On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 1:24:33 AM UTC, Arfa Daily wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, February 26, 2013 11:47:54 AM UTC, Arfa Daily wrote:


There are various step down switcher topologies, I don't see how we could
know which is in use there. I guess you don't have the space to slot in a
complete halogen lamp ballast.

I guess there are a couple of 'flavours', but from what I've seen, most seem
to be chip-less self-oscillators that have no primary side smoothing on the
raw DC, and just a transformer at the secondary side. This one certainly
falls into that category. And it *is* effectively a complete halogen lamp
ballast - allbeit an open frame one. The answer to whether there's space to
slot in a 'packaged' off the shelf ballast is yes, but there are a couple of
reservations. Firstly, I would have to re-instate the hold-off relay that's
on the existing board, as an external component. But the potential killer
for doing this, is that the lamp is 24 volt and 150 watts. Most of the
'electronic transformers' readily available, are for 12 v halogens. There
doesn't seem to be many with a 24 v output, and especially at 6 amps ...
This is actually a 'personal' project rather than a paying customer job, so
it's not really important how long it takes to get to the bottom of it. Now
that I've discovered that it does run just fine with a reduced input
voltage, it shouldn't be too difficult to get to the cause. Says he,
confidently ... ! d:-)
Arfa

12v 6A = 72w, a pair of those would surely be quick, cheap & easy.


NT