(Topic ID: 212668)

F-14 Aftermarket Beacon Help for Dummies

By steve8091

6 years ago


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#1 6 years ago

I've done a lot of searching and found a number of people who have installed aftermarket beacons on their F-14 (or something similar on their High Speed), though unfortunately the posts are lacking in pics and diagrams, and I'm not smart enough to come up with them on my own. About four years ago, I bought some standard 12vdc beacons that fit the existing domes (which I have), I wired them together inside the cab...and that's about where I seem to have left it. I've read about relays and bridge rectifiers and all sorts of good stuff, but I can't put it all together.

I've attached some pics of what I'm working with in my backbox. Can anyone help me to get these things hooked up?

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#2 6 years ago

I was just about to post one for sale. These are the pictures of mine but the two outside lights are not connected. Does this help?

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#3 6 years ago

Yes I can, but you will need to tell me how much power each one uses.

#4 6 years ago

Half wave rectify 25VAC which gets you around 12vdc. send that through the relay instead of whatever the original setup used.

That is the basic idea that I have in my F-14. Its been working pretty well last 10 years or so, but recently one of the beacons stopped spinning. The rubber is not getting enough friction to spin the reflector. I could probably dick with it and fix it, but haven't yet.

The 12v beacons with the dome removed used where a prefect fit. Probably got them at walmart or something. Wolo brand??? Re-used the original domes in F-14 as they where the only thing left of the entire assembly when i got it..

#5 6 years ago

Thanks for the replies. I had to dig a bit, but each of the beacons uses 25W. baraka, from where did you pull the 25VAC? Is there a convenient location in the backbox? And what would I look for in terms spec-ing out a bridge rectifier?

#6 6 years ago

The 25 vac comes from the connector with the white \ blue wires. 3 beacons at 25 watts adds up to 75 watts at 14 volts. 14 volts because of loses and voltage drop across a diode. This works out to 5.36 amps. The original circuit is only designed for 2-3 amps. So my suggestion is to run a additional power supply in the cabinet from the service outlet. I would get a 12 dc 100 watt power supply.

#7 6 years ago

my beacons each have a single 89 lamp in them and a weenie little motor which is going to be way under 25w each.

#8 6 years ago

Yeah, I was surprised at the stated wattage myself...I tend to agree that it should be lower, as mine sound similar in design to yours. So it sounds like if I believe that the wattage is significantly lower than stated, I can just pull 25V from the blue/white connector, put it through a half-wave bridge rectifier, and send it to the aftermarket beacons? Can you help me specify an appropriate bridge rectifier? I'm actually think that I may have a few, and I'm not sure how critical the sizing will be. Worst-case scenario, I figure it just won't be enough to drive the beacons, and I'll have to resort to a separate power supply.

#9 6 years ago

Hook one up to a car battery and measure the amp draw if you don't believe the rating. I think it will be closer then you imagine. A #89 bulb draws 8 watts just by itself.

Quoted from steve8091:Worst-case scenario, I figure it just won't be enough to drive the beacons, and I'll have to resort to a separate power supply.

No the worst case scenario is that you melt one of the windings in the transformer at you spend 200.00 dollars trying to save 10.00 dollars.

#10 6 years ago

Here is how mine looks. A bit sloppy in the implementation with the lamp cord.

I put a 2a fast fuse instead of 4asb and it's not popping.

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#11 6 years ago

Lit up

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#12 6 years ago

This is extremely helpful, thank you, though I'm struggling a bit trying to draw a wiring diagram. It looks like the red and brown wires between the 4-pin connector and the relay board are unchanged (so you are sending 28VAC through the relay). I'm struggling to piece together the white/blue wires from that same connector. Are the connections as follows?

Pin 3 -> Relay board GND
Pin 4 -> Fuse -> Bridge rectifier AC -> Relay board COIL
Bridge rectifier DC -> Beacons

It looks like your half-wave rectifier was homemade, and I'm afraid I'm not that talented. I presume that I can buy something equivalent?

#13 6 years ago
Quoted from GRUMPY:

The 25 vac comes from the connector with the white \ blue wires. 3 beacons at 25 watts adds up to 75 watts at 14 volts. 14 volts because of loses and voltage drop across a diode. This works out to 5.36 amps. The original circuit is only designed for 2-3 amps. So my suggestion is to run a additional power supply in the cabinet from the service outlet. I would get a 12 dc 100 watt power supply.

I guess I'm still debating the two approaches. When you say 'power supply', are you referring to a full-on switching supply, an ATX supply, or something as simple as a transformer? I'm more interested in an elegant solution than I am the cheapest one.

