Multi-device circuit with seperate parts behind reverse polarity switch. HELP please!

Thread Starter

JohnnyAstro81

Joined Aug 16, 2016
18
I am a pure amateur at this so please forgive me for how silly this might sound. All I ask is for patience and simple answers (since I am as smart as a child at this). I have a circuit that I am trying to figure out how to wire. It is a 6V circuit that should be around 2.6A. There is an initial simple on/off switch to turn the entire circuit on and off. Once the circuit is powered on I want two 6V fans to begin cycling and to remain so while the on/off switch is engaged. From here the power will need to go to four devices that will require power in forward AND in reverse. My current set up ran the on/off switch through the fans to the DPDT switch for the forward and reverse devices. With the circuit being wired in its current configuration the fans seem to lose power when the other devices are also powered on but I need each component to work fully. If I wire the fans to terminate by themselves and run separate power to the DPDT switch, then the devices on the DPDT do not fully energize while the fans do. The fans can not connect to the DPDT switch because reversing polarity to the fans ruins them. This is honestly the first project that I have ever done and any help would be very appreciated. Thanks you all for your time!
 

Thread Starter

JohnnyAstro81

Joined Aug 16, 2016
18
I feel so stupid. I think I needed to type all that out and piece it out on a breadboard to figure out what I was doing wrong. So the on/off power switch provides power to row 1, row 5 is grounded, the fans are connected to row 1 and row 5, the DPDT switch is also connected to row 1 and row 5, the components that are connected to the DPDT are in row 10 and row 15. The circuit now works the way it should. NOW I would like to wire two LEDs in with the DPDT components. Basically I would like a green or blue LED to turn on when power is going to the components normally and another red LED to turn on when the polarity is reversed. Not only am I unsure of how to wire this into my current scheme, but the device is 6V and 2.6A and I would need to somehow wire a resistor into each LED so that I do not burn them up. Please help again! Thank you!
 

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,986
A picture is worth 1000 postings. You must start with a drawing, a schematic of what you are trying to achieve. No one here is going to convert your text into what they think you mean. Also, some of your terms are not clear. For example, what do you mean by the fans "cycling"? Do you mean running at full speed, alternately turning on and off, or ...?

What is your power source? Are you sure it can deliver enough current to run all devices at the same time?

How do you know that your devices draw 2.6 A?

ak
 

Thread Starter

JohnnyAstro81

Joined Aug 16, 2016
18
Thank you for your prompt response! I will make an attempt to draw what this mess looks like. I have never drawn a schematic of a circuit before so with my luck the drawing probably would not be very accurate. The fans "cycling" means them simply turning on. "Running at full speed" would mean how the components would run if they received their desired voltage and current. The first switch would be the circuit on/off and the second switch would be on/off/reverse. My power source will be a 2.8A 6.4V battery pack. With all the components connected in parallel (which is necessary since each component runs off 5-7V) without any of the switches the circuit draws 2.6A on a multimeter.
 
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