On these billboards it comes with a battery pack that you use three triple AAA batteries. I was wondering if you can cut off the battery pack and then wire the two leads going from the circuit board to some type of a power source?
Not sure if anyone has tried doing that.
I have all of my Miller signs running from a 4.5V DC “wall-wart” power supply. It is a good way to go.
Miller sells a power supply and a distribution strip, also a #4804 5-17V AC or DC to 4.5VDC “converter” but since I already had the wall wart available I simply used that.
Good Luck, Ed
Yes, Miller offers two different power supplies that replace the battery pack, one that can drive up to 3 signs, and one for up to 10 signs.
They also have an adapter board that will work with anything from 5-17 volts, AC or DC, and outputs the correct 4.5 volts for the signs. Each one runs up to 6 signs. You can run this one from the AC terminals of an old power pack, for example.
Both items are at the bottom of their signs page on their web site.
–Randy
I first run mine when I get a new one, using the batteries. That lets me know it’s working. I measure the current with a multi-meter, and then add a resistor so that I can connect the sign and power it with my standard 12 VDC illumination bus.
I got tired of all the little special purpose wall warts powering things.
That’s where you would use the adpater board they sell, or the cheap little buck converters I use - same thing, except mine are adjustable so I can use them for everything. That way I can run an ~12V bus but use it to power many different things by adjusting each converter to output the required voltage.
–Randy
Thanks for the info. When on the website and saw that. I had bought these a few years ago at a local train show and just getting around to using them.