Author Topic: Passenger car lighting with LED strips and decoder  (Read 1288 times)

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SD68

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Passenger car lighting with LED strips and decoder
« on: August 07, 2016, 10:27:16 AM »
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I would like to incorporate decoders in my walthers streamline passenger cars to control the lighting.  I am wondering if the flicker free circuit that Peteski posted a couple years ago will work on the output of the decoder lighting circuit or go before the decoder or is their an easier way to keep the lighting constant and not affect the control of the decoder.

peteski

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Re: Passenger car lighting with LED strips and decoder
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2016, 01:21:01 AM »
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If you mean, will it work hooked up the a function output of a decoder?  Yes, it will but it is not optimal.   We can eliminate the bridge rectifier since the decoder already does that for us.  The next thing is that the inrush current (when the capacitor is recharging after a power dropout) might be a bit high for the function output of a decoder. Same goes for the total current consumed by the LEDs. I have to check into that.

The other thing is that the circuit I designed was to smooth out any voltage dropouts caused by poor electric pickup (which seems to be a common problem in passenger cars). But if your car has poor electric pickup then that will cause the decoder to cut out too. The anti-flicker capacitor is on the LED side of the decoder, so it does not keep the decoder working during power dropouts.  When the continuity is reestablished, the decoder needs to "reboot" to get back into functioning state. Depending on how long that "reboot" lasts, the flicker-free circuit might not have enough capacitance to keep the lights on.

But if you are willing to try it out, I can redesign the circuit to be hooked up to a decoder's function output. 

EDIT: Here is the modified circuit

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As-is the maximum current will be around 70mA (which should be safe for most decoder function output - check the specs for your decoder).  The value of R2 can be changed (reduced) to increase the brightness of the LEDs  The value of 15 K  Ohm was the value which was selected by the person which asked me for the original circuit.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2016, 01:41:36 AM by peteski »
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SD68

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Re: Passenger car lighting with LED strips and decoder
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2016, 10:52:19 PM »
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Thank you Peteski, I will give the circuit a try.  My components came in today from DigiKey.  I will keep you posted.