Powering Miller Animated Billboards from the 1033 transformer

Dennis LaGruaOGR Forum Member

Miller billboards work on 5VDC that is used to power an AC voltage booster board that drives their electroluminescent phosphor displays. I use 1033 transformer to power all the lighting on my layout and there are binding posts that can supply 5VAC . I was wondering if I could use these posts to supply power with a single diode half wave rectifier or would full wave rectification be necessary to drive the Miller power board? I can do it either way with the mini rectifier boards that I have or just hang on a diode IF it will work. Anyone try powering Miller Engineering signs this way?

3/28/1710:16 PM

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NortonOGR Forum Member

Miller power supplies are actually 4.5v. He says you can use 5v as long as its regulated, ie does not exceed 5v. 5 VAC will produce 7 VDC after full wave rectification and smoothing. Probably not a good idea.

Pete

3/28/1710:31 PM

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hokie71OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

If you have time and can solder four wires, this buck converter is pretty inexpensive. I have one feeding two miller signs.

3/28/1710:37 PM

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stan2004OGR Forum Member

Are the other lights on your layout operating on only 5V AC? Can you access a higher voltage on your 1033?

Converting 5V AC to regulated 4.5V DC is not as straight-forward as it may seem given conversion losses in diodes and voltage regulation circuitry.

3/29/172:03 AM

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Dennis LaGruaOGR Forum Member

After much thought the idea of a variable input 12V- ???, regulated fixed 5V output AC/DC converter seems like the best idea. The buck converter referenced here should work fine. Most of the other lighting on the layout are small 12V automotive instrument panel LED's and operate on full wave rectified DC.

3/29/179:34 AM

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rboatertooOGR Forum Member

I used the Menards power supply for building. I plug it into a Power Distribution Board 1 Set Power Distribution Board 3 Inputs 2 x 10 Outputs for DC and AC Voltage NEW

Then wire it to the signs, Menards buildings, and other 4.5 led lights.

3/29/1711:28 AM

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stan2004OGR Forum Member

Dennis LaGrua posted:
...Most of the other lighting on the layout are small 12V automotive instrument panel LED's and operate on full wave rectified DC.

If you already have a ~12V full-wave rectified DC (e.g., from a bridge rectifier) you might consider a DC-to-DC converter module which are less expensive than AC-to-DC converters. Depending on your wiring, this might even save running an extra transformer wire to your buildings if 12V DC is already there.

This recycled photo shows an eBay $2 (free shipping from Asia) module that has an on-board digital voltmeter to set the output voltage to 4.5V, 5.0V or whatever you want. Note the screw-terminals on input and output so no soldering.