Unless you're really up on your basic electronics, I wouldn't recommend trying it. There are MANY things to consider, such as voltage rating, current draw, polarity (for the LED's), voltage output and stability, as well as maximum current of your power supply, just to name a few off the top of my head. Perhaps a bit more detail on what you're planning is in order.
Tom
Why not mix? Is this any different than compact fluorescents and incadesent lamps in household circuits? Assuming the proper resistors were used there shouldn't be a circuitry problem, especially since everything is in parallel.
Doc
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Sure. I've got a turnout indicator driven by the contacts on a Peco machine. It drives both a dual-color LED and a red/green pair of incandescents. Like the man said, if you get the resistors right, you're fine.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
pjjkg I assume they have to be in parallel and appropriate resistors. Thanks
I assume they have to be in parallel and appropriate resistors. Thanks
Yes, piece of cake. You can use them in series but ONLY if by happenstance their current values match. That's not likely unless you select very carefully.
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
Doc in CT Tom Why not mix? Is this any different than compact fluorescents and incadesent lamps in household circuits? Assuming the proper resistors were used there shouldn't be a circuitry problem, especially since everything is in parallel. Doc
For starters, the CFL/fluorsecent lamps and incadesent lamps you're refering to are designed to work on 120 Volt AC standard power supplied to your home. The LED's and mini bulbs he's talking about are not necessarily designed to work on the same voltages. Proper compensation componenets or circuits must be included to compensate for this. That's why I put in the qualifier, "if you're not up on your basic electronics" in the original reply, just like you put "Assuming the proper resistors were used" in your reply. You just rephrased what I said. Since he provided very little specific information as to the voltage and/or current rating of the lamps and LED's in question, it would be difficult to provide any guidance as to values of resistors, If he was up on basic electronics, the question wouldn't have come up in the first place..
TomDiehlFor starters, the CFL/fluorsecent lamps and incadesent lamps you're refering to are designed to work on 120 Volt AC standard power supplied to your home. The LED's and mini bulbs he's talking about are not necessarily designed to work on the same voltages. Proper compensation componenets or circuits must be included to compensate for this. That's why I put in the qualifier, "if you're not up on your basic electronics" in the original reply, just like you put "Assuming the proper resistors were used" in your reply. You just rephrased what I said. Since he provided very little specific information as to the voltage and/or current rating of the lamps and LED's in question, it would be difficult to provide any guidance as to values of resistors, If he was up on basic electronics, the question wouldn't have come up in the first place..
Wiring up the lights in parallel would require the exact same set of resistors as he would need wiring them to separate power supplies of the same voltage. If he was not up to the task of wiring them separately I don't think he would have bothered to ask about wiring them together.
ndbprr It appears there are two issues here. The definition of "same circuit" and how to do it. Personally If you wish to use the same power source I would not string them in series. That would be asking for trouble in my opinion and would be difficult at best. But two sets of leads to the same power source contacts with one set lighting LEDs with proper resistance in the line and the other set lighting the bulbs should cause no ill effects if the voltage output and the amperage is up to snuff.
It appears there are two issues here. The definition of "same circuit" and how to do it. Personally If you wish to use the same power source I would not string them in series. That would be asking for trouble in my opinion and would be difficult at best. But two sets of leads to the same power source contacts with one set lighting LEDs with proper resistance in the line and the other set lighting the bulbs should cause no ill effects if the voltage output and the amperage is up to snuff.
Since it appears we've lost our original poster, we probably won't get a clarification to what "they" are in "they need to be in parallel."
My point was that it does not matter if you mix fluorescent and incandescent bulbs nor LEDs and incandescent. If they are in parallel and the voltage is kept to the bulb limitations (and yes resistors are needed to drop voltage as needed) they can be mixed. The household lighting was an analogy.
Parallel makes sense if you don't want to have multiple lights go, when one bulb burns out (x-mas lights are serial with shunts to allow the others to burn with one failure). I can see stringing low voltage incandescent or LED in series to perform the voltage drop rather than a resistor, if the risk of single burnout is acceptable (as in 2 6v street lamps wired in series off of a parallel bus feed).
And my point was if he doesn't know how to calculate the voltages, currents, and resistances, I wouldn't advise him to proceed. And if he's looking for advice from us, we'll need more information from him, which prompted my comment on losing our original poster. Notice the original entry is the only one he's put in this thread.
Tom, I'm sorry as I was away for a bit.
I have hooked up a lot of bulbs and led's but fed them singly back to an atlas connector to power supply. I currently have 6 full connectors going to a cheapo transformer. (I guess the limit to that would be the start of another post! I did buy a current meter so I can start to fiddle with that!)
I was going to put some led's and gow bulbs in a structure and just wondered about hooking them together there instead of back at the connector. To explain further, can each item with appropriate resistor be put in parallel in a "circuit". I use the term circuit loosely. Seems it would save me a lot of wire. I know many would advise "just try it and see" which is my normal pjhilosophy, also, but I've blown alot of led's experimenting.
Hope to learn a lot from the SER's (Southeast Regional's) CD on led usage which I just received a bit ago.
Thanks to all for their advice. It's great to have many out ther so willing to help.
doc steve
First, you need to know the voltage rating of your light, be it incadescent or LED. Then you need to know the voltage output of your power supply. This will determine how many lights you can put in series, or how high of a resistor you will need for each series circuit. The series circuits can then be tied in parallel to each other, and it doesn't matter if you do it at the lighted building or with a multiple switch like the Atlas Connector. The switch will give you the option of turning lights on and off at different times in different buildings or different parts of a larger building.
The next thing you need to know is the current rating of your power supply. Hook up each series circuit of lights to the power supply, with the current meter in line and measure the current draw. The current in each parallel circuit will add up and tell you how many can be run from this power supply safely. Using a resistor with a light instead of lights in parallel will reduce the number of lights you can run with the one transformer because the resistor will also draw current, reducing the amount available from that power supply for the lighting.
Tom and all,
Thanks again for great advice.