⌛ mini christmas lights

Ok Naaling just so we are clear about this...a string of mini Christmas lights has a wire in parallel with the filament of each bulb. This extra wire allows current to bypass a burned out bulb and keep the rest going. Your saying its OK to wire together a pair of 110v electrical appliances wired in this way and plug them into a 220v outlet.

that is unless you have a string where only a third of them go out...

 

Let me explain the situation as simply as I can

If you take one of the strings of lights, connect a multimeter to the plug pins and measure the resistance you will have the value of the resistance of one string. If you do the same to the other string you should get a very similar value. If you then connect the two strings of lights in series you are in effect connecting those two resistances in series. To calculate the resistance of the new circuit (the two strings connected in series) the individual resistances must be added together. Therefore the total resistance of the new circuit (the double string) will be twice that of one string. (This will be true regardless how the lights in each individual string are wired, as long as the two strings are connected in series).

Given Ohm's law

V=IR

or

I=V/R

If you double the resistance of a circuit then you need to double the voltage to maintain the same current (amps) so that the globes function normally.

You cannot wire any two 120volt appliances this way because it only works when the two circuits being connected have the same resistance. ie identical strings of lights.

 

huh? all I asked was for a simple yes or no...you told him to solder the two strings together and plug them in...so yes or no...

 

depending into which energy-form electric energy will be converted, that's basically all.

It works also with 2x110V rice-cooker in series on a 220Voutlet. It would most likely not work with 2x 110 microwave.... actually it should work if you have a galvanic isolated UPS just before the microwave.

In that specific example with the low voltage bulbs (and no 50 mini-light string has bulbs running on 110 or 240V also not the latest and super modern ones) there is absolutely no problem wire them in series together.

same principle works with multiple 8 Ohm speakers on one amplifier 8 Ohm outlet, a simple matter of wiring.

With 3 strings it is exactly the same, just the wiring a bit different.

yes, it does save electric bill. your 2 other strings get 50% higher Voltage, that will cause the bulbs to burn through faster, so none will work after a pretty short while, so no electric power used anymore, conclusion: lower electric bill :D

not that I really care, but I just finished 5 long articles about Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass operations, so some light-bulbs and 4th grader physics is pretty relaxing

 

In that specific example with the low voltage bulbs (and no 50 mini-light string has bulbs running on 110 or 240V also not the latest and super modern ones) there is absolutely no problem wire them in series together.


low voltage? What makes you sure they are low voltage? If they are not low voltage is it still alright to do it? We keep coming up with all these qualifiers for the advice given which was just to wire two strings of lights together and plug them in.

 

The advice I gave was to

Buy yourself a single plug and some electrical tape. Cut the existing plugs off each strand. (I assume they can't be detached any other way) Take ONE wire from EACH strand of lights and join them together. Wrap the join with electrical tape. ( It would be better to solder the joint or use a connector - if you can find one) These wires do not go into the plug. Take the remaining two wires, one from each strand of lights and connect them into the plug in the normal way. Plug the lights in and everything should be fine.

That is not simply wiring the two strings of lights together and plugging them in!

 

actually the strings I am familiar come prewired with plug ends so that you can string them together that way. I do not know if they make them that can't be plugged together in series, that is the way they are typically used when decorating, in a series of multiple strings

 

I sell exactly that stuff in all models, sizes, voltages and spare-part.

for 99% of all other people who attended the 4th grade and understand electric principles, yes,absolutely no problem.

2 x 110V bulbs (no matter if 2 single 110V bulb each or 50 accumulated 2.2 V low voltage bulbs like in that christmas - lines) wired in series, works on 240 Volt without any issue.

 

Sorry that I do not have the big brain you do Rhoody but I do not see the need for you to make this demeaning.

the fact is that it depends on the x-mas lights...

if you take the effort to wire them that they are all in line, yes 2 x 120V can be plugged in a 240 v outlet and all will be the same brightness. you can take 3 of them and they work, just not that bright.

If you "plug" the just together you will have a short fireworks on a 240V outlet as they are parallel.


that is the advice you gave yesterday which I am trying to relate with today's


I am just curious though to get to the bottom of this topic...so again back to my example...Christmas lights as I understand them are indeed wired in series but also have a parallel circuit that bypasses the bulbs in order to keep the string functioning if one goes out. I do not understand how the fact that bulbs are wired in series makes a difference when there is an additional parallel circuit connecting the ends...and please bear with us idiots

 

sorry, but obvious

read again, I talk about the difference of wiring and plugging together. As a matter of fact you can put 20 whole 50-bulbs 110V together in one outlet IF

a.) the diameter of the wires is big enough to handle the ampere
b.) use the correct combination of series and parallel wiring

no,they don't have a parallel line, please before you try to argue and discuss anything, look first at things you talk about...

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those mini-lights are designed that in case of a failure of one single bulb the contacts are bridged and the rest keeps working (with a fraction higher voltage)

sorry again but you asked now multiple times the exact same question and get the same answer, ignore it totally and ask it again...

so I rest my case as it simply makes no sense to waste my server space here.

you are correct, it is not possible ... for some... closed