[ungermm]

12 volt to 1.5 drop for dummies needed.

I've done this clock conversion with a $2 clock ($1 for the clock, plus $1 for the shipping) from Ebay that came from China. With some minor modifications, I'm now able to adjust the time with the stock front twist knob. I would like to use the 12 volt stock red clock wire and drop the voltage to a 1.5 volt output. I could just use an adjustable DC car adapter, but I thought that it couldn't be that hard to drop the 12 volt red clock wire to 1.5. I've read about a LM-317 Adjustable Voltage Regulator from Radio Shack and using a series of Resistors to get to 1.5 volts. My attempts with using several 10K resistors only got it down to 7 volts. So, my question is ... how would you describe to an electronic dummy how to build a cheap and easy circuit to drop the 12 volts to 1.5 volts?

 

[ungermm]

I had the resistors in a series. With 5, 10K Ohms resistors end to end off a 12 volt battery, I was able to measure 3.25 volts on my multimeter. However, I guess, there wasn't enough current to power the clock or anything else that used a single AA battery. Even with only 1, 10K Ohms resistor, off the + end of a 12 volt battery, I couldn't power a flashlight bulb. So, I might just use a dc adapter even though I wanted to make something a lot smaller.