halogen lamps connected to a DC power supply.

Hi all,

I'm currently doing a research about formation of air bubbles in a waterflow and therefor I'm using a highspeed camera. For the lighting of the subject I want to use two 50W 12V halogen lights connected to a DC power supply. I got hold of a 'PS1310' 13.8V 10Amp DC power supply: https://www.kjell.com/filarkiv/SUPPORTPDF/41-50/44/44407/manual.pdf

I connected 1 halogen lamp (12V, 50W) to it, nothing happened., two lamps paralell, again nothing happened. When I connected two halogen in series they worked, albeit only on half power. (+-3A, 6.9-> +-21W).

Why don't the lamps work in a paralel setup? Any help would be greatly appriciated!

Greetings Ruud

PS (for me it doesn't matter if the light go bust quicker because of the higher voltage)

Your PSU probably can't supply the high start-up surge current of a halogen lamp, try starting them in series (like you have already), then short one of them out - you will probably find it works then.

Thanks a lot, After a lot of trying i figured that out myself. It is a lot of work getting them both started. Maybe I will have a look later to be able to reroute the cables quickly. Any onther tricks worth trying?

Hi Ruud,

Try connecting a fat capacitor accross the terminals of
the power supply, 4700 µF or 10000 µF.

on1aag.