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#1
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Anyone here know...
....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" |
#2
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Anyone here know...
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" |
#3
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Anyone here know...
"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" |
#4
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Anyone here know...
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" |
#5
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Anyone here know...
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. |
#6
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Anyone here know...
("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 |
#7
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Anyone here know...
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. |
#8
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Anyone here know...
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 |
#9
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Anyone here know...
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" |
#10
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Anyone here know...
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. |
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