I'm confused what's the difference between voltage and current ? also what's the difference if I power a 1.5v motor with 3 1.5 battery's in parallel and same motor in 3 1.5 battery's in series

So i have a atx pc power supply and i am going to use a pci cable to draw power from it for a led lighting system and the led light system can only take up to 12 v at 2 a, will that destroy the led light system or will it be fine? (also i cant open up the box that controls the light system to fix the blown fuse)

Hi guys i have a 24volt ac motor and want to reduce it to 12v dc. I have worked out how to change it to dc but not how to reduce the voltage. Is this easy to do or do i need to purchase something from the electronics store. any advice would be appreciated sam301

I have a small r/c tank that is 6 volts  .the problem with it is it is made to take CR123A 3 volt camera batteries  .which run about 5-7 dollars each  .i could by rechargeable ones for 50 but i thought it would be easier and more cost effective to convert it to run on a nine volt rather then four AA or AAA  .not just do to the cost but also because the space limitations i know how to solder and built circuits if i have a schematic provided .so could anyone provide me with a small circuit schematic or is it just in need or putting a resistor in between the terminals?

Ok,so I get a 3 volt signal from a detector and use this 3 volt to trigger an alarm which atleast need a decent 7 volts to function.The detector could take a max. of 5 volts input which I got from the 7 volts DC supply.This 5 volts fed,gets transformed into 3 volts after the detection.So let me make this clear,I have a 3 volt and a 7 volt supply.I need to use this 3 volt to trigger the 7 volt circuit.I know what you are thinking-a relay !right?but I couldn't get  a 3 volt relay anywhere(though I got a 5 volt relay).I can tackle this situation in two ways.1)Either by stepping this 3 volt to 5 volts and making the relay do the job.but how? 2)Or some circuit to use this 3 volt to trigger the 7 volts(like a relay but maybe by using ic's).This is the final part of my project and so please help me.

Any one have any ideas how i can (as cheaply and easily as possible) run a winch made to be ran off a 12 volt ATV battery off Australian mains(240 volts)?(this winch to be precise)Cheers, Will

Hi, I am working on a little project with my olde Gameboy Color ! I am taking it out of its case, and building a wooden / bronze one in SteamPunk Style. Now to get even Nerdier i am considering to build a "Stirling engine" and power the little machine with a Dynamo attached to it! However this might turn out, i would like to know if the dynamo generates more than 3V if that would speed the Gameboy up, or simply fry it? I will add a Good Resistor to prevent that btw :p

Can I have the circuit for the 5 volts cfl lamp ballast. Please! Thanks.

I have this 6-volt Lamp it's kind like what you would find in one those 6-volt flash lights except that this is like a stand alone lamp and it has two wires that come out of it but only seems to work at 6-volts, so I have a large 6-volt battery and a 7.5 volt output power adapter I was wondering if 7.5 volts would be too much power to use to power the lamp I don't want to blow it up. I don't know if it'll even work at 7.5 volts because I tried a 9-volt battery and it won't power on with it.  The image is the same lamp I have except mine is connected to a base and has two wires that come out the bottom I would like to find another way to power it besides using a large 6-volt Battery.  Any Suggestions.

I work at a custom motorcycle shop and use led lights in our fenders. I'm having trouble finding a constant supplier of 1,2,3, sequenced led lights for run light,turn,and brake. Any one can help that would be awesome!

well im putting an LED to my coilgun so it would turn on when  the gun was on (lol) and i was thinking about putting it "between" the 1.5v battery and the charging circuit BUT! i found out that the f*cking LED is a 3v, I tried with all of the LEDs I have but I think non of them works with 1.5 volts does the 1.5 volt LED actually exist? (LOL) or, in the case that I do not find any LED like that one, how could I use the 3v one so it could turn on with 1.5v?? maybe the drawing can help... help pls thnks **the circuit has a red led that lights up when the capacitors are charged, this one is just something i thought it would be nice to have to have it and tell you when its on** **ALSO** this is just a part of the entire circuit, its not the complete circuit, right?, the drawing is just to give an idea of the led part

I was wondering I'm making a very tiny project with that requires 5v. I'm using these little 3v batteries (CR2016). If I use like 6 of those and a 5v regulator, approximately how fast will they drain? Is that not a good way to lower the voltage? 

