Wiring Moon Lights?

well this was probably a stupid idea. i decided to use some old x-mas lights. So i wanted to shorten them.. i thought that if i did it by cutting the wire just before the first bulb then added some lenghth to the cord so it would reach my tank then lined up 5 lights about 30" in length. well the bubls are the real dark blue that dont give off much light. I hooked them up and blew them all. anyone know how to make this work?

 

By cutting the cable, did you remove any lights?

John

 

If you experience this problem, your Christmas lights are series-wired. In series wiring, each bulb acts like a fuse: if one bulb burns out, the circuit is broken. Some sets have a shunt wire that allows the electricity to pass into the next socket if one bulb burns out, but no series-wired set will work if a bulb is removed from its socket. If your set does not have a functioning shunt wire, all you need to do is locate the missing bulb and replace it in order to close the circuit.

E.H. Scott of Hofert Co., a leading supplier of Christmas trees and decorations, says that many consumers are confused about how to replace bulbs in series-connected sets. To find the appropriate bulb, you merely divide the voltage standard (120 volts) by the number of bulbs in the set. If you have a set of 20 lights, you would need a six-volt bulb.

So If you are using 3 bulbs you will need 40 watt bulbs if you are using 4 bulbs you will need 30 watt bulbs and so on.... I hope that this helps.................... John

 

ahh. so what i did is reduce 50 bulbs to 5 and that give them too much amps and burns them up .. am i undrstanding that right? i did remove all but 5 bulbs from the string. any suggestions to making tis work?

 

You would need to use 5 24 watt bulbs........... John

 

yea i see. dont remeber seing that big of bulbs for xmas lights lolol

 

John,

Ummm, isn't it the voltage that is divided by the number of lamps?

John

 

;D I don't think I have either
The bulbs you are using would be 2.4 watt bulbs 120 / 50=2.4

 

[quote author=JohnO link=board=lighting;num=1089239472;start=0#6 date=07/07/04 at 16:40:31]John,

Ummm, isn't it the voltage that is divided by the number of lamps?

John[/quote]

What did I say? John?

 

LOL Yep, you did say that

So wouldn't you then need 5 x 24Volt globes?

Or is that I am just a bit slow today? Either could be the case BTW

John