I have just been looking at a Amusement Ride here with Dodgem Cars, the ride was imported to Australia from the US in the late seventies.

This is a portable setup which is taken from show to show.

The lights which are hung in about six sections around the outside have both 30 volt lamps and 60 volt lamps. There seems to be six different sets driven to make chasing patterns. Some of the 60volt lamps are wired in parallel.

Are these still used in the US?

The panels all plug together with a four pin plug and socket and each panel has three sets of lights with a common neutral.

These panels are not earthed. is that an accepted practice?

The voltages on the panels are both 60 volts and 110 volts.

I presume these lights are driven by a timing circuit and with SCRs does anyone know if this is correct.

The lights are all wired in single insulated wiring again is this the way they would be wired today.

If anyone has an information or Circuit diagram for this system, I would like to know how it operates.

The transformer driving the lights is an autotransformer.

Regards Gray

[This message has been edited by Dapo (edited 04-02-2004).]

That would have been a "state of the art" system in the '70s. Most chase lighting was done with motor driven cams operating mechanical contacts up until that time.
The first electronic chase lighting I saw was in the mid-late '70s...S

Yes thats when the ride was imported, in the late seventies. Possibly around 1978.

The reason I asked the question about the control of the lighting, is that ripple free DC in Australia has to be less than 110Volts to be condsidered extra low voltage.

Since it is SCR driven, the output to the lights would be considered AC and therefore the wiring would have to meet our code.

Which it doesn't, since we have exposed single insulated wiring, no earthing or grounding of the metal panels and all this is exposed to the weather and within arms reach.

I guess my main question is would it meet the NEC standards of today?



[This message has been edited by Dapo (edited 04-02-2004).]

Scott, Clackity, clackity, clackity.

You should be able to get what ever you need, search the web for the manufacturer of the ride, even if they are out of business you should be able to find businesses that have knowledge of your ride.

Bob