Will they adapt to 220v ?

Yes that's possible. Of course it depends on how the user needs to use them. He/she wouldn't have two independent units then, they would have to have two lights on or none at all.

RTE

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote | (snapper) writes: | > I've been taking digital photos of apartment interiors using two | > standard 500w halogen shop worklights for illumination. | You can buy them in UK, and I would guess France too, and they'll | have correct insulation and earthing and be correct voltage for | European mains supplies, so I see no point in trying to bring US | ones back to Europe.

Expecially as the transformer will probably cost more than the lights, and it will not be at all easy to get 110V replacement bulbs in France.

Can't see larger than a 150W (for a portable) at Castorama.fr: Projecteur halogène portable 150 Watts. Coloris noir. Matière:fonte d'aluminium. Dimensions:14x18x26 cm. Ampoule halogène R7S de 118mm 150 Watts comprise.

1.5 mètre de câble. 14,00 Euro

However, projecteur halogène 300 W blanc, livré avec ampoule 300 Watts 119 mm R7S. is only 6,00 Euro .

Quite possibly a more 'industrial' supplier will have 300W worklights.

Owain

Having thought a little more about this, isn't 2 x 500w lights a little overkill for that job?

RTE

Wattage is the power the lamp consumes, i.e., the energy per second lost to heat and light. If electricity was water, voltage would be the pressure. Because a 100 watt bulb puts out almost all of the hundred watts as heat, lamps have cautions about using too big a bulb and causing a meltdown or fire, usually a function of the amount of air that can get to the bulb to keep it cool.

There are 220v, 230v, and 240v lamps available and used in industry and commerce in the USA. But a caution: a 240v lamp used in a 220v sicrcuit will be dim and have a different color spectrum than a photographer might hope for (shifted a bit to the red). A 220v lamp used in a 240 volt circuit will burn overly brightly and not last long.

The same consideration applies to the mixing of 110v lamps with

220v circuits and 120v lamps in 110v circuits; although your local supermarket or KMart may not have bulbs in 110v, 115v, and 120v varieties, your local electrical distributor probably does. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ( snipped-for-privacy@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

More likely, they'll short out - hopefully without starting a fire. He'd be trying to run twice the current through equipment designed for lower voltage. (I had something similar happen with auto headlights, some years ago - the person who replaced the old ones paid no attention to the fact that those he was selling me were for a lower voltage elctrical system - they lasted for about two blocks of driving, before dying on me!) Now, if you were trying to run 220 volt lamps on a 110 volt system, you'd probably trip a few cicuit-breakers, instead.

I gather "volts" and "watts" are two different animals? Most of my floor and table lamps warn against using bulbs of more than the recommended wattage. (Although of course, being purchased in the U.S., it's assumed they will be operated on U.S. voltage.)

Uh, no. 220v lamps will barely glow in a 110v circuit.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ( snipped-for-privacy@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

"Owain" wrote | Can't see larger than a 150W (for a portable) at Castorama.fr: Projecteur | halogène portable 150 Watts. Coloris noir. Matière:fonte d'aluminium. | Dimensions:14x18x26 cm. Ampoule halogène R7S de 118mm 150 Watts comprise. | 1.5 mètre de câble. 14,00 Euro | However, projecteur halogène 300 W blanc, livré avec ampoule 300 Watts 119 | mm R7S. is only 6,00 Euro . | Quite possibly a more 'industrial' supplier will have 300W worklights.

In reply to this posting I have received an email from Gene, which led me to bricom.fr and find:

http://194.98.155.193/asp/Afficher_Article.asp?ARTICLE=01058010012 Projecteur portable 500W (livré avec lampe) Prix Bricom:

20,64 Euros

They also have one on a tripod at

http://194.98.155.193/asp/Afficher_Article.asp?ARTICLE=01058010022 Owain

Oops.. didn't read that one properly

of driving, before

They will glow pretty well actually, no where near full brightness, but they will still glow surprisingly bright. With some party lights I have (cheap kmart 500 watt floodlights and colour gell) I connect 2 in series when I want them dimmer. This is running 2 240 volt lights in series, giving them 120 volts each.

To the OP, buying lights for 240 volt use will be shitloads cheaper than buying a stepdown transformer. Unless these lights are really special and are unable to be had in a 240 volt version, just buy some in the country they are intended to be used it.