Hi all I have a 240v fog machine makes fog like a disco I wish to run it on a timer. For an outside dragon smoke display. I can easily time it purely off /on with a basic 24 hour  household socket cheap timer MY PROBLEM The fog machine after getting power needs a press of a button to activate it. I need a circuit / timer  so  that when it gets 240v power can then "press the button "ie activate I bought a hi tech machine to try  but it loses it's memory setting when timed out on  240v. I need something that keeps its timer cycle intact. Maybe an expert out there can help? Happy to modify something etc. Nick Tasmania

Hi, i have a honda camino , i want to make a rear light. first how do i get the 3.0 volt staying on 3 volt ac and what do i have to do if i use four bright white led in parallel,i have to have 5 watt in total.

How would i regulate 18 volts(2 9v batteries) to put out 12 volts instead? im doing this because 2 6v batteries is really heavy(im replacing 2 6v batteries, and they are also broken... dont ask how) thanks

I have a fixed input and the output is 5 volts. What type of design must I create to increase my output voltage to 9 volts with the already given output of 5 volts? I am trying to make this charger project as small in size as possible. Any assistance with this would be great. Thank you all!

How to build the circuit that is in those devices that plug into 120 volt receptacle and can have a usb charger cable plugged into it. I just need the circuit diagram. I am a little familiar with schematic reading. It all fits in that little plug in device, so it can't be that much, right?. Thanks.

I have a GB Instruments dmm i got at a Hamfest (Ham Radio Fest) in Peoria, IL a few years back for like $6. It's great, and its more accurate than my father's Craftsman from Sears that he paid $40 for about a year ago. I have replaced the 9 volt battery twice in it. 9 volt batteries are horrible for capacity, and I use this DMM so much it's almost a high drain on the 9v. I know that a standard 9v holds 500-700mAh. I have a whole box of old AAA batteries that have about 1.4+ volts still in them from a stupid car toy that drained an AAA .1v-.2v and called it dead. A standard AAA alkaline battery (E92 or equivalent) holds 1,200 mAh or 1.2Ah@1.5v. 4 alkaline AAA batteries holds 4,800 mAh@6v. I can fit 4 AAA batteries in the 9 volt holder in my DMM snugly with a piece of foam for anti-rattle. That's only 6 volts. The DMM will power on very dimly at 6v, so is there any circuit to make up for the lost 3 volts without adding a bulky power pack? There is a LOT of room in the DMM for mods n stuff. Thanks for any help Is there any way to step up

Null

Hello!   Ok here is the issue. Right now I am designing a rain water collection system by having my down spout drain into a 55 gallon plastic drum. I want to cap the drum to avoid spillage. The problem is what happens when the drum is full and the rain is still coming in. I know there are plenty of mechanical ways to solve this problem but I wanna have fun with an Arduino I have laying around. What I am thinking is run a pipe out of the bottom that has an irrigation valve installed (for anyone who is reading that that isn't aware of what an irrigation valve is, it is and inexpensive solenoid valve that is used for unground sprinkler systems). I figure I will add a water level sensor to the inside of the barrel and then hook the sensor and valve together via my Arduino. From there type a little code and violaa I have an over fill protection device! Here is the problem: An irrigation valve is 24v and the Arduino is 6volts. I know I can get the 24 volts from a power supply down to 6volts via resister, but then how would power the valve? My goal is to NOT have to buy a 12volt 1" solenoid (i didn't want to spend a lot of money on this project). I am not sure if there is a solution to this problem, but being a very green/inexperienced electronics hobbyist figured could hurt to ask. Thanks

I have a dc volt regulator that reduces the voltage to around 12 volts. How can I tell if it is good or not?

I am making an automatic  fish feeder and to activate it ? I'm thinking about using a 24v 1100ohm relay that I have laying around. My question is: can I do it? If not can I just put a resistor on it? It's supposed to be activeted a bout 15 minutes every day.

I have the full wave rectifier rated at 400 volts and 8 amps and need to know what kind of capacitor/ voltage regulator I might need to accomplish this. I'm powering two 100 watt lights off this. Thanks!

How do you lower the output power of a battery

I have a TLC module that i can get to produce about 1 volt from my hand.  I would like a way to turn this into 5 or more volts.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Hello, I am a new B here. I would like to use a 9 volt battery to power lights for my RC car. The led lights operate at 3 volts 32 ma. What size resistor will I need to make the voltage drop. Will this also control the current so I do burn up the lights. The lights are somewhat expensive so would like to get it right the first time. Thanks for anyone's help.papadewey221

Alright so i made a simple full bridge rectifier (http://www.electroboom.com/?p=544) credits to Medhi Sadahagar. I modified it such that it works with 240 volts mains instead of 120 volts mains. my capacitor bank is 2.4 mF and 400 volts. However, the output is 312 volts DC and I require around 12-36 volts DC at minimum 10 amps to power a ZVS driver (by Plasmana). I tried a voltage divider but I think the power rating of my resistors was not enough as one of them heated up and broke. I need help in designing or making a suitable circuit to reduce 312 volts DC to 12-36 volts DC at 10 amps minimum. Please help me and have a great day :D 

Hey friends!  I have a question. I want to be able to use 4 AAA batteries (6v) to power an IC. The IC's max voltage is 5.5. Is there any kind of way I can use two resistors as a voltage divider to lower the voltage 1 volt or should I just use a diode(which would lower it by 1.4v)? Thanks!

