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TOPIC: Pictures of LEDs with quick connects?
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 2 months 6 days ago #49126
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Hey there, I was hoping to play with some colors when my ASP hilt comes in. So far, I've managed to identify what sort of plug is used in the quick connects, but I'm still not sure which wire goes to each pin.
If a few folks could grab photos of their QC LEDs, I'd much appreciate the effort. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52155
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For a man of your stature Kouri with expansive knowledge of matters electronically and mechanically, I highly doubt I'd have any success with assisting you. As an attempt to 'bump' this Topic to the front, I'm sure there are heaps of Owners out there with QCs that simply haven't chimed in. What areas specifically are you wanting the images to represent?
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52178
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Ah, thanks for the bump, but I actually went and ordered a 6W+ LED to see how they're assembled. Came in earlier this week, as a matter of fact.
Turns out the positive wire goes to the male pin on the QC, negative to female. I took the LED completely apart to confirm, since the heatshrink around the plug was a bit too thick to get a clear view. Also finally had a nice comparison between a 6W+ Medium Blue and a single Cree Blue. The 6W+ was a bit brighter, but I'd personally stick with a single-Cree for power consumption. Looking forward to comparing a Tri-Cree and 12W+ some time. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52187
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Got any clean pics of the assembly? I'm curious to see how they look as I'm about to redo mine. Got mine smaller by soldering the resistor straight to the LED, but I think I'm still longer than the SF ones.
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52209
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Didn't take any, no, and haven't re-attached the quick-connect since I'm saving it for the Photo Red LED I've got coming in the mail tomorrow. I imagine the Medium Blue I was using might've been smaller than a Red or Amber, since SF apparently doesn't resistor their Blue LEDs.
A bit concerned about what you mean by soldering the resistor straight to the LED - did you actually solder the resistor pin directly to the LED contact? I did that once with an RGB LED. Without the flexible wire between the Red LED and Resistor, the resistor pin snapped off the LED contact after a bit of dueling and tinkering |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52221
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I did. It's got a 90degree bend in it with the right amount of length on either side to make it sit perfect, and there's heat shrink on the remaining pin going through the heatsink to stabilize and isolate. I think my overall issue is using 28ga on the quick-connect. Yesterday was the best build by far and it still broke at the resistor to wire joint. Going to use some 26 ga that came on my JST pigtales and see if that holds up better. I'll keep an eye on the LED since you mentioned it. Overall it came out about as long as the SF quick-connect LED pics I've seen, and the back-end is pretty flexible as far as freedom of movement.
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52222
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Oh, right, we chatted about that! I forgot.
Something I've seen on wiring from another builder - make some loops. Literally bend a loop at the end of the resistor pin, slip the wire through, then twist it back around. The resistor and wire should be lightly locked together like links in a chain. Apply solder to make the joint near-indestructible. Sorry for not remembering that sooner... |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52226
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Kouri wrote:
Something I've seen on wiring from another builder - make some loops. Literally bend a loop at the end of the resistor pin, slip the wire through, then twist it back around. The resistor and wire should be lightly locked together like links in a chain. Apply solder to make the joint near-indestructible.
That's a very good idea! Adding this to my list of notes for when my ASP hilt arrives. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52245
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I do like that idea. My issue is the actual wire fails vs the joint. I'll try this for sheets and grins with the 26g wire anyway. Can't hurt.
This was definitely the closest I've gotten. I think for the stunt configuration (while the NBv3's are out for repair) I'm going to pull the chassis and just tape the latching converter to the battery, and a light wrapping in the tube. See how it goes. Here's to hoping. AND for fun, the momentary switch is too short to use on the US hilt with a bezel AND a nut... gotta get some glue lol. Oi. Never ends. On a plus, way more room inside MHS parts. Should be much easier. |
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52268
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Small trick for recessed AV switches on US hilts. The head of a 12mm AV sits inside the recessed area meant for a Guarded Switch if you drill/dremel/file the actual hole wider to 12mm or 1/2".
