I bought a flashing LED to indicate when my programming track is in the program mode. Since my eyes are marginal, I thought the flash would alert me better than a constant light. The circuit I was to use, had the LED powered from the track. Aparrently these LEDS require DC only to blink.
Now, I either have to provide DC to the programming toggle or just use a plain LED.
More wires[:'(]
You can rectify the DCC track power and then feed the LED - you would need at least a rectifier bridge per LED, but that might be easier then replacing the toggle switches with ones with an extra pole to switch the LED on and off, plus a power supply.
–Randy
Radio Shack has bridge rectifiers for about 2 bucks
Thanks Randy. I just connected it to a DC power supply and found out that it really does not blink, but only dims for a while then a short burst of brighter light.
http://www.ngineering.com/bridge_wiring.htm
Works for single LED or car lighting. A bridge rectifier, 470ufd cap and a 1k resistor should do the job.
No resistor, and you will get one blink.
Rich
How much voltage are you running through it? If more than three volts or so, add a 1K ohm resistor in series to one of the LED’s legs. Also, are you sure you have it wired up correctly? Probably so because I don’t think it would light up at all if the polarity was reversed.
Good luck.
The probable reason my LED didn’t flash (or blink) properly is that I destroyed a portion of the blinker circuit when I connected it to the DCC rail power without rectification.[#oops]
Substituting another LED on the DC supply showed complete dark between blinks.
Live and learn[^o)]