margun Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 Evening all, I need to control a 55W halogen lamp from off to full output (rheostat/pot?) running off a 12V battery. I'm afraid I'm no good at electronics. Is there a solution which would conserve battery life ( with minimal heat wastage) whilst providing the dimming? Any advice on components, formulae or a circuit would be greatly appreciated. Regards, margun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activeviii Posted October 9, 2010 Report Share Posted October 9, 2010 I bought one of These. desoldered the box and then cut wire on lamp and added it. tried out last night and it was spot on. once eyes had been IDed i just rolled the brightness down so there was just a light eye glow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HW682 Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 If you want maximum battery life then don't use a rheostat / pot(entiometer) / variable resistor etc. These will dim the light by wasting some of the power as heat in the resistor. There are several ready made dimmers to try (maybe try a search on this forum as it has been covered a few times). The good ones use something called pulse width modulation (PWM). Basically it turns the light on/off very rapidly many times a second. These will dim the lamp and extend battery life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.