Capacitor on carriage lights

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collectors
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Capacitor on carriage lights

#1

Post by collectors »

Hi. i am fitting some LED lights to my on30 carriages & also fitting 1x3300uf capacitor to each carriage to help stop any flicker. There will be 6 carriages, so 6 capacitors & this at times will be times by 2.
It's on a DCC track with a 4 amp supply.
Can you foresee any problems with 2 trains & 12 capacitors. ??
Thanks.
footplate1947
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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights

#2

Post by footplate1947 »

Dont you mean a diode. I thought a capacitor stored energy as static, then released it as a pulse. Would that not blow the lights up.
If only there was enough hours in the day..................John
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dynax
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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights

#3

Post by dynax »

they will be fine, i have around 30 or so on my layout at any one time most with 2200uf caps,

@ footeplate, caps work like batterys and will gradually lose power, it mainly depends on demand, if compared to a cdu the demand is greater so the discharge rate is much faster,
Mike.
collectors
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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights

#4

Post by collectors »

Thanks for the heads up. Because i just about have the room for a 3300 cap. It's under the PCB in the carriage,s WC. But it seem to do the trick There is also a dimmer on each coach that works via a remote & up to now, 1 remote is doing 3 seperate coaches dimers is working ok. The lights seem to work well, but i think the dimer might also be draining the cap as the leds only last about 2 seconds max after a power shut off..
PS: No comments on the soldering, i get a shaky hands. lol ;)
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footplate1947
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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights

#5

Post by footplate1947 »

dynax wrote: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:51 pm they will be fine, i have around 30 or so on my layout at any one time most with 2200uf caps,

@ footeplate, caps work like batterys and will gradually lose power, it mainly depends on demand, if compared to a cdu the demand is greater so the discharge rate is much faster,
Hello Dynax as you have gathered I don't know much about electrics. I thought you used Caps to give a strong discharge for things like point motors . Sorry if I have caused any confusion. I am very good at cutting cars to pieces to remove accident victim's, and putting fires out though. We all have our uses. I was brought up with an abacus and valve radios :lol:
If only there was enough hours in the day..................John
Ron S
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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights

#6

Post by Ron S »

Be careful if having a lot of coaches with capacitors as the inrush of current when switching the power on may cause the DCC system to shut down.
Ron

NCE DCC, 00 scale, very loosely based on GWR
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