Blinking DC Christmas Lights

  I bought a string of 10 DC, c-battery, power lights. Is there some device
that can be connected into it to make the lights blink on and off?

--
                                W. eWatson

              (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
               Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

                     Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>

 On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:04:18 -0800, W. eWatson wrote:


Maybe a 555 and a relay?

Good Luck!
Rich

 On Mon, 29 Dec 2008, Rich Grise wrote:


Somehow the question made me think he wanted something off the shelf.

You used to be able to get adapters that would flash lights that were
plugged in.  Not much more than a pair of prongs on one side, and an
outlet on the other, and you'd plug your Christmas tree lights into
that.  I gather something would heat up, which would then cause a contact
to open, at which point it would cool down and the contact would close
again, causing power to flow and not flow to the outlet.  COmpletely
mechanical.

So you get one of those, then an AC adapter that puts out the needed
DC voltage.  Plug the flasher into the wall, plug the AC adapter into
the flasher, then connect the AC adapter's output to the string of
bulbs, making sure polarity is correct if it needs to be.

    Michael

 
Michael Black wrote:

When I got mine in the '70s, they cost ~$1 each.
Look what the guy wants for one now:
http://google.com/froogle?q=Christmas-light-flasher&scoring=p&price=between&price1=1


The current draw will affect the rate, of course.

 Michael Black wrote:

Yes, commercially available. I asked at our local h/w store where I had
bought the lights the year before. Nothing available.

--
                                W. eWatson

              (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time)
               Obz Site:  39° 15' 7" N, 121° 2' 32" W, 2700 feet

                     Web Page: <www.speckledwithstars.net/>