Light Fixture from Hong Kong
I bought a lighting fixture from a designer in Hong Kong which uses 220 volts at 50hz. Does anyone know if I’ll be able to rig up a device where I can use this in the U.S.? I don’t know of any transformers that will directly connect to the ceiling light box. Many thanks!!
I bought a lighting fixture from a designer in Hong Kong which uses 220 volts at 50hz. Does anyone know if I’ll be able to rig up a device where I can use this in the U.S.? I don’t know of any transformers that will directly connect to the ceiling light box. Many thanks!!
Oh, which G.O.D. lamp did you get? I know their stock really well (My place in Hong Kong is across the street from one of their stores).
They had a very clever light fixture last season that was made from the red plastic lampshades that are everywhere in the outdoor wet markets. (The NYT featured it here:
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/the-high-low-kiosk-lampshade-25/
I went to my local hardware store and replicated the look in my kitchen for $2. No problem with wiring, since you slip it onto your own hanging bulb.
Thanks for all the input – I appreciate all the help. I should have been more specific… it is a piece that takes 6 bulbs, max 40Watts each.
It appears it takes the sockets are British type bayonet ones.
I am not sure what # the wires are though.
So my question is: if I could buy the appropriate Bayonet type bulbs, should I go ahead and try wiring this up, and seeing if anything blows/ overheats? it seems like there are a couple of differing opinions being given on the forum.
Oh, and WonTon, I got my lamp from G.O.D. which does not have a design store anywhere outside of hong kong.
hey, again, I am not for 1600W bulbs. I just pointed that wire needs to handle 15A in case if there is a ground fault in the lamp and breaker is about to trip. Pressuming that cmu is right and #18 handles 15A long enough for breaker to trip, I do not see other problems.
also cmu, please do not be so confrontational. when I said 2x thicker, I meant 2x area not 2x diameter.
Of course a hypothetical 1600 W bulb, if it exists, would surely not fit in a household fixture, but, if it did, it’s extreme heat would likely start a fire even before the overheated wire caused a problem. I really don’t think this foreign fixture is likely to cause any problem in The US that it wouldn’t cause in Hong Kong. People use really cheaply made Chinese fixtures from Home Depot, Ikea and Lowes without burning down their houses. Why should this (presumably) expensive and well made fixture be worse?
bobjohn, wrong again. If you have a short, even a #18 wire will tolerate the high current until the breaker blows (milliseconds), with no possibility of a fire.
I will concede that if you put in a 1600w bulb which draws 15A with #16 wire, the breaker will not blow and the wire will eventually overheat. Or have some kind of weird semi-shorting condition that allows 15A of leakage current for a while.
If you think the above scenarios are plausible, by all means use #10 wire (30A).
Why buy a foreign fixture…because he likes it, duh!
I’m with CMU. I bet you can DIY this, you just have to replace some hardware. Here:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/skill-builder/0,,20058655,00.html
Or look around on Instructables.
I’m also puzzled why you brought a fixture from Hong Kong. I’m very familiar with the lighting fixtures from there, since I live there part of the year. In fact just a few months ago I had to replace some fixtures in my HK apartment and spent a day searching for something nice in Hong Kong’s “lighting district” in Causeway Bay.
It wasn’t easy. I didn’t see anything on sale there that you couldn’t find here. And the really beautiful high-end decorative lighting in Hong Kong is all imported from Europe, the UK or Japan.
There aren’t nice light fixtures you could have bought in the US?
What a hassle just to make a foreign lamp work and not have it burn your house down.
Yes, this is trivial! fifteen minutes and $10 in parts, even if you have to change the socket!
The difference in current is trivial, as arkady says. bobjohn’s comment are incorrect (2x thicker wires, for instance, can carry 4x the current), and breaker size is irrelevant.
#16 wire is rated 13amps=1400watts, a pretty bright bulb. #18 is 10A.