110voltAC Christmas light on 220voltAC

They are the 3 wire series lights. One blows they all go out (that alone has slowed my Christmas cheer)..

I have a sign out by the road with a 220volt 60Hz outlet. I was going to get a 220 to 110 travel transformer and plug the lights in. But I worry about kids messing with it and also the weather.

I heard the way they work, there are so many bulb that each drop the 110V to about 2V per bulb. Can I drop a resistor in the string and use the 220volts? Not sure on the watts, but that would be simpler and I can seal that pretty well with epoxy.

Any ideas?

Merry Christmas..

These are out in the weather??? Although I'm not keen to see outdoor stuff messed with like this, why not put two strings in series? They'd each drop 110V.

The 110V Christmas lights that are in series are INDOOR lights. OUTDOOR lights are weatherproofed, in parallel and are brighter.

Don't get the new LED ones, they aren't bright enough for outdoors unless you use millions of them.

It is a wire figure that has the lights already wrapped in a figure. Guess I did not mention that. Great idea though..

The lights were built with 110 in mind - that includes considerations for insulation. Yes, in US the 220 is still 110 to ground however the potential between conductors in the string is still twice the original design.

I wouldn't worry about the voltage between the conductors exceeting 110V, it's probably rated to withstant at least 1kV and probably won't actually breakdown to at least 2kV or even more.

Don't you have access to a neutral conductor so you can run them from 110V?

You could always try adding rectifier in series or working out the current drawn from the power rating and using an approprietly sized power factor correction capacitor in series as a ballast to limit the current.

So 110 is across the two plugs pins and one 220 I can run one side to one plug prong and the other prong to neutral. That would work.. Will look up 220volt plugs.

So should we fire our electrical company?

I called them and said I need an outlet at our sign to plug in some 110 volt lights (3 low power strings). They said that is 220 volts, can't do it..

I come here to figure out a clever method to drop the 220 to 110 (resistor, transformer, travel converter, etc). So I can tell them to give me 220 then and I will work it from there..

Hero then leave a post that makes me think. Here in the US, the house has 2 110 volt legs and they use both for 220.. They do it with the breakers I think.. Anyway..

So if there is 220 in the sign, a 110 outlet can be made with the common (white I think) and one leg of the power without a problem, and use ground for a GFI outlet..

Am I right? Are they jerking me around??

They know I want to plug in a string that is 110 and tell me they can give me 220 and it will not work.. And I am trying to mod the @#$!% string to work with 220..

It's nice to live in a country with a sensible mains supply!

Nigel, we have 220, but we get 110 as a bonus..

Just because you guys left out the common wire. The 110 probably yields the oil companies in some way here.

Hey, wait. What do you pay for gas over there? They just get you at the pump.

My Cristmas light would not work over there for sure (without that traveler step-down transformer; it runs a hair dryer it will run these light).

But I still think the electrical (not electronics) guy "yanking" me? From what I read.

mramos1 said:

Nigel, we have 220, but we get 110 as a bonus..

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Historically the UK (probably as with other countries?) had different mains in different areas - including DC and even 30Hz mains, with various voltages (although I think they all tended to be 200-250V?). There were also numerous types of plugs in use.

However, it was all standardised years ago, with 240V 50Hz mains (now supposedly 230V), and plugs were standardised as the 13A fused three pin one.

The idea of having two different mains voltages in a domestic house seems quite bizzare? - but is an obvious result of choosing too low a mains voltage in the first place.

230V is the new European standard but 240V is within tollerence so it's still acepted.

The US use a 110V-0-110V domestic a supply and 450V is common in industry.

I take it you don't have access to a neutral, it's probably against the rules but you could just wire the Christmas tree lights from 110V to earth providing there's no GFI to stop you.

I thought it was 110 common 110.. And I could use common and one side (110). Either way, getting 220 out there. Worse case I get a 220 to 110 box and convert it.

In some of the older cities in The Netherlands may be 127 Volts around, although most appliances now run on 220 Volts (230V).
Systems used were 3 x 127 / 220 Volts, 220 Volts was taken between phases while 127 Volts was available between phase and neutral.
That was upgraded to 220 / 380 Volts and now 230 / 400 Volts with the so called harmonised system voltages.