James

A 220v lamp in a 110v circuit will draw considerably less current and will not represent any sort of danger to the insulation and fittings. Unless, of course, the lamp is too big, i.e., too high a wattage, but then the same rule applies to using 110v lamps in

110v circuits. As someone else mentioned, his lamps have tags saying to not use larger than, e.g., 60 watt bulbs. Putting a 250 watt bulb in such a fixture would be foolish.

Pedan point: the people who make light bulbs insist they make lamps, not bulbs, and the lamps you install them in are actually "fixtures".

************* DAVE HATUNEN ( snipped-for-privacy@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Even when they're not "affixed" anywhere, but are portable to plug in where needed? (i.e. floor lamps, photographic flood lamps, etc.)

So I understood at my visit long ago toe NELA Park. In any case, fixtures don't need to be attached,

************* DAVE HATUNEN ( snipped-for-privacy@cox.net) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

A fixture is over 18Kg and does not have wheels or is attached, at least that's the regs in UK. Yes the use of two lamps of 230 volt in series instead of parallel is still quite bright and the system is used as a lamp saver in some photo systems. There are allsorts all sorts of methods to reduce voltage and current which maybe safe if in the correct place but could be disastrous if used in the wrong place. I am thinking about the old method of dimming lights in theatres I am not going to say how there worked in case someone tries to use the idea and either gases themselves with chlorine gas or electrocute themselves. I hope those who understand will not tell others what am am talking about as they may then try it. Basically the only things which should be exported from US to Europe should be already provided with a voltage selector switch or be of a switched mode type which will except a voltage of 100 volt to 300 volt without the need to select as found with many lap top computers.

All best Eric

snapper schrieb:

I bought a 500w halogen floodlight lamp last year here in Europe in a hardware store. Runs on 240 volts. I don't recall what it cost, but no way was it expensive. Why doesn't your friend just buy one in France? It's not as if we live in the jungle here.

Tom

"Gunslinger" wrote | Some of the talk on this thread scares me to death. | Never, ever, consider using electrical equipment except in the environment | it was designed for. Using 220v lamps in 110v kit might or might not work, | consider however that it is not just the lamps themselves but the insulation | and rating of the cabling and fittings that need to be considered. It is | going to be safer (and probably cheaper) to buy kit for the place where it | is going to be used.

Agreed

| (c) lamps are rated by wattage, this means that where supply voltage is | slightly lower, the lamp tries to draw higher amps to compensate, and vice | versa.

No. Ohm's Law applies.

Owain

"Hatunen" wrote | A 220v lamp in a 110v circuit will draw considerably less current | and will not represent any sort of danger to the insulation and | fittings.

But we are talking about bringing a 110V rated luminaire into a 230V area and either running it through a transformer, or changing the lamp to a 230V one.

A transformer rated at 500W for continuous use will cost more than buying a new luminaire (20 Euros at bricom.fr).

Changing the lamp: a 500W 230V lamp will consume about half the current of a

500W 110V lamp when each is run at its appropriate voltage. However the insulation of the luminaire will not be rated at 230V and it may not comply with other European safety standards.

An important point, not considered so far, is that if the person who will be using these luminaires (the Parisian photographer) is doing so as part of his work, then more stringent safety standards may apply. In the UK these would be the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Electricity at Work Regulations. If there were an accident, the user would have to show that he had taken reasonable steps to ensure the equipment was safe. Using 110V rated equipment on a 230V supply (even if the lamp is changed) and using equipment which has not been certified to comply with European standards, hardly forms a convincing defence.

| Pedan point: the people who make light bulbs insist they make | lamps, not bulbs, and the lamps you install them in are actually | "fixtures".

Luminaires.

Owain

Good advice in general but, in practice, any insulation adequate for 110v will be fine at 220/240. For the same wattage lamps, 220/240 lamps will draw LESS current (about half) than 110/120 lamps.

Sorry but this is completely wrong. Lamps are rated by wattage but only at a particular voltage. A regular incandescant lamp is just a dumb piece of wire in a vacuum. There is no voltage compensation mechanism of any sort. If the supply voltage is lower, it will draw LESS current. If you take a 220v 100w bulb and run it on 110v it will draw (approx.) HALF the current. I say approximately because there is a thermal effect - wire's (and most other things') resistance increases with temperature and the bulb will be cooler running at the lower current so it's resistance will be lower and it will actually draw slightly more than half the current but still less than if it was running on 220.

Having said all that, and going back to the original question, the effort involved in using these lights in Europe is more than they are worth - particularly as close equivalents seem to be readily available.

Terry.

Snapper,

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