# LED Campfire Circuit



## chrisb (Jan 3, 2008)

I bought a little campfire circuit at a show that has 2 LED, a smale circuit board and hooks to a 9v battery.
How long could the thing run before it drains the battery? Several days? I realize that this can't be answered 
with an exact time but I need to have it ago for about 2 days as part of a display. Any Ideas?


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## blueregal (Jan 3, 2008)

Noel W. could prolly tell ya, but i'm sure for days or a week, he has told me stories about lengths of battery life. Email him and he can probably tell ya, he is on here so just private message him. Regal 

Noel Wilson that is or sante fe and butthead rr. 

Santa fe & Butthead Cove. R.R. - live streaming video powered by Livestream


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Not long at all: 

There isn't much juice in a 9v. LED's are pretty low voltage devices. A pair of AA cells would be a better match to their voltage/current requirements, and would run them a long time, depending on how much the rest of your circuit draws. A pair of D cells would run it months. Oh, you bought one. I thought you wanted to make one.

Evelyn has a fire in a barrel that is nothing but 3 Christmas blinker lights painted red and yellow hidden among some fiberfill. It is very effective.

I dunno. At some show, plug it to a 9v and see how long it works.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh, and if it doesn't run very long for you, here's what you do:

Go down to the Radio Shack and look in their parts drawers for battery holders. You likely won't find one for 6 AA cells, but there is one that holds 8 and has a battery snap like a 9v battery does. Just use a wire to connect across 2 of the battery spaces so it works on 6 and you have a 9v battery that would run your campfire for a loooong time.


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## Henson (Jan 2, 2008)

My grandson build me a radio tower for my layout. We put a blinking red led with 2 AA batteries on it last Aug. and it's still working and has never been turned off.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By chrisb on 23 Jan 2011 01:13 PM 
I bought a little campfire circuit at a show that has 2 LED, a smale circuit board and hooks to a 9v battery.
How long could the thing run before it drains the battery? Several days? I realize that this can't be answered 
with an exact time but I need to have it ago for about 2 days as part of a display. Any Ideas? 

Not sure what you have, but If it only has two LED's and a couple resis. on the board, it should be no problem with a 9 v. batt. 
Probably will run for a month or so. 
I'm using three small (triax) LED's on a Ho radio tower with a 555 chip and it's been running for 3 months now off of a 9v batt. I keep forgetting to turn it off.


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## chrisb (Jan 3, 2008)

I like the barrel idea. Mine is in a stove, yellow and read leds. I put them in a big glob of hot glue and that despirses the light well. Thanks


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

Pictures of theze "fires" PLEASE! sounds super cool and very interesting!


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## White Deer RR (May 15, 2009)

The web site where I bought some LED's last year to play with says a 9v battery will run 50 LED's for 4-5 hours. This place also sells a campfire LED setup as well as a "welding" LED device. I've only used the warm white LED's, and a few flashing reds. (I don't have any connection to these people, just figure that someone might ask.) Sure, they're not as cheap as could be, but "easy" sometimes has its own value... 

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ 

I can't say for sure that their figures mean a 9v will run two LED's for 100-125 hours, but I was surprised that when I finally brought my buildings inside in December, the two 9 volt batteries were still lighting up my 10 LED's as brightly as they day I installed them last May or whatever. (I had five per 9 volt.) 

My hunch is that you should be fine, and my other hunch is that a pre-configured device already has the proper resistors wired in to utilize a 9 v. battery. Sure, you could change battery holders and light them up using less voltage, but 9 volts are conveniently compact. If you can access the battery holder during your show, the simplest thing would be to take a backup 9 volt. If access is a problem you could either test ahead of time or switch to the aforementioned larger batteries. I'd imagine two "C" cells would run two LED's for eleventy billion hours.


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

chris i cant answer -youll have to test and tell us
 
i do agree that a larger AA holder will give you much longer life for much less $$ batterys-i do this as well-radio shack
(and they do have a 6 AA holder
 
i can say that a small flasher led on my n scale EOT device lasts about 4 months-using an alkaline n cell
 
i would imagine you should get a few days at least-9volts just dont have a lot to give
you might also try 6 volts and see what happens -it might just soften the lighting a bit-ie intensity-maybe or maybe not the flash rate-so a draining 9 v may actually improve things
temp also drastically effects battery strength-(unless its lithium)
 
 
 
while i have seen the evan designs fires
i prefer incandescents in thsi application due to the attack and decay rates of bulbs -which are slower by far than LEDs -giving a more gentle transition between flashes and flares
 
that being said
LEDS are long long lived and draw a fraction of juice-
the only practical lights imho for battery 
 
so for a 'fire' in the garden settings-these are it
 
 
i will give a testimonial 
 
as i have been purchasing from Evans for about three years
great service -fast-never had a screw up
 
great product-
 
and i think
very inexpensive for what you get
low cost shipping too
 
this is a great place for those of us that like LEDS but dont always know which resistor to use-
evans does it all -
and in three sized LEDs
 
i have used these already on several of my LGB locos which had dummy lights
as well as replacing incandescents with LEDs
 
also used these as tail lights on cabooses and coaches-and the blue looks great lighting clocks-you can even use these to cast lighting on buildings and plants as the beams can be very focused
 
they even make a self contined unit-with a very flat and thin battery in a case with a switch connected to a red LED -steady or flashing


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