DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

240V Floor Stand Lamp

3K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  Metallo 
#1 ·
Hi there!

I just moved to Canada and brought with me some of my 240V stuff, including a floor stand lamp.
Now, the lamp includes a dimmer so what I did, I just unplugged the dimmer from the lamp, bought a 120V 300W linear halogen tube, fixed it and tried to plug the lamp in the receptacle.

After 10 secs, I saw some smoke out of the halogen bulb and unplugged the whole thing immediately.

Dos it have to do with the internal lamp wiring/connections being for 240V and amperage??

Can you help me to get it to work properly?
If I need to change the internal wiring and connections I have no problem in doing it.

Thank you!
Alex
 
#5 ·
Hi Joed,

well, the lamp can host halogen tube bulbs till 500W and the dimmer that was plugged as an extension cord could manage till 600W (it came with the lamp when I bought it years ago), this under 240V.

Well, actually I just changed the bulb to the 120V 300W halogen tube and just plugged the lamp in the socket (120V) because I wanted to see if it worked fine, after 10 secs I have seen that the bulb was smoking due to the heat, I just unplugged the socket and realized that the bulb was obviously too hot for such a short time, therefore I am wondering what was wrong with it. I do not think the halogen tube is burnt, I was quick enough to avoid it :yes:
Socket and wire look OK, that's why I am surprised.

Alex
 
#12 ·
Let's investigate whether or not his "plug adapter" is a transformer.

240V to a 120V lamp will defnitely cause a problem.

Otherwise, I'm reckoning some sort of foreign material was in there, possibly picked up during the transport process. A good cleaning is my prescription.
 
#13 ·
Hmmm. Rewiring the lamp fixture to take a 120 volt bulb which is put in. Then plugging the fixture into a transformer adapter unit that steps up the incoming 120 volts to 240 ...

Was the bulb unusually bright?

A 240 volt dimmer will usually work on 120 volts although the dimming and brightening range may work erratically.
 
#14 ·
No, I did not say I have used a step-up transformer, I could but it does not make much sense for a lamp, I think.

By "plug adapter" I simply meant a flat type A, like the travel adapters you use to match a plug in a different socket,

I hope today to have time to buy a polarized 1-15P plug (three prongs), I think this is the correct name here in NA?

Before trying again, I want to change the plug... cannot say whether the bulb was usually bright or not, but it looked OK for the few secs. it was on.

Once I have tried, I will let you know whether it exploded :furious: or not :thumbup:

Alex
 
#15 ·
Hi,

I made sure the bulb was properly seated in the socket, I changed the European plug to a Canadian standard 3 prong one, also, I added its own dimmer and... it works! The dimmer does not work as in 240V, but you can use it.

However, I still prefer to pilot the lamp from a dedicated switch, I bought a dimmer for the switch, can you suggest the most practical and safe way to link the switch to a chosen receptacle where the floor stand lamp will be permanently plugged in? I am new to this but I am easy with DIY tasks, electrical included, so I imagine I need to check the receptacle and see where the wiring goes to... but I am sure you can provide some additional good tip. :)

Thank you all!
Alex
 
#17 · (Edited)
Hi,

is this by code?
I am surprised if it is so but ready to accept it if have to.
So, are the dimmers here sold only to pilot the light you have at the ceiling in a room?

For instance, in the basement I have found a dimmer that pilots 4 lamps in the room, basically all the lights in the basement, does this mean it is hard wiring? When I say "I have found" I mean that this is what I found in the property which was previously owned by somebody else.

Alex
 
#19 ·
Unpredictable, likely damaging, things happen when a dimmer is connected to a device not intended for that kind of dimmer or any kind of dimmer.

So a dimmer must not be wired into a circuit that controls receptacles.

Halogen (quartz-iodine; tungsten-halogen) lights can be controlled by any kind of dimmer. Halide lights (metal-halide; a kind of mercury lamp) cannot.
 
#21 ·
If the dimmer was completely out of circuit ?
And you are sure only 120v was applied to the lamp ?
Then its a problem with the lamp .
Possibly dirty contacts.
These linear tunsten halogen tubes do run very hot !
This is normal for these lamps.
But any foreign matter on the glass envelope of the tube,
will cause burns and possibbly failure.
Also there are a lot of really low quality lamps
in the market place which can quickely fail.
Try a good quality lamp,
And clean it with metho and a paper towel.
But its normal for these lamps to run quite hot !

Hi there!

I just moved to Canada and brought with me some of my 240V stuff, including a floor stand lamp.
Now, the lamp includes a dimmer so what I did, I just unplugged the dimmer from the lamp, bought a 120V 300W linear halogen tube, fixed it and tried to plug the lamp in the receptacle.

After 10 secs, I saw some smoke out of the halogen bulb and unplugged the whole thing immediately.

Dos it have to do with the internal lamp wiring/connections being for 240V and amperage??

Can you help me to get it to work properly?
If I need to change the internal wiring and connections I have no problem in doing it.

Thank you!
Alex
 
#23 ·
OK, if this is forbidden by code, I follow the code.

The dimmer I bought is for incandescent/halogen lamps, so that would not be an issue. I am just surprised the code impose this because the risks some of you mention are not a risk in reality. Basically, you choose a corner in the room where your floor lamp will stay and by this I mean, stay forever, nobody will ever plug anything else in there.
That's why in Europe this is normal practice and never heard of a problem.
But again, if this is the code, I will respect it.

Presently, I am using the dimmer incorporated in the floor lamp, it works fine even if the the operating scale is different, but so far everything is good and if you confirm the code forbids me to apply a switch control, I will continue to operate the lamp as it is.

Thanks for your help folks.

Alex
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top