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Reply to "Lionel O Gauge Switches run with DC Wiring Question....."

Im curious what the purpose is of using a bridge rectifier here?  you're only using one diode in the bridge, and a single diode usually costs about 10-20 times less than a comparable bridge, Ex. 10A rectifier diodes are about 10 cents each, 1A ones are a penny or less.

bridge flow

Also note that your LEDs are not really seeing a lower voltage here.  Sure the RMS value of the voltage is about 7/10 of the input voltage with half wave rectification, but you still have a full wave peak-to-peak voltage being shoved through your LED 60 times a second.  Not a big deal if you know it going in, but likely to kill your LED's in pretty short order if you set them up for 16 volts when in reality you have as much as 28 volts running through them. 

JGL

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