Current draw of lamps.....?
- Thread starter Zerogee
- Start date
D
Deleted member 1986
Guest
From my notes, they are rated at 15mA...........
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Thanks Arthur, that's just what I needed.....
Follow-up question: are all three of the lighting outputs on a Massoth XLS rated at 300mA each, or is that just for the front and rear ones (LI-V and LI-H)? Will the interior light function (LI-I) also deliver up to 300mA?
Reason for both questions: just making sure that I won't overload the LI-I function if I run ALL the lights on the railcar from it, not using the LI-V and LI-H outputs at all. Total lighting will be 3 x 24v plug-ins at the front, a fourth in the cab and a fifth as a single (red) taillight, plus two strips each of 3 LEDs for the interior lights of the coach section. If the bulbs are 15mA each, that's 75mA, still allowing plenty of headroom for what little the LED strips will take.....
Jon.
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D
Deleted member 1986
Guest
Thanks Arthur, that's just what I needed.....
Follow-up question: are all three of the lighting outputs on a Massoth XLS rated at 300mA each, or is that just for the front and rear ones (LI-V and LI-H)? Will the interior light function (LI-I) also deliver up to 300mA?
Reason for both questions: just making sure that I won't overload the LI-I function if I run ALL the lights on the railcar from it, not using the LI-V and LI-H outputs at all. Total lighting will be 3 x 24v plug-ins at the front, a fourth in the cab and a fifth as a single (red) taillight, plus two strips each of 3 LEDs for the interior lights of the coach section. If the bulbs are 15mA each, that's 75mA, still allowing plenty of headroom for what little the LED strips will take.....
Jon.
Yes all three, LV, LH and LI are rated at(0.3) 300mA, A1 & A2 are rated at 0.6A, A3 and A4 at 0.1A, total across all functions not to exceed 1.2A..
Use a value of 20 mA for each LED on the strips lights.
In case you need to alter things about have another look at post 7 here...
https://www.gscalecentral.net/threa...ring-for-lights-on-an-xls.309054/#post-477825
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G-force1
Prevarication Rules!
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Well!Get your microscope out, it's usually stamped on the brass cap.
Tricky when there IS no brass cap, I'm talking about the little two-wire-leg push-ins here.....
Got the answers I need, though, so once again the GSC list-mind comes up with the goods!
Jon.
D
Deleted member 1986
Guest
To recap and for future reference, Jon (Zerogee) implementation as outlined in the above posts are for the old style xls decoder with screw terminals, and not for the newer versions with plug sockets!
Forward thinking here, guess the plan is to tap the LI-I output and divert it via the plug socket on the rear of the loco, to give function control to the lights fitted in the carriages behind.
The interior light function is always steadily on when the engine lights are on, perhaps use of another function?, to have separate function control to turn the carriage lights on/off independently of the loco lights?
Conversion of a low power output to high power? Have the necessary parts to construct this, same as the circuit built for Nodrog of this parish for his 8FS decoder................
Forward thinking here, guess the plan is to tap the LI-I output and divert it via the plug socket on the rear of the loco, to give function control to the lights fitted in the carriages behind.
The interior light function is always steadily on when the engine lights are on, perhaps use of another function?, to have separate function control to turn the carriage lights on/off independently of the loco lights?
Conversion of a low power output to high power? Have the necessary parts to construct this, same as the circuit built for Nodrog of this parish for his 8FS decoder................
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
Thanks for the ideas, Arthur - this is for an all-in-one steam railcar (one of the GRS-built ones from the late 1990s), and the idea is that the interior lights in the coach part should be on whenever the head and tail-lights of the unit are on - hence the plan to drive all from the LI-I output for simplicity. The railcar has a front power unit from a Stainz, with the cut-down body from an LGB rack electric as the "cab" unit (with a scratchbuilt brass roof), then trailing behind, but permanently connected via an articulated joint, is most of the body of a 3062 type coach (less its front bogie and a couple of inches of body length). The rear bogie of the coach is equipped with LGB ballbearing pickup axles and the wiring from these will be connected to the power unit pickups. The decoder (XLS), volume control and speaker will all be up front in the "cab" unit, hidden behind the dummy upright boiler. There will be a multiway plug and socket used to connect the cab wiring to the coach wiring for easy separation of the units at the articulation point if required for access and maintenance.
Jon.
I would ask what the cold resistance of the lamp is. The resistance of a lamp or smoke unit changes as they heat up, thus the startup current is much higher than the published running current!!!!
Because of this 'inrush' current Zimo decoders have a programmable timed reduced current drive for function keys. This is the reason Aristo/Crest Revolution units have resistors in series with lamps, current is limited for the 'cold' start of a bulb/lamp.
Because of this 'inrush' current Zimo decoders have a programmable timed reduced current drive for function keys. This is the reason Aristo/Crest Revolution units have resistors in series with lamps, current is limited for the 'cold' start of a bulb/lamp.
Zerogee
Clencher's Bogleman
So, for a typical conventional incandescent bulb, is there an approximate ratio of "cold" current draw to "hot" running current? When you say "much higher" are we talking double, treble or a whole order of magnitude?
You commented on Zimo decoders.... I have a factory-installed Zimo in my TL45 "Pfiffi", and I've noticed that when the lights are switched on they gradually come up to full brightness over a short but noticeable period - maybe as much as a couple of seconds. I'd assumed that it was just for visual effect, but it may well be for the reason you mention......?
Jon.