Christmas Light Current Draw

[tjetzer]

I've created a very basic spreadsheet calculating current draw of different brands and types of lights. This list shows all of the lights I have access to (My own). If anyone cares to add to this list please do so. If there are more entries I will arrange the list with a better layout.

Todd

[Virtus]

You may want to save the Excel version down a version to the .xls file type to make it more accessible.

[tjetzer]

You may want to save the Excel version down a version to the .xls file type to make it more accessible.

Good point, I didn't pay attention to the format. Stupid excel '07. I will change it soon


Todd

[tjetzer]

OK, here is a more compatible format. Some of the lights (Target 150's in particular) were very surprising. Testing the current draw of the lights can pay off!

[Virtus]

Very interesting. I would not have assumed such a difference between what I thought were otherwise similar strings. Thanks for the down convert, too.

[tdx]

Nice list, are these calculated from a meter?

[djulien]

Here are a few more:

Lowe's Holiday Living, 100 ct. incandescent mini-lights = .33 A
Walmart Holiday Time, 25 ct. LED C9 = .01 A at half-wave, or .02 A at full-wave (with a bridge)

I also have some Walmart Holiday Time 100 ct. incandescent mini-lights, that I measured at .33 A, which is just slightly different than your measurement. I may be measuring differently - I am measuring the AC voltage drop across a 1 ohm resistor in series to get the current.

Also, in another post, someone said that Target Energy Saving 100 ct mini-lights are .10 A. EDIT: should be .2 A.

don

[tjetzer]

Nice list, are these calculated from a meter?

All numbers came from a Kill-A-Watt meter.

[tjetzer]

Here are a few more:

Lowe's Holiday Living, 100 ct. incandescent mini-lights = .33 A
Walmart Holiday Time, 25 ct. LED C9 = .01 A at half-wave, or .02 A at full-wave (with a bridge)

I also have some Walmart Holiday Time 100 ct. incandescent mini-lights, that I measured at .33 A, which is just slightly different than your measurement. I may be measuring differently - I am measuring the AC voltage drop across a 1 ohm resistor in series to get the current.

Also, in another post, someone said that Target Energy Saving 100 ct mini-lights are .10 A.

don

I did plug in a couple of the Walmart lights to see if the amperage went up the same amount for each strand plugged in. When I had 1 strand the meter read .31 Amps, 2 strands read .62 and 3 strands it went up an additional .01 to a total of .94. The Kill-A-Watt only reads to hundreths, so the actual current draw could be .31X per strand. It is also possible your testing procedure could be more accurate.

As far as the energy saving Target lights go, .10 A seems a bit low considering the 150 light energy saving swag lights draw .27 amps. Then again I'm a rookie, and could be wrong....

Todd

[djulien]

As far as the energy saving Target lights go, .10 A seems a bit low considering the 150 light energy saving swag lights draw .27 amps.

Sorry, should be .2 A. I gave a 50 ct. number.

don