What voltage do railway signal lamps operate on in Australia?
A rail-working friend of mine gave me a lamp that had been replaced with a newer one - but still works. We have (for non-Aussies) a 240 Volt mains power supply (16 Amp I think) but was wondering if that'd be too much power to hook up to these?
Would a 12V battery work?
Does anyone know?
ANY help appreciated!
2006-08-26 21:12:24 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Engineering
Ring Box hill Institute of Tafe in Victoria. They run apprenticeship training for rail signal electrical apprentices. My 2 cents is that they are 240V ac (but Dusty is right 240V dc would work). 12V ac or dc would be too low. If you have the lamp fitting in addition to the bulb then just replace the bulb with a known rating one (240V domestic bulb; but probably ES not BC [Edison Screw, Bayonet Cap]). Don't go above 40W though unless there is some info on the fitting as to what the maximum is or you may burn the fitting.
2006-08-27 18:43:22 · answer #1 · answered by slatibartfast 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since a lamp bulb is really a "resistor" it will work on both AC and DC. Starting with your 12v battery may be a clue. Since I am not in your country or that knowledgeable about rail road equipment (except for model trains) I haven't a clue. However, a simple ohm meter check of the filament winding will give a clue. The lower the reading, the lower the voltage it will operate on. An average 130v 60 watt bulb (we use 120v AC) will read about 23 to 25 Ohms. A flash light bulb reads near a dead short. I don't have a 12 v bulb handy but I would guess it would be no more than about 5 Ohms or so.
2006-08-27 04:36:09 · answer #2 · answered by Dusty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