# Flasher for the Hersey Tower



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Here is a quick todo. A friend wanted a flashing light for his tower. My specialty! I used a gold indented Xmas LED bulb with a Radio Shack LED mount. The hole on top as 1/4 inch. WIth luck I had to feed the wires through three holes in glued sections to get from the base to the top.

The easy part was making the flasher. I went with a 19 per minute count and used a 12 volt wall wart for power. 

I made the flasher from this thread. For the 19 flashes per minute I used a 2.2k resistor instead of the 10k (R1) and a 220k resistor for the 100 k resistor(R2)

I wanted a 1 k resistor for the LED limiting current but I used a 690 ohm instead. That was placed on the board next to the terminal block.

I tagged two of my threads as led flasher if you want more.






The board is small enough to fit into the base.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

How about a flashing LED?


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

T, why yellow?

Most lights mounted on top of high structures are red?


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

First I am old fashion. Can you regulate the flash of a flashing LED? I wanted a slow flash.

Yellow, goes with the chocolate color. This is a display model situated where white and red color is common, I went with yellow gold for a change.

One of these days I will get to the built in flashers.

Ed, they have this tower in the NJ logo, 6-81463, it is on page 23 of the Ready to Run Catalog. This is the catalog.


----------



## sjm9911 (Dec 20, 2012)

Above my skill level. I like it.


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I think the blinking LED is convenient to use. If you want a red flasher for a caboose. You get one and install it. I just can't see getting some in bulk. The main reason being is that I change color, size, and flash rate all the time. The best thing about them is there is no board and they take very little space. I don't have this problem in O Scale.

For a one time use they are great, but I can't see stocking up in different colors unless I find a bulk package.


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

T-Man said:


> First I am old fashion. Can you regulate the flash of a flashing LED? I wanted a slow flash.
> 
> Yellow, goes with the chocolate color. This is a display model situated where white and red color is common, I went with yellow gold for a change.
> 
> ...


Page 23 should be 33.
Cool an Alien train. 

I never saw the Ready to run catalog, thanks T, I bookmarked it.:thumbsup:


----------



## rkenney (Aug 10, 2013)

Here is a simple flasher I found on the web (credit posted). Works good, I use it for a blue LED on my 1954 Ford unmarked police car.


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

That is simple. That is worth a run on the breadboard. 

Nice Find!:thumbsup:


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

I like the idea of having a flashing LED on top of my water tower ,ECT. however, I don't understand the resister thing, or how to figure what size resister is needed to make them blink, or how not to burn them out as soon as I add power, the LEDs I am use to using have the resister on them ,no brainer, but that's about as far as I can go ,I am not an E.E. , wish I was.


maybe a class on" Electronics for dummies" is what I need ?..............Mike


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

All you have to do is read any thread or all the threads tagged LED. The info is there.

The simple way is buy the 5mm flashing led, a 1k resistor and attach it to 12 volts dc. Make sure of the positive wire goes to the long lead on the LED.

My way requires a lot of stocked parts. Too expensive to make just one. Either way works.


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

well, you know expense means very little to me, I just want I to work 
question: is a resistor needed on both LED leads, or just on the positive side?

..............Mike


----------



## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Just one, either side.


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

ok, thanks, I'm gunna pick up some of these parts , [what you said] this after noon, maybe even try to install a few . thanks T-Man...............Mike


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Flashing LED's require filtered DC, just FYI.


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

you mean like a regulated power supply? ..............Mike


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

*Flashing LEDs*

I had some 5mm white flashing LEDs, stopped at Radio Shack and picked up a pack of 1k resistors, and bench tested one for about twenty min. or so and it looked good, so if it lasted that long I think its gunna be ok, I will get some red and amber LEDs next...Mike


----------



## Dave Sams (Nov 24, 2010)

Big Mike

RS is a good place if you want something in an hour, but have you checked e bay?

You can usually buy 30, 50 or 100 leds for what you pay for 5 at RS. Some come with resistors as well. Heck, some of the sellers not only tell you what to do, but they tell you how to do it too!

On the downside, I've had to wait 6 weeks while $1.00 worth of leds cleared customs. But, at that price, you can experiment with what works on your layout. On mine, I have quite a few (non flashing) leds on 12v AC with a resistor only, and they have worked through many hours of playing.


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Big Mike said:


> you mean like a regulated power supply? ..............Mike


Regulated supplies are almost always filtered. What I'm talking about is you can't just connect a diode and a resistor like a standard LED, the pulsating DC won't allow the internal flashing circuit to function.


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

Ok john, so if I wanted to buy a filtered power supply ,what do I look for or ask for? because most people at the electronic stores give you that "Deer in the headlight look" when I ask for such things, or is it better to shop on line ?...........Mike


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

If it's a regulated supply, it will be filtered. If it's non-regulated, not only could it be less filtered, it'll also have a widely varying voltage based on the actual current draw.

A good choice of 5VDC filtered supplies are cast-off cellphone chargers.


----------



## Big Mike (Dec 2, 2011)

good, got plenty of those, Thanks.........mike


----------

