running 230 volt bulbs with 110 volt power??

Anonymous-0 · Dec 25, 2009

Any idea what would happen? I know 110 bulbs on 230 volt power burn real bright for a few seconds-minutes and go out, but would the opposite just last longer or also burn dimmer?

CF bulbs in particular. Still working on lighting my remote stalls from my previous post. Ordered a power pack from HF with 110 volt outlets. 110 volt bulbs cost an arm and leg here and a power pack with 230 volt outlets is untouchable. I have a couple small inverters in the worst case but want to keep things simple in case the wife needs to use it.

any ideas?

Dave

440roadrunner · Dec 25, 2009

I don't understand your post at all. Are you saying CF bulbs are CHEAPER in 240 than they are in 120? This makes no sense.

I doubt very much that 230 CF's would function on 120

In the case of standard incandescent bulbs, a 240V bulb puts out about 1/4 the light (estimate) that they do on 120. We used to use on in our wellhouse that way to avoid freezup---we figgured it would burn forever on 120V

If you are going to use CF bulbs, I'd buy whatever matches supply voltage, but MORE IMPORTANT make sure they are useable in cold weather. I've got some here that take minutes, not seconds, to start up in cold wx

Anonymous-0 · Dec 25, 2009

230 volt incandescent lamps on 110 will last about a century, but give out so little light you can just tell they are powered. CFL probably won't light at all at half voltage. I've not tried them. Its likely vary by brand and its conceivable to make a CFL that handled variation from 85 to 280 volts with no changes.

A transformer with two 120 volt windings could be wired to step up the voltage so your local 230 volt lamps would work. One called a Buck/Boost is generally built that way, at least in the US.

Gerald J.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 25, 2009

sounds like I'm better off just using my inverters and the 12 volt outlet on the power pack.

Thanks, Dave

Uncle Ernie · Dec 25, 2009

It make sense once you realize he is in Europe.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 25, 2009

Rule of thumb from a GE lamp book is that a 5% reduction in voltage doubles a lamps life and reduces the light output by 10%. Doing that enough times in the geometric progression, 1/2 voltage gets about a century of life operated continuously but a lot less than a quarter of the light because the lamp spectrum shifts away from visible to IR (heat).

Gerald J.

440roadrunner · Dec 25, 2009

(quoted from post at 15:34:59 12/25/09) It make sense once you realize he is in Europe.

!!! DOH !!! I didn't even look. You could use step up transformers to convert the output of a 120V inverter to 240----or it may be --and this is a big maybe---that you could sync a pair of inverters (phased) and series the outputs to 240

Les Va. · Dec 25, 2009

Yes they will work and last a very long time you have to figure on the fact that when you 1/2 the voltage you 1/4 the wattage

Anonymous-0 · Dec 27, 2009

Find some 50 watt 12 volt lamps run from a deep cycle battery and solar panel.You must use a car or truck to get there.Plug in to the car to run the barn lites. #12 wire and plenty of switches so you lite only the area you are working in.Let the car run and charge its battery.

running 230 volt bulbs with 110 volt power??

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