either have to desolder the jumpers on the stock Tri or order a custom Tri without them. |
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Snakeeyz99
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First Saber; question about LEDs 3 months 1 week ago #42887
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Kouri wrote:
I tend to refer to them as "blood red" LEDs when showing off my MR Vader running a one-up Photo Red XP-E.
It's a true, deep red that makes standard Red LEDs look orange in comparison, but you lose a bit of visible light to the Infrared spectrum, so Photos are slightly dimmer. It still outshines my P4 Red though. LED Supply stocks them in single and tri-stars that have no problem fitting in a 1" heatsink, but you'd either have to desolder the jumpers on the stock Tri or order a custom Tri without them. Now THAT is what I'm talking about. Kouri, you are FANTASTIC. I had a whole post going where I wanted to explain and show how different a photo red LED would look compared to the current orangish red modules and you already had one on hand. Perfect! Also, thanks for bringing up LED Supply. I've been trying to hobble together what I could on Digikey and Mouser but neither had the ease of use or the same stock as that website, so I'm sure to be using this a lot in the future! I'm still pretty new to the whole electric thing so any little bit helps. If you want to read my post and all my wrong assumptions, here's the link: https://saberforgeforum.com/forum/saber-electronics-diy/2762-led-modules-and-an-experiment-in-red |