I’m working on picking up a R&D project from my former supervisor. He had prototyped a few custom electric flicker candles that use a hall US1881 latching hall effect sensor so that a performer on stage can use a electric “match” prop with a small magnet in the tip “light” the electric candle.
The candle light sources I’m looking at are 55Ma - 150Ma loads and so the US1881 are too small. I’m hoping to find a magnetic switch that is ideally 200Ma in capacity. Willing to settle for something like 75Ma, 100Ma, 175Ma as well.
If the US1881 is working well for you, my advice would be to stick with it and use a transistor to switch the ‘high’ current to the candle light / lamp. A P-channel MOSFET and one or two resistors will probably work well.
Please give us a bit more information. What is the battery voltage? Please post a link to the ‘candle’ itself - so we can find its voltage and current. (I assume the ‘candle’ is LED based?)
We’re looking various light sources. Most being LED. Here is one example though.
Yes, it is legacy but we have many in stock.
Others would be custom built flicker diodes.
Another potential is a PWM dimmable unit from the UK linked below.
Oh, just to say it. This is for a non-profit arts organization. So any reduction is materials (or materials cost) and subsequently labor is always a bonus!
Thank you for the information. That helps a lot. I contacted Lamp & Pencil in the UK and they provided a datasheet very promptly. The circuit below should work well with both types of candle.
To keep this really simple, I’m going to recommend trying a good old PNP Transistor. The 2N4403 should work well, it can handle up to 600mA and 40V. Sadly, we don’t stock it or any equivalent transistors, but you’ll be able to pick one up from Amazon.
