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Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:25 pm
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.
Re: Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:33 pm
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.
Re: Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:51 pm
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,
Re: Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 3:48 pm
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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Re: Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 6:25 pm
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
Re: Capacitor on carriage lights
Posted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 12:43 am
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.