i'm not a fan of LEDs but i do enjoy putting mods together, so i was rigging up a mod that uses these old-fashioned LEDs i found in my kit bag, with the two long leads, that only work one way round (i assume) as they only light up in one orientation when tested with a battery anyway.
so here is a mod that i bought premade - it's pretty crap if i'm honest, as the light is just not very bright so you can hardly see the damn thing when it comes on. anyway, it's a light to make the Orthanc tower red when the diverter is opened so it can be shot from below. see in the pic below, the bulb in on the left mounted on the scoop, then it forms a simple triangular circuit (see three yellow circles) by attaching to the GI for continuous 6V power, and to a leaf switch set in end-of-stroke position on the diverter coil: when the diverter coil is activated, the plastic bit on the pawl closes this leaf switch (see blue arrow) to complete the circuit, so the light goes on.
anyway, so i rigged up my mod and fed the two wires under the playfield through an available hole, and decided the easiest thing was to also attach these to the tabs on the EOS leaf switch (lower yellow circle).
guess what happened? 2 things happened - the LED i just installed for Saruman's staff was continuously on and only turned off by the EOS, the opposite of what i anticipated; and the red original mod light (left yellow circle) was also dimly continuously on, but made brighter by closing the EOS. wtf?
i decided that this was something to do with the one-way-street new LED i was using, so i tried putting a diode in one of the new supply wires. after i worked out which way round to put it, this stopped the original red light from being continuously lit, but now the new LED wouldn't light at all.
can someone explain this for me please? do i just have to try the same diode trick but in the *other* new supply wire? or will this not work because of the ancient LED not being compatible or something? i really don't want to abandon it, as the staff took a while to make and i think it looks half-decent. plus i love the simple design of the Orthanc light mod (maybe it just needs the actual lamp to be upgraded to a powerful red beam, if available?), so i'd like to use its circuitry if possible.
so here is a mod that i bought premade - it's pretty crap if i'm honest, as the light is just not very bright so you can hardly see the damn thing when it comes on. anyway, it's a light to make the Orthanc tower red when the diverter is opened so it can be shot from below. see in the pic below, the bulb in on the left mounted on the scoop, then it forms a simple triangular circuit (see three yellow circles) by attaching to the GI for continuous 6V power, and to a leaf switch set in end-of-stroke position on the diverter coil: when the diverter coil is activated, the plastic bit on the pawl closes this leaf switch (see blue arrow) to complete the circuit, so the light goes on.
anyway, so i rigged up my mod and fed the two wires under the playfield through an available hole, and decided the easiest thing was to also attach these to the tabs on the EOS leaf switch (lower yellow circle).
guess what happened? 2 things happened - the LED i just installed for Saruman's staff was continuously on and only turned off by the EOS, the opposite of what i anticipated; and the red original mod light (left yellow circle) was also dimly continuously on, but made brighter by closing the EOS. wtf?
i decided that this was something to do with the one-way-street new LED i was using, so i tried putting a diode in one of the new supply wires. after i worked out which way round to put it, this stopped the original red light from being continuously lit, but now the new LED wouldn't light at all.
can someone explain this for me please? do i just have to try the same diode trick but in the *other* new supply wire? or will this not work because of the ancient LED not being compatible or something? i really don't want to abandon it, as the staff took a while to make and i think it looks half-decent. plus i love the simple design of the Orthanc light mod (maybe it just needs the actual lamp to be upgraded to a powerful red beam, if available?), so i'd like to use its circuitry if possible.
