aunt betty wrote:Ok...the reason a light socket is rated at 60 watts is because ceiling fans have four sockets. Everything else is rated for 250 volts. ..look.
Four times sixty is less than 250. Get it?
A light socket in a lamp can use 100 watt bulbs and not overload the system but put 4-100-watters in a ceiling fan could melt the insulation on the wires and cause a fire.
You aren't an electrician, obviously. I reference 110v-120v because that is what the lights use, not because the fitting is limited to that. There are several lighting assemblies on the market that have 60w limit statement, not just fan lighting. The heat comes from the bulb, not the wire. The amperage rating for 22AWG (that's smaller than most manufacturers use, except automotive and electronics) is from 8-13amps(depends on wire coating), that's before the derating for bundling. 4 60 watt bulbs at 110v is about 2 amps total, at full draw, which only happens when they are first turned on. Most American manufacturers use 18awg which bumps everything up to 15-24amps. That's enough wattage rating to go all the way to 4 300 watt rated bulbs and beyond without putting the conductors/wire at risk. That's plenty for 100watt on the wires.
I suppose the wiring would be a concern on some of the cheap made Chinese shit but, that is more because they "cheat" the real rating system by putting less wire in the coating than the marked value.
Here's the math, OHM's law
Volts X Amps= watts
watts/volts=amps
watts/amps=volts
All wire rating is given in amperage rating. The amperage rating of wire is easy to find online. Here is just one example
wire size rating for different coatings
30 AWG 2 3 3 3 4
28 AWG 3 4 4 5 6
26 AWG 4 5 5 6 7
24 AWG 6 7 7 8 10
22 AWG 8 9 10 11 13
20 AWG 10 12 13 14 17
Also, here is the cheat sheet for Ohm's law.
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:03 am