I am working on a toy truck that will play music, have headlights that will light and a gear system that will lift the truck up and down when a switch is pressed. The music (took from a stuffed keychain pig) and lighted headlights (Blue LED) work using 4.5 volts. My gear system use to use 4.5 volts to lift the truck, but now it won't do it. In order to lift the truck I have to increase the voltage power to 6 volts. If I increase the power of the gear system to 6 volts or more then it will fry my music and lights (however, I can make adjustments to the LEDs with resistors). The higher the volts are for the gear system, the easier it is to lift the truck. Maximum volts for the system are 12 volts. I know lifting the truck puts a strain on the system but the more power I give it; the better it can lift the truck. My goal is to use one power source and one switch. I thought I could use to different power sources (6 v and 4.5 v) and connect it to one switch, but I think it will fry of my music and lights. My question is: How do I reduce 6 volts to 4.5 volts, using 6 volts as my main source and connect everything to one switch? If I can get this figured out then this will help me with future project, where I need to use voltage reduction (or is it called voltage regulator). My knowledge of electronics is very low or enough to get me in trouble, which it has done. I am familiar with a few basic electronic terms and formulas. I will except and appreciate any help, ideas, diagrams, etc. Please use layman terms.

I have some older, but nice yamaha computer speakers. there is an external transformer, and it says the out put is 14v dc, 800 mA. I am wanting to skip the transformer, and us a 12 volt sealed led acid battery battery to power them, placing it after the transformer. I would prefer to use the 12v battery as a 12v 5 ah battery is around 25-35 dollars, and a 14.4v 2ah battery is around 70 dollars. Would this do any damage to the amplifier circuit within ? What effects would this have on the sound quality of the speakers? Would I be able to be switch from 12v dc, skipping the transformer, and plugged into the wall using the tranformer if i wired it to be able to do so, and would that have any long term effects on the speaker?

I need to know if a 240 volt ac squirrel cage fan motor can be safely run on 120 volts ac. An quick internet search reveals several sources that all say no, but I am concerned that the people answering the question don't know what they are talking about - as is often the case on the internet. I know there are a lot of want-to-be engineers out there ready to answer any question posed even when they have no experience or knowledge of the issue. Please do not guess at this or offer some unsubstantiated opinion.  I need a real answer to this question. Here is what I do know about this issue from researching a couple of electrical engineering sites. Lowering the motor input voltage by 50 % does several things. 1) The motor will run slower. 2) The torque developed will drop to about 25% of its full voltage rating.  3) This decrease in torque can make the motor stall when trying to start under a heavy load. 4) There may be drastic speed fluctuations due to load variations.  5) The motor current will double if the load remains constant. I can understand how these issues could cause severe problems in some applications, but perhaps not in the application I am looking at. I want to use a squirrel cage motor rated at 1/20 HP, 240 volts, 0.5 amp in a direct drive fan application. Here is how I am looking at this issue: - I need to reduce the fan speed so the speed reduction is a good thing in my application. - I have test run the motor on 120 volts for about an hour and there is plenty of torque to operate the fan. I figure at the lower speed there is less air load on the fan blades so less torque is required. Again a good thing for this application. The is no heavy load at start up and the motor seems to have plenty of starting torque for the fan. The fan does not reach full speed as fast as it does on 240 volts, but it still does so in about 4 to 5 seconds so this shouldn't be an issue either. Since it is a fan moving air and not some machine moving gears and levers the load is constant so the speed does not fluctuate at all. Again this should not be a problem. The possibility of the motor current increasing is my only concern so far and apparently it is not an issue since a test run showed the current decreased from 0.5 amps at 240 volts to 0.4 amps at 120 volts.That is a significant current drop instead of the predicted increase. Since this is a fan, I think the current decreases because the load decreases with the lower speed. For these reasons and based on my apparently successful test run I think the motor will operate fine on the decreased voltage. However, I am not sure how to factor the motor slip into this. Slip is the difference between the synchronous and asynchronous speed of an induction motor. From what I have read the slip will increase dramatically when the voltage is cut in half, but I am not sure what physical affect that will have on the motor. If you know what effect that will have or know of some other factor I am not catching please let me know.         

