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The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => General Discussion - Dynamos, Generators, Alternators, Magnetos... Scale Models, Toys, Originals, etc => Topic started by: SteamerJ on August 18, 2025, 02:37:14 pm

Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: Jim on August 19, 2025, 06:19:19 pm
I'm  following along to see how this goes John. Good luck.

Me too....very interesting.
Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: St Paul Steam on August 19, 2025, 03:26:15 pm
I'm  following along to see how this goes John. Good luck.
Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: SteamerJ on August 19, 2025, 07:13:30 am
Hi Jim,

This is strictly the experimental stage right now. I don’t know if I want to put it in a base with a lamp post or in the gauge cluster that I want to make. I’m a little bit limited on my woodworking equipment.

I didn’t think about it before, but this also would eliminate the need for resistors if you’re using LEDs.

Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: Jim on August 18, 2025, 07:37:24 pm
John do you have a pic of the setup?
Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: SteamerJ on August 18, 2025, 04:45:45 pm
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00SY37S00?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

This is what I have. Amazon has a ton of them. They are also inexpensive.
Title: Re: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: Stoker on August 18, 2025, 03:27:40 pm
Sounds Good!

Do you have a link for that John?
Title: Anyone use Buck Converters?
Post by: SteamerJ on August 18, 2025, 02:37:14 pm
I was wondering if anyone uses Buck Converters with any of their generators? My PM Research generator is a bulb destroyer, especially when starting the engine and purging the condensate. When the engine first starts to run it usually smokes the bulb before I can get it settled down. I bought a Buck Converter about a year or so ago and finally started playing with it this morning. It’s really cool and you can set the output voltage to pretty much whatever you want. I like it a lot. The PMR generator puts out a lot of voltage by the time you get it running fast enough to eliminate the flickering of the bulb. This pretty much solves all the issues and I can spin the generator as fast as I want and the bulb lights up stays the same.