No such trick for 16mm switches, but TCSS used to offer long AV switches specifically meant to fit in hilts with a bezel and nut. Not sure if they still do. My current build uses a short 16mm and an AV box that it threads into. Also, are you using solid or stranded wire? I haven't had any issues with the stranded wire I have. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52337
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Stranded. It does sit perfect in my recessed switch holes on the MHS hilts
 They do have them, just out of stock. I'm ready for them to stock blade holders so I can finish the MHS setups.
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 2 weeks ago #52403
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Mk 5 is done. And for the moment, stable. Got some resistors from Digikey. Added some tape over the shrink to give some strength. DIscovered that spinning the chassis a little during assembly means the excess wire coils vs folding. Since I added extra wire lengths to the switch/accent JSTs and the LED Micro-deans for easier install, it was muuuch easier to get it all to fit in the tight US hilt with that coiling. Also meant I could have that slack to pull the chassis out for battery charging. Not bad for my first...but still not happy with the hilt. Time to get a better base. US has a giant lip inside and nowhere near the space of the MHS. I'm excited to see how they both compare to my SF when they arrive. |
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53546
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2.4A Tri-Photo Red all wired up with QC:
Wire length's about as long as the 6W Medium Blue I got in, maybe a smidge longer. No reference on where SF would've wired the resistor, since the Blue and Royal Blue LEDs didn't have any, but I figure flexible wire on each end'll prevent any pins from snapping. Had to drill out the center hole of the tri-star to 3/16" to comfortably fit all six wires through. TCSS heatsink hole was already good. A bit tough to see with the heatshrink and coiled wire, but red (positive) wire's soldered to the longer male pin. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53550
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Sorry for the delay.... I have a ton of pictures of back when I was screwing with my LED modules. Here's how my red w/o QCs was wired up:
The main differences would seem to be the single wire that powers up the positive rail on the module and the two separately resistored leads at the negative of the LED module. Electrically speaking there should be no difference in operation, but I thought it might be interesting to bring up. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53551
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Huh, 6W Red, yeah? 1ohm per LED seems about right.
I think it's safe to assume they also use 1ohm on the similar-voltage Amber LEDs. My Blue and Royal Blue (Light and Deep) came without resistors. I think it's safe to say the higher-voltage Green also ship without resistors. Whites are a bit of an in-between and could go either way. Maybe a 0.5ohm resistor? Would be nice if someone with a White LED could chime in. Also nice to know that the wire's a bit longer on non-QC LED units. What I'm gathering from this is that the LEDs are resistored to run optimally with a 3.7v lithium-ion cell or 3.6v NimH battery pack. They don't typically blow out on the 4.5v Alkaline packs because of the lower current of alkaline AAA cells. Also means folks should probably avoid the 1.6v NiZn rechargeable batteries in their 6W Warrior hilts, but those aren't too common anywho. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53552
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Actually, the LED module is a standard 12W red. Here's a few more pictures and a sketch for how I think the PCB traces are organized:
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53553
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Huh, and am I reading this right that there are two 1ohm resistors wired in parallel?
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Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53554
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Yeah, my best guess is the layout goes like this:
You end up with a total 13W module at absolute max power (with a contribution of 775mA or 2.05W per LED). |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53555
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My problem with this is the battery voltage is going to fairly quickly drop to a steady 3.6-3.7v, and then we're looking at 2.1A split between four LEDs for ~500mA each. I mean, maybe this is the compromise that has to be made for the LEDs to be compatible with both 3.6v and 4.5v battery inputs, or maybe the heat of four LEDs is a bit much, but~
It just seems like we could get a brighter setup with at least one more resistor to bring the resistance down to ~0.33ohms and standard current up to ~790mA. I'm sure the LEDs could handle being overdriven at 1160mA for a short while, and the SF battery can obviously take it. |
Pictures of LEDs with quick connects? 1 month 6 days ago #53558
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I'd agree with that. As long as the LEDs aren't damaged during the overdrive for that period it takes to discharge to 3.7V, the module would run better with a 0.3 ohm resistance. I'd say the best option would be to use a third 1 ohm LED in parallel and to connect the positive leads together, since there would be no change in the required power tolerances in that case (~1.1W normal, ~2.5W at max).
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Kouri
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