Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Among the many reasons this is a bad idea: the "hot" resistance of an incandescent bulb is many times the "cold" resistance. For example, [0] finds that a 110V 40W bulb is 24Ω when cold, but 360Ω when hot.

Why does this matter? Let's put two of these bulbs in series, one of them hot and the other cold, and run 220V through them. The total resistance will be 384Ω, so the current will be V/R, or 0.57A. The hot bulb will have IR volts across it, or 206V; the cold bulb will have 14V. Bingo: your voltage divider is way, way off. Even better, putting 200+ volts across a 110V bulb will blow it (power would be IV, or 117W), and you've got either nothing or 220V.

Now, you won't be starting with one bulb hot and the other cold, but the two bulbs won't be exactly equal. The one with the higher resistance will be hotter than the other one; can you be sure that the imbalance won't slowly get larger and larger?

[0]: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/571836/why-d...



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: