Menards building - just curious

The board likely act as a current regulator and rf choke, reverse voltage protector for the Leds.

Not sure what LEDs you have that light up at 2 volts, unless they are red, yellow, green, or orange.

John, I’m guessing Menards uses 5v leds in their buildings.  I light mine at 2.75 and they are plenty bright at that voltage for my taste.  As you know, normal for their buildings is 4.5vdc. Too bright IMO.

Thanks, Ted. Didn’t know that. 

The Menards station has 5 LEDs in in a strip under the front and rear eaves.  The actual voltage is 2.74vdc, which gives a nice glow rather than illuminating the entire area.

Also, my understanding ( and I don't think many people realize this) is that most Menard's buildings come with two voltage inputs - one on the side of the structure and one underneath the structure and that once you plug voltage into one of those inputs, the other input now acts like a voltage output, so that you can daisy chain buildings together or use the output for whatever other purpose you might have. Obviously, there will be some voltage loss as you daisy chain.

I suspect the board also plays a part in being able to do this.

Richie C. posted:

Also, my understanding ( and I don't think many people realize this) is that most Menard's buildings come with two voltage inputs - one on the side of the structure and one underneath the structure and that once you plug voltage into one of those inputs, the other input now acts like a voltage output, so that you can daisy chain buildings together or use the output for whatever other purpose you might have. Obviously, there will be some voltage loss as you daisy chain.

I suspect the board also plays a part in being able to do this.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that. Very helpful tip!

Danr posted:

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My question is, what is the Menards board supposed to do?  It doesn’t convert AC to DC; it doesn’t regulate voltage.  It does have several resistors, diodes, a choke and some sort of IC under all the hot glue.

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Can you post a photo of the board you removed?  If you can make out the markings/lettering on the IC, that would be useful to confirm the board's purpose in life.  At the modest price point of these buildings, a manufacturer would be loathe to design-in unnecessary cost. 

Hi, Stan.  Attached are pics of the front, back and a closeup of the IC on this board.

Kudos to you for the great photography! 

So in this case Menards includes a voltage regulator IC chip (CX8855) module for buildings with what I consider a modest price point...especially after they recently flushed their stock of un-regulated AC-to-DC wall-warts and re-introduced regulated 4.5V adapters.  I wonder if they discovered folks continue to plug in any-old AC-to-DC wall-wart...or perhaps even their original un-regulated Menards adapter...into their buildings!  Very interesting....

Thanks, Stan.  Based on somewhat erratic wallwarts, I guess this was a good idea.  Mine was DOA so I went a buck converted with a rectifier.  The side benefit was the ability to control the voltage and tame the brightness.