# turn 5 volts to 3 ?



## Scarecrow (Dec 11, 2008)

I have a prop using 3 Volt tea light candles. I want to run them off a wallwort. The lowest voltage wall wart i have is 5 volt. Is there an easy way for an electronic novice like myself to drop the voltage down to 3 volts. 
Thank You


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Yes. Read the following thread...especially noting #19. In this case, I stepped down a higher voltage to 5v. Maybe one of the more adept circut guys will chime in on an example from 5 to 3.

Multiple Voltage


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## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

I have bought these for my laser projects. 3 volts 1 amp regulated wallwart.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/US-Plug-...80405663?pt=AU_Travel_Acc&hash=item2ebf71db9f


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Cole&Jacksdad said:


> I have bought these for my laser projects. 3 volts 1 amp regulated wallwart.
> http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/US-Plug-...80405663?pt=AU_Travel_Acc&hash=item2ebf71db9f


Note - those wall warts come from China. Assuming they deliver per their schedule they would not arrive until sometime in late October.


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## bradbaum (Jul 26, 2008)

http://www.solarbotics.com/product/17145/

3.3Volt Regulator takes higher voltage in spits out 3.3Volts at about 1 Amp


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Scarecrow said:


> I have a prop using 3 Volt tea light candles. I want to run them off a wallwort. The lowest voltage wall wart i have is 5 volt. Is there an easy way for an electronic novice like myself to drop the voltage down to 3 volts.
> Thank You


It's easy to do with three 1N1001 diodes (about $2.00) from Radio Shack (from one of my previous laser projects) :










Each diode will give you about a 0.7 volt drop.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

The diodes would be a pretty slick way to do it...they will drop the voltage regardless of the current you're drawing...which could change if you have quite a few tea lights. Though have not heard of this 1N1001....maybe 1N4001?

They also have a couple of adjustable voltage regulators like LM317T. They cost a bit more and would require additional components to make the circuit, though may be a bit more useful if you went to pull them back out of the prop when finished.

You might also be able to run tea lights in series...have a 9V wall wart? Just run 3 tea lights in series and they see 3V each. [Edit - now that I think back, seems like we might have discussed these having issues in series...well, only one way to find out!]

Lastly, you could just plonk a resistor in the line. I have 13 flickering candles in my candelabra. Got down to the wire last year and just plugged a couple of big resistors into my 9V wall wart to knock it down to 3V...everything ran fine, though you'd have to estimate how much current you are drawing and get a somewhat accurate read on the wart output voltage.


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Yep, the 1N1001 is a generic 1 Amp 50 volt silicone diode, 1N4001s are the same type. Ut oh...I'm showing my age.


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