Author Topic: question about Amps and 12V  (Read 2408 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline eevfan007Topic starter

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 14
question about Amps and 12V
« on: August 26, 2015, 09:06:54 pm »
Im building a fish pond in my garden.

I bought a big 230v AC to 12v DC transformer, that can deliver up to 10 A.

From that 12v I connect miscellaneous LED lamps. All the LEDs have their own driver boards on them, so in that sense I should be fine.

My question is... Am i correct in my assumption that as longs as the transformer can deliver more amps than what I actually use, I will be fine?
I can't damage the LEDs by being theoretically able to deliver 10 amps right ? That the problem only occurs when I have LEDS that require more than what I can supply ?
I also have a fuse in the circuit too.

Thanks for making this clarification.

Are there any dangers, gotchas or general advice you guys have on keeping a 12V system like this safe?
I have encapsulated everything in waterproof enclosures etc...

Thanks
 

Offline Hideki

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 256
  • Country: no
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2015, 09:12:14 pm »
You are correct, and it sounds like you're doing everything right  :-+
 

Offline Delta

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1221
  • Country: gb
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2015, 11:45:09 pm »
You are spot on mate.

Only thing to watch for is that the 12vDC psu is a proper SELV item, and thus safe to power stuff outside and in a pond,.
 

Offline rickselectricalprojects

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 188
  • Country: au
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2015, 11:54:36 pm »
yep it will work fine  :-+
 

Offline Rick Law

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3442
  • Country: us
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2015, 03:30:34 am »
...
...
I have encapsulated everything in waterproof enclosures etc...

Thanks

I suggest keeping it away from direct sun light as well.  UV from the sun destroys most plastic.

I had an outdoor fish/frog mini-pond (just a large plastic tub).  My pump, lights, (winter) water warmer connections were all encased in plastic boxes but under direct sun light!  Some time into year two, the plastic was so weaken by the UV rays from the sun my plastic casing had many many tiny cracks.  It crumbled into bits just because of the force of trying to pick it up...
 

Offline fivefish

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 440
  • Country: us
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2015, 03:37:43 am »
Quote
I bought a big 230v AC to 12v DC transformer

Did you buy a power transformer? or a power supply?

A power transformer will be outputting AC on it's secondary, not DC.
 

Offline Joule Thief

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 249
  • Country: us
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2015, 04:10:30 am »
Quote
I bought a big 230v AC to 12v DC transformer

Did you buy a power transformer? or a power supply?

A power transformer will be outputting AC on it's secondary, not DC.

I believe he may have intended to say a 230 VAC to 12VDC power supply - and it came out as "transformer".


I bought a big 230v AC to 12v DC transformer, that can deliver up to 10 A.



I hope you enjoy the serenity a fish pond will offer.  :-+
« Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 04:15:17 am by Joule Thief »
Perturb and observe.
 

Offline homebrew

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 293
  • Country: ch
Re: question about Amps and 12V
« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2015, 07:00:30 am »
Are there any dangers, gotchas or general advice you guys have on keeping a 12V system like this safe?

Maybe you should add fuses for the individual boards. Depends on their specification ...
10@ 12V equals 120W of heating power when things go wrong.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf