ok, lets be frank. i have a old power supply that gives 240 - 12v AC, i rectified it using 4 diodes, i think they were IN 4007. now i get a voltage of 26v dc. viewing various threads on this forum, i realize that it is a normal thing to happen. i also understand that using a ic 7818 or a 7824 i can convert the same to 18v or 24v. my question is which pin should be the input, which should be grounded and which should be the output to the circuit. i tried pin 1 as input, pin two as ground, and pin 3 as output of pin connected to circuit. I still get 26V instead of 24 v. I reversed the in and out and i think i blew the 7824. the thing does not seem to work thereafter. I am new to circuits. I need to connect a 300 led panel using a series and parallel array. can somebody help me with how to connect the 7818 and 7824 ?????