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Reply to "LED Circuit Design and Modern Transformers"

Hi MATTRAIN,

As AUSSTEVE and GUNRUNNERJOHN said, the 220uF capacitor is too small.

Here's a good on-line calculator that will help you figure out what you need.  You're minimum requirement would be at least 1000uF, but if you use the CW80's throttle to adjust the voltage down to 12 volts, the minimum isn't going to be even close.  That's because the CW80 uses a chopped sine wave throttle operating at 60HZ.  At 12 volts the throttle in the CW80 is cutting off power roughly 35% of the time.  That leaves a pretty big gap where the capacitor is trying to supply 5 amps to the lighting strip.

A safer and pretty economical way to go is a switching power supply.  As mentioned above, old PC power supplies are a good choice.  Another option that I use a lot on layouts are power supplies like these...

12VDC - 5amp $12.99

12VDC - 10amp $16.99

12VDC - 20 amp $21.99

Even after you add a 3-prong power cord, they're pretty cheap for the wattage, and you won't see any flicker in the LED strips.

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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