#14 6 years ago
Quoted from steve8091:

I guess I'm still debating the two approaches. When you say 'power supply', are you referring to a full-on switching supply, an ATX supply, or something as simple as a transformer? I'm more interested in an elegant solution than I am the cheapest one.

They make 12v supplies by the million to run those LED strips. Something like these.

ebay.com link: 5V 12V 24V DC AC 1A 10A 30A 50A 70A Switching Power Supply Adapter For LED Strip

#15 6 years ago

Cool - that was one of those that I came across. I will pick one up. Is it safe to assume that the relay board will work with 12VDC instead of 28VAC? And in this case, I presume that the wiring would be (not sure if it matters which way I wire through the relay):

Power supply +12V -> Relay board (GND) -> Relay board (Coil) -> Fuse -> Beacons -> Power Supply Common

#16 6 years ago

If you use the game power then no changes are needed for the relay. If you use the 10 amp power supply from ebay then you will need to remove the white/ blue wire from the relay and put the positive from the new power supply. You will need to remove the white/ blue wire from the fuse and install the negative wire from the new power supply.

#17 6 years ago

Thanks for the help thus far. I'm still waiting for my power supply, but I went ahead and did the wiring this weekend and snapped a couple of pictures. If my black wire spool represents the power supply, can you please confirm that I have this right?

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#18 6 years ago
Quoted from steve8091:

If my black wire spool represents the power supply, can you please confirm that I have this right?

Looks fine, no don't forget to remove the 2 pins from the connector with wht/blue wires. When you reconnect this plug the wht/blue wires on the game side will be live. Also you need to undo the yellow wire nut and put the reds on the fuse in the back box. The white/blue from the relay coil terminal will go the other side of the fuse. Then install a 8 amp SB fuse instead of the 4 amp fuse.

#19 6 years ago
Quoted from GRUMPY:

Looks fine, no don't forget to remove the 2 pins from the connector with wht/blue wires. When you reconnect this plug the wht/blue wires on the game side will be live. Also you need to undo the yellow wire nut and put the reds on the fuse in the back box. The white/blue from the relay coil terminal will go the other side of the fuse. Then install a 8 amp SB fuse instead of the 4 amp fuse.

All set (and in the machine now), thanks. Once the power supply gets here, I'll wire it in, flip the switch, and cross my fingers!

#20 6 years ago

Don't forget one of these!

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#21 6 years ago

We have beacons! Thanks for your help, guys!

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#22 6 years ago

For posterity, I’m attaching below the sketch I made myself to complete the wiring. Hopefully down the road, someone finds this helpful. A few clarifying notes:

- The beacons I purchased were ‘Blazer’ brand – they accept a 12V input (cigarette lighter), are rated at 25W, and they originally had screw-on amber domes. I simply removed the amber domes, put them under the original F-14 domes, and replaced the power connectors with straight wiring. I wired the positive and negative terminals of all three lights together, and I added in some 2-pin molex connectors to allow removal without cutting any wires.
- Based on the quick calcs that GRUMPY ran above, I used an 8A slow-blow fuse to limit potential current draw.
- I purchased a 120VAC to 12VDC power supply (normally used for LED strips). I added a standard plug to the inputs/ground, and I plugged this into the service outlet in the machine. I mounted it next to the transformer in the cabinet.
- I'd estimate that this cost about $40 in total, including the beacons, power supply, fuse, wiring, connectors, etc. (some of these I already had on hand)

It ended up being a very clean install, as everything upstream of the relay connector remained fully intact.

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6 months later
#23 5 years ago
Quoted from steve8091:

For posterity, I’m attaching below the sketch I made myself to complete the wiring. Hopefully down the road, someone finds this helpful. A few clarifying notes:
- The beacons I purchased were ‘Blazer’ brand – they accept a 12V input (cigarette lighter), are rated at 25W, and they originally had screw-on amber domes. I simply removed the amber domes, put them under the original F-14 domes, and replaced the power connectors with straight wiring. I wired the positive and negative terminals of all three lights together, and I added in some 2-pin molex connectors to allow removal without cutting any wires.
- Based on the quick calcs that GRUMPY ran above, I used an 8A slow-blow fuse to limit potential current draw.
- I purchased a 120VAC to 12VDC power supply (normally used for LED strips). I added a standard plug to the inputs/ground, and I plugged this into the service outlet in the machine. I mounted it next to the transformer in the cabinet.
- I'd estimate that this cost about $40 in total, including the beacons, power supply, fuse, wiring, connectors, etc. (some of these I already had on hand)
It ended up being a very clean install, as everything upstream of the relay connector remained fully intact.
[quoted image]

Glad you did this ... now I need to get up the courage to try this out!

.... I also need to buy the colored domes though.

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