"N_Cook" wrote in message
...
bubbas wrote in message
...
I recently purchased the light string shown he


http://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Wh.../dp/B0069VI8ZS
/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_5

The hope was to replace existing 120 V lamps in window candles with an
LED
light from the string, but I am having some difficulty. As I suspected
when
I cut off one of the lights from the string and, still fused, plugged it
into the 120 v outlet, the fuses blew. So, it looks like a voltage drop
is
needed. The total voltage/ current of the entire 25 bulb string,
according
to the link above, is 0.027 amps (3.24 watts) @ 120 V. A tag on the
string
says that each bulb is 3.1V @ 0.062 amps. So, which approach is best:

1) Use a dropping resistor for each bulb I want to use? What value and
wattage if so? Would the resistor stay cool enough to hide it in the
candle?

2) Use an AC plug in the wall type transformer (rated for 3.1 V AC),
which
I assume would be quite hard to find because most of them are DC (I tried
placing 3 V DC across the LED lamp and it didn't work)?

Appreciate any help here. The candles I placed in the windows recently
all
use what I thought were cool, smaller standard 120 V incandescent bulbs
but
there was enough heating to discolor the window blinds they are up
against.
The wife liked the "warm white" of the LED string, so I wanted to replace
the incandescents with those and I also want to use a much thinner power
cord to the candles if possible, something I couldn't really get away
with
using the higher powered incandescent.

Thanks,
Bud




If you like the flicker effect of candles try mixing some orange neons ,
perhaps overdriven, fed from DC rather than AC.

These original candles don't flicker (they have a standard incandescent) and
the hopeful LED replacements won't work from DC, which is why I am asking
the best way to power them.

Reminds me of the fad for mock leaded glass windows - strips of lead laid
over plate glass. Missing the point entirely , that the visual effect of
leaded glass windows is not the lead itself but the multi-facit
reflections
off the individual small panes.