Menards power supply options

Not at all. The "strength" in a larger supply has to do with the number of lights it can handle. The voltage is the same for all power supplies. Each led requires about 20 ma, so the 1000 handles up to 50, where the 5000 ma would handle close to 5X that number. Clear as mud?

John H posted:

Not at all. The "strength" in a larger supply has to do with the number of lights it can handle. The voltage is the same for all power supplies. Each led requires about 20 ma, so the 1000 handles up to 50, where the 5000 ma would handle close to 5X that number. Clear as mud?

Thank-you I always wondered what the difference was but was stubborn to ask. ( not really electrical minded here)  

I have only noticed on the last few larger buildings that Menards states they need the 5000 supply.  

John H is correct. Each LED draws a certain amount of amperage (~20 ma). You multiply that times the total number of LEDs to get the total amperage for the circuit.

The power supply will furnish a maximum rated amount of amps but it does not push it through the LEDs so that it over powers the circuit. You could hook up one LED, or many, to any of these power supplies without damaging anything. The amps from the power supply are available for use but are not actually produced unless the current draw (from the LEDs) requires them.

On the other hand, LEDs are current sensitive and need resistors to keep ohms law in check. Don't just connect LEDs to a power supply without the necessary resistors.

Note that the Menards description for your Morton factory suggest the 1000 mA or 2000 mA adapter.  So clearly the building must require less than 1000 mA. 

If asking about 5000 mA version because you're looking ahead to expand your real-estate empire, note that the 5000 mA adapter has a single-plug output.  To share the excess capacity with one or more additional buildings, Menards just came out with an accessory kit with splitters and extender cables:

Note that the 2000 mA adapter has 3 plugs on it so can power 3 buildings without needing the accessory kit.

In any case I think Menards could better serve its customers by giving the mA requirement for each of its buildings in the product description.  For example, Woodland Scenics gives this information for their lighted buildings. 

I think the quonset hut is the smallest lighted load with I think 2 LEDs...so that would require less than 40 mA (using 20 mA per LED).  There are other Menards building with over 200 LEDs.  There are some buildings with blinking red LED warning lights.  There are some buildings with motors or spinning roof fans.  There are some buildings with "neon" signs - some animated (like the Morton Salt umbrella girl).  Perhaps Menards will at some point provide the mA guidelines for each building, but in the mean time I've been trying to ask guys with the tools to measure the mA to provide this information.  Have not accumulated enough data yet.

Stan, you might remember your directions on a little excercise for building measurements we did back in March.  That test got about 10mA per led for the older Menards buildings.  I guess the animated signs would be more but no idea how much more.

Right.  It baffles me how Menards expects its customers to choose the correct adapter when no information is provided (that I can find) on the mA requirements for each building.

There are buildings with only 2 LEDs...and other buildings with more than 200 LEDs!  At 10 mA per LED, that means one building might need 20 mA while a bigger building might require more than 2000 mA.  And I have seen very little info on the mA requirements for the "neon" signs - some are somewhat complex and animated which one might reasonably assume would require more mA than a small basic sign.

This information would also be useful for guys wanting to power their buildings from transformer AC Accessory output (14-16V AC).  There are a wide variety of converter options but you need to know the mA requirements for the building(s) to make an informed selection.

Thanks for all the responses. Great help on this.