I’m completely unfamiliar with this, can you elaborate?

I’m very confused now

You may or may not be interested to hear that I took your warning to heart and I’m now planning on using an actual DC power supply, coupled with either a resistive or inductive ballast which will also be designed for that purpose.

I’m sure the original plan is easily workable for someone with training or education, but for an amateur, it was too far outside the box to find reliable information and feel confident in it

Well now you have to

Caution noted, I appreciate the effort either way

After reading more, it seems like I’m simply looking for a choke that limits current to 1ish amps

I’ll probably be cranking up the current after I get it working, but this is a second step from the light bulb

This is, hopefully, going to be functioning as a current- limiting ballast for a solid state tesla coil. So I need the 1.1A it draws, but not the motor.

I just wasn’t sure if that 1.1A would stay constant if it was just the primary coil, without the motor.

I agree it’s a weird question, but it’s because the instructions I’m following are very vague about what to use as a ballast. The guy says to test the circuit with an incandescent bulb, then use a hair dryer, toaster, or other household implement that draws a couple/few amps. I’m trying to figure out the bare minimum of components from a device that will still draw current

I’m the middle of reading your comment I realized what I did wrong when making it in the breadboard.

So I got the switch and parallel LEDs working, but the single LED connected directly to positive wouldn’t light. The resistor and LED made a loop back onto the same positive side of the breadboard, so the current had no reason to flow through them.

Something like this?

Also, are there any glaring issues with doing it like this?

Yep, the power source is a 7.5V wall wart

The lights are going to be on a wall, around 7’ up, with the power running straight down to an outlet. About halfway up will be a switch

Yeah, I’m not surprised help is limited without a diagram. Maybe I can get around to making one tonight

This story concerns war and death, if you want to avoid those kinds of things.

I was 18 years old. I was an Infantryman in the US Army and had been in Afghanistan for a few months, when my platoon responded to an IED strike on another platoon in my company, while they were doing a dismounted patrol.

A guy riding a donkey laden with explosives made his way to the center of their staggered column formation (effectively two spaced out lines on opposite sides of the street), before detonating the explosives. It was particularly effective, because walls on either side forced the column in tighter than normal.

This point begins my memories, which are mostly a disjointed collection of visual snapshots.

The first thing I remember is the smell, which I can’t accurately describe, but burned meat, chemicals, and some kind of feces is the closest I can get. It is easily the clearest part of the memory.

The next thing I remember is seeing the severed foot of the man responsible laying in the middle of the road and my immediate and overwhelming impulse was to kick it, since it was the only tangible evidence of a ‘responsible’ party. There were also two generally recognizable bodies in the ditch, as well as several casualties receiving medical care.

From this point it is a series of vignettes. One, I was setting down my radio pack and very clearly telling the lieutenant where it was, since the medics needed extra hands. Another is seeing one of the casualties smoking a cigarette. The last, and clearest visual memory was holding the hand of one of the casualties as we waited for the medevac bird, and trying to keep the mood light be telling him “hey, at least you don’t have to walk back to base”. I have no clue if he responded.

I have absolutely no memories following that day, for probably months, until another, somewhat less traumatic situation took place.

But yeah, that is the day that pretty much all of my emotions died. On my wedding day, I felt just a flicker of happiness. The only emotion I feel with any intensity whatsoever is occasionally anger.

That’s about all, I’m willing to answer questions of anyone is curious.

18? Yeah I doubt it

My phrasing was confusing. The big plant in the backyard that I wanted to be butterfly weed isn’t, but this little plant, in the front yard, is.

I’ve never seen those, but it sounds fun

30yo here, I usually only use it to answer questions where I’m apathetic about the choices

What are you feeling for dinner? Meh🤷

I still need to run the numbers to figure out exactly which transistor fits this application, but I feel like anything getting that hot isn’t properly matched to 8 LEDs

How do I calculate which transistor to use?

This was a most excellent way to spend 45 seconds