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Electrical Question: "Voltage Tap"

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:06 am
by mark.f
Do you think the below method would work for supplying 1.5 volts to an electronic igniter using a 12v battery pack? It'd be kind of hard to determine running resistance of the igniter, so I don't think a resistor as a voltage divider is practical...

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:38 pm
by Technician1002
An electric igniter is a dynamic load (current varies in normal operation). You will be best to use a battery.

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:53 pm
by geardog32
whats the impedance of the fan? and whats wrong with just using a 1.5 volt battery for the igniter and separate battery for the fan you already have two switches and this would be simpler and less loss through a bunch of resistors trying to get down to 1.5 volts.

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 1:29 pm
by Bluetooth
geardog32 wrote:whats the impedance of the fan? and whats wrong with just using a 1.5 volt battery for the igniter and separate battery for the fan you already have two switches and this would be simpler and less loss through a bunch of resistors trying to get down to 1.5 volts.
Who said anything about a fan?

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 4:42 pm
by jimmy101
I wouldn't bother with a resistor in series with the igniter. To actually drop 12V to 1.5V the resistor will have to dissipate 8 times as much energy as the igniter itself.

What is the circle with "BBQ" in it?

You can tap from the individual batteries in a battery pack. You have to be careful that you don't exhaust that battery much quicker than the others in the pack.

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:07 pm
by geardog32
Bluetooth wrote:
geardog32 wrote:whats the impedance of the fan? and whats wrong with just using a 1.5 volt battery for the igniter and separate battery for the fan you already have two switches and this would be simpler and less loss through a bunch of resistors trying to get down to 1.5 volts.
Who said anything about a fan?
there is clearly a fan in the diagram

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:53 pm
by mark.f
Whoah, I guess I need to explain. :)

The upper left portion of my diagram is exactly what jimmy101 posted. The circle with the BBQ in it is an electronic BBQ igniter (hacked down to fit in a project box instead of using the built in batter holder/switch). Sorry for my unconventional wiring diagram (and unwillingless to crop out the irrelevant part of the circuit. :wink: )

That answered my question, though. Thanks jimmy.