Ack. Thing I fried something. Noob project help.

[a_gunslinger]

Pretty new to wiring and electronics, be gentle. Been buying some odd man cave electronics and wiring them. Doing pretty good until this last one where I took a chance and think I screwed something up. Wondering if its salvageable.
Have a school bus backup light. Foolishly (but heck, you gotta learn right hooked a standard ground plug to it (white black ground) GUESSING what to connect to what. I guessed wrong.
There was a hiss, a whoosh of air, and a burned smell from what I believe is some kind of ballast (see bottom picture, green thing on left). It only has a Red and a Yellow coming from it. See pix below.
Questions are:

1. Possible I didn't kill it?
2. How can I get power to the Red and Yellow power wires?

 

[Minder]

hmmmm.. .High voltage AC to a low voltage (DC?) system??
M.

 

[a_gunslinger]

Remember, I said be gentle, Im that new

Likely the case. The assumption then is a school bus would be using low voltage to feed this thing? Are there any alterations I can make to get a standard 110 house plug to light this baby up - presumably bypassing the low voltage components? Thanks for the reply, and patience.

 

[KJ6EAD]

You probably need a 12V or possibly 24V DC power supply but there's more going on in that circuitry than what the correct power supply will solve. I noticed a diode and what looked like a solid state device, possibly a TO-3 transistor case.

The device you blew up was probably a blinker circuit that was connected to one or more of the bulbs. If you had connected 120V AC to the bulbs directly, there would have been a brief flash of light as the filaments vaporized.

You need to take some of the bulbs out of their sockets and read the markings on the bulb base. Report back with that.

What function did the whole assembly have when it worked? How many bulbs, fixed or blinking, etc. What do you want it to do now?

 

[73's de Edd]

.


Sir gunslaaaanger . . . . . .

I see that some few posts have been added since I initially poked this up and then got back to civilization . . . . . but . . . .


Your question 1:

" Possible I didn't kill it? "
Hells bells . . . .kill it . . .KILL IT ? . . . . . . You CREMATED it !

Your question 2:

" How can I get power to the Red and Yellow power wires? "
Get off that 120VAC power kick and use a 12V at 5 amp DC power supply, just to keep things on the cool running side.

What you have . . . . . had ? there, was a flashing lamp, stop sign warning.

Its circuitry consists of the 12 VDC battery power coming into the unit with the YELLOW and RED wires.
The GREEN wires are frame ground wires.
At the far end of the aluminininiyum-yum bracket, that the two lamps are mounted onto, there is a power transistor hidden behind it.
The bottom of the terminal strip, at the brackets end, has a smaller BROWN wire. That wire goes back to the potted black electronic
flasher module at the extreme left end of the unit, which supplies base drive, via that wire, to that power transistor to drive the lamps..

99.86/100ths percent chance , that the 120 VAC wiped out that power transistor, the diode beside it and the electronic flasher module.

But luckily, the cabinet survived and possibly the two lamps.

Simplest restoration and being within your capabilities might be the use of a standard car flasher and use the afore mentioned 12VDC
power supply to power it.

Circuitry:

73's de Edd



.

 

[a_gunslinger]

You probably need a 12V or possibly 24V DC power supply but there's more going on in that circuitry than what the correct power supply will solve. I noticed a diode and what looked like a solid state device, possibly a T-3 transistor case.

The device you blew up was probably a blinker circuit that was connected to one or more of the bulbs. If you had connected 120V AC to the bulbs directly, there would have been a brief flash of light as the filaments vaporized.

You need to take some of the bulbs out of their sockets and read the markings on the bulb base. Report back with that.

What function did the whole assembly have when it worked? How many bulbs, fixed or blinking, etc. What do you want it to do now?

Bulbs all have the same marking - W1195 Something is etched into the metal base but I cant make it out.

All I want it to do it light up. While the flash would be ok Im not married to it. In a perfect world plugged into a basic lamp plug with an on/off switch.

 

[a_gunslinger]

.


Sir gunslaaaanger . . . . . .

I see that some few posts have been added since I initially poked this up and then got back to civilization . . . . . but . . . .


Your question 1:

" Possible I didn't kill it? "
Hells bells . . . .kill it . . .KILL IT ? . . . . . . You CREMATED it !

Your question 2:

" How can I get power to the Red and Yellow power wires? "
Get off that 120VAC power kick and use a 12V at 5 amp DC power supply, just to keep things on the cool running side.

What you have . . . . . had ? there, was a flashing lamp, stop sign warning.

Its circuitry consists of the 12 VDC battery power coming into the unit with the YELLOW and RED wires.
The GREEN wires are frame ground wires.
At the far end of the aluminininiyum-yum bracket, that the two lamps are mounted onto, there is a power transistor hidden behind it.
The bottom of the terminal strip, at the brackets end, has a smaller BROWN wire. That wire goes back to the potted black electronic
flasher module at the extreme left end of the unit, which supplies base drive, via that wire, to that power transistor to drive the lamps..

99.86/100ths percent chance , that the 120 VAC wiped out that power transistor, the diode beside it and the electronic flasher module.

But luckily, the cabinet survived and possibly the two lamps.

Simplest restoration and being within your capabilities might be the use of a standard car flasher and use the afore mentioned 12VDC
power supply to power it.

Circuitry:

73's de Edd



.

I appreciate all the info, and the gentleness with which you chastised my actions ;^)

The car flasher may be an option I may be able to pull off. Thanks for all this.

 

[a_gunslinger]

The bulbs dont have any reference to Volts ;^| But it appears the W1195 is type and most references to this is a 12.5 Volt 3 Amp 37.5 Watt W1195 Miniature Automotive Light.