How many milliamp/hours is a duracell 6 volt lantern battery?  I can't find this info anywhere on the web.  Thanks.

I have been doing this for years and I finally found this line of tools that is small and compact and the battery fits in the handle and it has tons of power  the lithium ion 12 v ridgid drill and job max line. I tried to wire up the tools contacts to the small lead acid batteries I normally use and even a full size car battery but it failed to power tool because there is this small contact that the tool is requiring which the lithium battery has but obviously the lead acid does not.  I do this for heavy duty use such as continual sawing and sanding and things like that.  any suggestions I really need to make this work as I run a mobile business.  I am looking for a solution to over riding the need for that extra contact and I am fully aware that I will void the warranty as many of you may be thinking. Please help 

Hi,I need a 3 volt voltage regulator,1 ampere(or lower).I tried looking for Lm 7803 but couldn't find it any local shops.Anyother alternatives?

I need some help finding a way to flash a 120 volt incandescent light bulb. Im looking for a way and have found close to nothing. if any one can help, thank you

I have a Sony 100 volt AC motor and would like to use it with 120 volts.  Can anyone give me some advise? The motor came out of a Sony tape recorder.

I saw this and i need more distance than 10 miles but still need the speed to do the speed limit, (60). 30 miles at least. and i saw some of the chargers that charge like your ipod and stuff as you go. i was thinking if i could boost the power one of those puts out that would charge the battery. you'd probably need too big of solar panels to charge those batteries. can you give me a circuit? and what do you think, give me ideas or anything. hit me up. Im listening to: Van Morrison - Domino

Hello I was wondering if someone can help us. We are building a school project that has 3 different lights on it. what we are trying to do is have everything work off one 12 volt plug in transformer. What we have is a 12 volt dc transformer for 2 led drivers and a 6 volt ac transformer for a turning table. We want it all to work off one plug-in style transformer. How can we do this and conceal the components in the base. Please help us. Thanks for any help.

I am thinking of buying a acid battery. Its specification says that it is a 12 volt one and it's AHC@20 is 200. Can anybody calculate the watt output. I am not sure but AHC stands for Ampere hour capacity. Thanks RajibAzam

Thanks to Andy-b and Joe for the 12 volt light ideas. I wanted to illuminate dug bottle shards embedded in home-made cigar box guitars. They have given me the means. Companies are selling similar lights for $29.95. Crazy!

I have a new diesel 3 H.P engine and an 80 amp car type alternator, 12 volt. A, will the engine run the alternator at full output to charge batteries? B, Can I fit a bigger pulley to the engine? Regards Brian.

The "Solar" projects page is pretty much a Chevy Volt advertisement.  A video about the Volt is set to auto-play for every "page" of instructables... of which there are only 5 shown.  I understand that websites need ad money to survive, but when those ads dominate the page and hinder the user from accessing site content it borders on ridiculous. When I click next page I'm greeted with the same giant, auto-play video ad and only 5 instructables.  I find this irritating. -Tom

Hi guys, could someone help me with this thing,

Due to what I feel is a Bad design on the charger. I'm trying to limit current coming from a 120V AC to 24 Volt Dc Battery Charger.  The Charger Is what is supposed to be a  Plain 10 Amp Only 24 Volt Charger. However when hooked to a dead set of batteries the current skyrockets up to 30-35 Amps and it trips the internal 20 Amp Breaker.  Is there something I can do to regulate the current down to a better amperage ?  Thanks In Advance. 

Can I wire these lights so i can plug them into a outlet in the house? http://www.ebay.com/itm/6PC-FLEXIBLE-NEON-LED-MILLION-COLOR-INTERIOR-LIGHT-KIT-/280602064035?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp;=mtr&hash;=item41552fb4a3 

Hi all, This is an easy question about resistors, its been years since I use any. So, I have a replay which is rate 12v DC and 2amp. The power supply is 12v DC and 6 amp. V = I X R R =  V / I so R = 12 / 2 = 6ohm So I need a 6ohm resistor? Is that correct? I can't believe I have forgotten this! thanks Gary

I have always wondered if 2 9-volt batteries connected pos. to neg. and neg. to pos. will it explode? Look at the picture if you need help understanding what I mean.

I need to know how many volts a usb cable provides from a laptop. I couldnt find any information on google and I know that someone here has to know.