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Arrangement to continuously step down DC voltage from 6V to 3V


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Posted

Hello friends. I have a Moultrie 6V DC rechargeable battery (inside the wooden box below) that I use to run my Manhattan No. 3. It runs fine on 6V and I have never had to recharge the Moultrie battery (yet) since I don't often run the fan for very long. I am wondering how to step down the voltage, maybe continuously, from 6V to perhaps 3V to run the fan at a slower speed. I've heard of buck converters or resistors that will do that but I'm looking for a more elegant arrangement perhaps using a small box between the battery and the fan with a knob. Have any of you clever gentlemen or ladies come up with an elegant arrangement for this?

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Posted

They thought of everything back in the day David. This is what may have been used. Inside is a tiny nichrome wind wrapped in asbestos. Aside from that, some of the porters used a dual battery system. One cut out to run slow. In your setup, 2 3v batteries. Low is one, two hooks in both in series I would think but others are better at it than me. Make yourself a little switch with off, low, high...

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, David Kilnapp said:

I love it, Mike! Thanks!

David, message me if this interests you. 

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Edited by Russ Huber
  • Like 1
Posted
12 minutes ago, Michael Rathberger said:

That is a nice piece Russ. 

I honestly don't have a clue what it belonged to. It appears hacked out of some device.  It was part of a small box of relics that was put together by an autistic young man.  I was impressed by his passion.

Posted

Cheap and easy...

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A silicon diode will drop
seven tenths of a volt
when forward biased.

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  • Like 1
Posted

If your current requirement is less than an amp, I would use an LM7803 voltage regulator.  Super small and simple to wire up.

Posted

I might steal Jim's idea myself. Nothing complicated about it...

Posted (edited)

All excellent suggestions. I looked at a bunch of ways to do it and for $20 this is what I came up with:  

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The 6V battery inputs go into ports on one side and the wires to the fan (the outputs) go on the other side. The output can be adusted downward from 6V using the little blue potentiometer under the screen with the readout showing the output. Seems pretty slick for $20 (if it works). I ordered it and I'll take a video of it working after I get it all hooked up. The above device is quite small, maybe 2.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide by an inch deep.

Edited by David Kilnapp
Posted
3 hours ago, Derek Warnecke said:

If your current requirement is less than an amp, I would use an LM7803 voltage regulator.  Super small and simple to wire up.

 

I concidered an LM78xx linear regulator.

Didn't know a 3V version was available.

I knew of only 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15 and 18V.

David's "continuously, from 6V to perhaps 3V", I took to mean he wants to vary the voltage from 3 volts up to the full battery volts.

LM78xx regulators have a minimum Vin-Vout of 2.5V.

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