14VAC flasher

The easiest way would be to use a relay at the output of a 555 timer. On the other hand, if you are only using the bulb in the water tower, it will work just as well on DC.

Why not a blinker Bulb? They can be found in bayonet, pin and screw bases

Lionel P/N 610-2958-088 is what you want.

Simple answer Evans Designs, they are a forum sponsor and make great LED's that have built in rectification, and regulation.  in other words you can run them on 14VAC.  Here is a link to the flashing one.

https://www.modeltrainsoftware...eds-for-transformers

You want the larger 5MM bulb and the normal or slower flash rate if you are making a replacement for the light on the water tower.  Their product are great!

Thanks for the great tip.

Evans Design.

trainman48 posted:

Does anyone know of a place where I can purchase a light flasher that runs on 14 VAC? I want to modify an old Marx bubbling water tower that's been in my parts drawer for way too long. I've tried Radio Shack, Amazon, and eBay with no luck. Perhaps cannibalizing some old blinking signal? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

A 555 timer circuit would be the cheapest and most customizable way to do this.  I have included a schematic - you can vary R1 and R2 to adjust the speed of the light.  You can ignore the 9v in as many 555 timers are rated much higher than that.  

Thank you so much for your time and information, and everyone who has responded to my question. This has to be the best model train forum around.

RON 464NYC has the easiest cheapest way, a blinker bulb.  You can get 12 volt mini Christmas blinker bulbs that will work fine on 14 volts.  These replacement bulbs are available now during the the Christmas season at some Walmart, CVS and other stores selling Christmas lights.  You may have to get one with a pack of 10 regular bulbs including the flasher bulb for a whole $1 or so and then have 9 other bulbs to use for building lighting.  The pack of 10 are used as replacements for at 10 bulb string of bulbs to operate on 110 volts with all in series.  You can also buy the whole string of 10 bulbs with flasher bulb for a couple of dollars and cut up the string to get 10 bulbs with sockets with pigtail wires and plugs with the bulb in them to hang from ceilings of layout buildings for interior lighting on the cheap and drawing less amps than most other regular bulbs.

I use them all the time for blinking bulbs on towers and rail cars.

Here is how I added a flasher bulb to a microwave tower, but using a 3v mini flasher bulb and Christmas lights.

It was made from a junker Lionel microwave tower structure without the top part. It was painted

red and white.  The housing was made from the cover of an old ac relay. 

A 3v mini Christmas flasher light was painted red and two 3v white mini

lights were placed in the antennas and one 3v bulb was put in the housing. 

The four 3v mini bulbs were wired in series to add up to 12v which matches my lighting voltage.  The antennas were from some plastic toy.

Charlie

Evan Cihlar posted:

trainman48 posted:

Does anyone know of a place where I can purchase a light flasher that runs on 14 VAC? I want to modify an old Marx bubbling water tower that's been in my parts drawer for way too long. I've tried Radio Shack, Amazon, and eBay with no luck. Perhaps cannibalizing some old blinking signal? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

A 555 timer circuit would be the cheapest and most customizable way to do this.  I have included a schematic - you can vary R1 and R2 to adjust the speed of the light.  You can ignore the 9v in as many 555 timers are rated much higher than that.  

Evan, I think you missed the part in the OP about running on 14VAC.  While there are indeed devices that could run on higher voltages, I don't know of any 555 timers that run on AC, so you would also have to add some rectification in front of the circuit.  Not impossible, but a lot of soldering when you can simply purchase a complete device, flasher and all for about $3. 

Rich883 posted:

Evan Cihlar posted:

trainman48 posted:

Does anyone know of a place where I can purchase a light flasher that runs on 14 VAC? I want to modify an old Marx bubbling water tower that's been in my parts drawer for way too long. I've tried Radio Shack, Amazon, and eBay with no luck. Perhaps cannibalizing some old blinking signal? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

A 555 timer circuit would be the cheapest and most customizable way to do this.  I have included a schematic - you can vary R1 and R2 to adjust the speed of the light.  You can ignore the 9v in as many 555 timers are rated much higher than that.  

Evan, I think you missed the part in the OP about running on 14VAC.  While there are indeed devices that could run on higher voltages, I don't know of any 555 timers that run on AC, so you would also have to add some rectification in front of the circuit.  Not impossible, but a lot of soldering when you can simply purchase a complete device, flasher and all for about $3. 

There are some 555 timers out there that can run on both DC and AC - in fact I have two of them for use on my layout.  I personally like soldering so if I get the chance to have a project like this I will take it on even if it is more expensive. If he’s looking for a fast and easy solution I would recommend buying a flasher but for me I would rather make my own... especially since I can change the speed of the flashing by changing the R1 and R2 value. 

I was looking for a fast and easy solution, so I bought some flashing LED's from Evans. They have so much great stuff, I've decided to take on a few more projects on my railcars. But thank you all so much for your suggestions.