I'd like to light a scene with both a couple Brawa 16V yardlamps as well as 4-5 Minitronics 1.5V lamps. Can I connected them all to the same powersource, but with one series for the 16V and one series with some resistors for the 1.5V? Which resistors? All tied to the same potentiometer for brightness control? Or do I need separate power sources for the two types of lighting? I have 6V and 4.5V power adaptors lying around the house: will work? (will the 16V lights just be dimmer using lesser voltage or not work at all?) Don't I need to add up all the amps of all the lights I'm going to use and then make sure the power adaptor/transformer doesn't exceed them? Sorry for all the basic questions: still getting my head around how volts, amps & ohms work. Thanks for your patience!
You can use the same power source. You can get valuable information at: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator However, after you get the basics on these, go to LED series parallel array wizard That will automaticly calculate the resistance you need for each LED. Hope this helps. Ron
Thanks for the links! If I have only 1 Brawa spotlight tower (16V), couldn't I just hook that up with a toggle to the DCC main bus? (Isn't that about 15V? or am I confusing that with 15amp?) And then run the 1.5V Minitronic off the 4.5V power adaptor with some resistors? Or should the lighting be totally separate from the DCC? Thanks again for the advice.
Don't mess with the DCC track voltage. Leave it for the loco. Use a separate 12 vdc power pack for accessories and the 16 volt lamp. You can pickup a 12 vdc, 2 amp power pack for under $10.00. Hang a voltage regulator that makes 1.44 vdc onto the 12vdc buss. Put a diode with a toggle switch in series with the 1.44 vdc lead for lower lighting. That will reduce the 1.4 vdc to 0.7 vdc for dimming the lights at night. Another way is to forget the diode and switch a resistor into parallel with the 36 ohm resistor, say 120 to 150 ohms and the 1.5 volt bulbs will not dim as much. Take your time and think about this. Voltage regulator link below. Put in 36 ohms. Calculate. http://www.electronics-lab.com/articles/LM317/ Rich
