Anyone here know...

[Jay Honeck]

....what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
on?

I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
-- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
little. No dice.)

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Jim Burns]

ROFL!
um.... 28AC/400htz?
I'll ask over at AMT online.
Jim

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> ...what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
> on?
>
> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
> -- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
> it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
> little. No dice.)
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[Steve Foley[_2_]]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> ...what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
> on?

I read somewhere recently that aircraft use some kind of 400 volt system.

You're probably better off trying to gut the light and insert a 120volt
night-light.



>
> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
> -- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
> it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
> little. No dice.)
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[Jay Honeck]

> You're probably better off trying to gut the light and insert a 120volt
> night-light.

Sadly, it's more modern than that. It's some sort of a solid-state
thing, with what looks like maybe a luminescent strip behind the
words/sybols? There would be no room for any kind of a bulb.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[nrp]

It is probably supplied with 400 Hz AC - but most certainly not 400
volts! My guess is 110 V or 28 V. Somebody here must know.

[Montblack[_1_]]

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater --
> but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva it, I
> connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a little. No
> dice.)


Isn't there a 'UAL' sticker on the back?

(...wait for it. <g>)


Montblack

[Jim Burns]

It was made by Luminator, most of their stuff is 28v, either AC or DC
depending on the part number.
Jim

"nrp" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> It is probably supplied with 400 Hz AC - but most certainly not 400
> volts! My guess is 110 V or 28 V. Somebody here must know.
>

[[email protected]]

Jay Honeck > wrote:
> It's some sort of a solid-state thing, with what looks like maybe a
> luminescent strip behind the words/sybols?

You can get night-lights like this; they are very thin and flat and emit
kind of a greenish glow. If you've seen one of these signs illuminated
and it was kind of greenish, than that may be what you have, and it
probably takes AC. Or, it could be surface-mount LEDs on a thin circuit
board; that could take either AC or DC. Are there any polarity markings
(+, -, GND, etc) on it? What color are the lead wires, if any?

> There would be no room for any kind of a bulb.

Since the 9 VDC didn't impress it, I'd probably vote for the 28 VAC
400 Hz or 115 VAC 400 Hz options that have been suggested. If it wanted
12 V DC, the 9 V battery should probably have made it light up (if it
was connected the right way around). If it wants 28 V DC, the 9 V
battery might have made _something_ happen, but maybe not... if you've
got some more 9 V batteries, you might try two or three of them in
series. If three in series doesn't impress it, then it's probably AC.

You can test the 28 VAC case first with a transformer with a 120 V
primary and a 24 V secondary. You can buy one at Rat Shock, or look
around at the wall-warts on the gadgets you have until you find one
that has an AC secondary. Most of them are DC, but answering machines
often have an 18 VAC transformer (which is probably close enough for
this test) for some reason. If something between 18 and 24 VAC doesn't
impress it, then it's time to (CAREFULLY) try 120 V AC. If you're brave
you can just stick the wires in the wall socket and see what happens.
Or, wire something like a 4 W incandescent night-light bulb in _series_
with the sign before plugging it in. This will act as a current
limiter; if the incandescent bulb lights up brightly, then unplug the
sign immediately. More likely the bulb will light up dimly or not at
all, but the sign will light up, which is what you want. If the sign
lights up OK with the bulb in series, you can probably dispense with
the bulb and run the sign directly from the wall socket.

If it turns out the sign does take AC, I'm not sure what will happen
long term if you feed it 60 Hz instead of 400 Hz. If it's LEDs inside
there, it probably won't care at all, as the AC is probably getting
rectified to DC right away. If it's an electroluminescent panel,
though, it might care - as I understand it an EL panel is basically a
light-emitting capacitor, and it might be less happy with other than the
design frequency. You could feed it with an "official" DC-to-400 Hz AC
inverter - a quick Google gives http://www.kgselectronics.com/SC3.CAT.html
or http://www.kgselectronics.com/SD3.htm , but just the mating connector
for those boxes is liable to cost you three or four times what you paid
for the sign.

Standard disclaimers apply. Be careful when working with mains voltage.
I don't get money or other considerations from any companies mentioned.

Matt Roberds

[tom418[_1_]]

FWIW, on the B-727, the "Fasten Seat Belt" and "No Smoking" lights are
powered by the Essential 28Volt AC Bus. Cheers.
"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> ...what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
> on?
>
> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
> -- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
> it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
> little. No dice.)
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[nrp]

Assuming that it needs 28 V power (AC), don't put 28 Hz 60 Hz on it as
this cause any transformers in it draw excessive current due to the low
line frequency (vs 400 Hz).

One of the advantages of 400 Hz power & why I suspect it is widely used
in larger aircraft applications, is the higher frequency greatly
reduces the amount of core iron required for magnetic devices such as
transformers and motors. If 60 Hz is applied to a 400 Hz device
(probably a transformer in this case) the voltage must be reduced to
avoid gross saturation. In that case you wouldn't get the output
voltage needed.

Look at the circuit board. Post a picture of it if you can. Someone
must have a better idea, or more knowledge of what needed so that you
don't accidently wreck it.

[Michelle P]

Jay Honeck wrote:
> ...what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
> on?
>
> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
> -- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
> it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
> little. No dice.)
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
24 VDC.
AC will probably work too. Light bulbs do not care. A Heating and AC
transformer puts out 24 VAC.

Michelle P A&P

[Michelle P]

Michelle P wrote:
> Jay Honeck wrote:
>
>> ...what voltage an airliner "No smoking -- Return to Seat" sign runs
>> on?
>>
>> I bought one on Ebay, thinking it would be cute to have in our theater
>> -- but I have NO idea what voltage to apply. (Just for the heckuva
>> it, I connected it to a 9 volt battery, thinking it MIGHT glow a
>> little. No dice.)
>>
>> Thanks!
>> --
>> Jay Honeck
>> Iowa City, IA
>> Pathfinder N56993
>> www.AlexisParkInn.com
>> "Your Aviation Destination"
>>
> 24 VDC.
> AC will probably work too. Light bulbs do not care. A Heating and AC
> transformer puts out 24 VAC.
>
> Michelle P A&P
luminescent strip? that changes my answer. going to need to look that
one up.
Michelle

[RST Engineering]

It is undoubtably an electroluminescent panel, the kind of which I covered
in two years' ago Oshkosh forum (remember, Jay?). Make you a deal. Send it
to me and I'll put in some carefully current limited AC & DC voltages and
tell you what to do to make it work. Whichever way we go, Jameco
Electronics (www.jameco.com) has a line of wall-warts that will undoubtably
make it work.

On the other hand, the reason you found it on the surplus market may have
been that it failed and was tossed out. No combination of dicking around is
going to get a busted unit to work.

CAVEAT -- we are backed up to the walls with customer orders and
calibrations right now. It may be "a while" (TM) before we get to it.

Jim





"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> You're probably better off trying to gut the light and insert a 120volt
>> night-light.
>
> Sadly, it's more modern than that. It's some sort of a solid-state
> thing, with what looks like maybe a luminescent strip behind the
> words/sybols? There would be no room for any kind of a bulb.
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[john smith]

> > 24 VDC.
> > AC will probably work too. Light bulbs do not care. A Heating and AC
> > transformer puts out 24 VAC.
> > Michelle P A&P

> luminescent strip? that changes my answer. going to need to look that
> one up.

http://www.beingseen.com/