Ok, so here is the story .... I have spent a liot of time the last few months getting all my world notes scanned and posted to my site. Well i am out of notes, and lack the funds to buy more, for now So i am on to scanning all the coins i have. But thats the catch! Scannign coins just dont look as good. So i am moving on to try my hand at photographing coins. My last attempt was a miserable failure! One of the things i learned was Diffused lighting.. and lots of it. So, to help with that i am building a box - and i need a bit of help The box i am building is 16x16 inches and 4 inches deep. I got three lightbulbs in a triangular pattern. I also have a swicth, so as to be able to turn off or on the lights without havign to unplug the box. I will post pictures once is is complete. The problem i am having is with the wiring. I am almost completely unsure about how to wire it. I am using 14-2 bromex wire... pretty standard wire. But starting at the plug, what process do i use to wire everything? Here is my thought ... i built the plug using 14-2 wire, and bought a cap with a ground. That part was easy. Now from there, the wire goes into the box to the 1st terminal on the switch. The black wire connects to the switch (but what do the white and ground connect to?). From there i have a wire where the black wire connects from the 2nd terminal on the switch (again, what do i do witht he white and ground wires?) to an electrical box inside the light box. In this electrical box, the wires connecting to all three of the lightbulbs come together. Now with the wire that comes from the switch, i connect the black to the black of the 3 wires in 1 'clump' using a wire twist thingy (sorry, dont know the name). Then i do the same with the white, and bundle them all together, and then do the same to the ground - or do i ground all the wires to the metal electrical box? Once the wiring is done, i have plexiglass that i will coat with a Velum type paper. I am hoping the paper is translucent enough to diffusse the light but allow alot of the light in. That is my box ... so far if anyone knows electrical that can help my sort out the wiring.. i would appreciate it
You are wanting to make a complete circuit. So one side of your plug goes to your switch. Then out the other side of your switch to your first light, the to the next, and back to the plug. Like a loop. If you draw it out and post it, I can confirm you have it right.
some crude pics ok, so ... lets see if one of these helps lol The black colored lines is the black 'Hot' wire. The green-ish colored wire is the white 'not-hot' wire and the brown-ish wire is the ground. The first pic ... i think that is when the lights are in series, which is not good ... i think the second image would be the way i would want to wire it... if its correct lol
The bulbs in the first drawing are not in series... The switch should only break the hot (black) wire, the neutral (white) does not need to be run to the switch area. The ground (bare copper) wire should attach to any metal housings in the whole setup, and any switch, light socket, etc... with a green screw on it. I would probably go with something like the first drawing for simplicity, just end the white wire at light 3, and make sure the ground wire goes everywhere it needs to. I'd also suggest getting a book, or finding a website to get the basics of house wiring before you start... --Paul
I called an electrician friend of mine... took 3 days but oh well lol I ended up wiring it like my second example. He said otherwise it could wreck havoc on the voltage or amperage .. not exactly sure which as he used so many terms im not familiar with lol I wired the black white and ground from each light to the electrical box and then capped them in groups. and then connected the black and ground groups to the switch and tied the neutral to the plug. I had to take it all apart once after a test didnt work. It seems one of the white wires wasnt bunched correctly with the other white wires when i capped them. Once i fixed that, it lit up perfectly. Tomorrow - hopefully - i will cut some plexiglass for the side walls, glue or tape some vellum to the exterior, and slide it in position. I do hope this will help me to take some nice 'well lit' pictures. I willhave to go buy a bunch of different light bulbs - different wattages, clear or frosted ... see which one works best for this.
Diagram #1 is also parallel wiring, but it sure is an odd way to go about it. Here is a diagram of series wiring (left) and parallel (right). The parallel may also be ganged as you have in diagram #2. What I have shown is a lot easier to do. What you have is a lot easier to modify.
Daggarjon, what your electrician friend is talking about is the type of lights you will be using and the wattages they will be pulling. If you use too large of lights in a series circuit you could trip the breaker on the circuit you plug into if the wattage is to large for that circuit. You also need to take into account the type of lighting fixture and size of lamps or bulbs you will be using, too large of a bulb for the fixture could cause a fire or other problems with your electrical. Things to consider: Using fixtures and a switch that are grounded, use the right size wire for the amps that the lights will be using, and use the right size wire nuts when making any wire connections. In this case you should wire the lights in a parallel circuit and I would fuse the switch with the proper size fuse. You can find the amperes by using OHM'S LAW formula Amperes= Watts/Volts which is I=P/E or I=your watts of all lights over your volts. If your lights equal 180 watts 3 X 60 watts then your amperes would be 1.5 amps. I=180/120 = 1.5. Here is a diagram that might help. If you have any question send me a PM.
With regular 120v light bulbs you do not want to wire them in series unless you really want to get very little light out of the bulb. In series, the voltages of all the loads (lightbulbs in this case) add up. If you put 3@ 120v lightbulbs (your basic household variety bulb) in series they voltages add up to aprox 360 volts. Because USA power service is between 110 and 130 volts, each bulb will only "see" a third of the voltage provided...so they will be aprox 2/3 less bright than advertised. Virtually the only time one sees series wiring for light bulbs is either when you are taking low voltage bulbs (ie the 12v MR-16 track lights bulbs that normally use a stepdown transformer) and taking 10 of them and placing in series so you can plug into 120v. Also Christmas tree lights are often in wired in series, 20 or 30 or 40 low voltage bulbs together (divide 120 by the number of bulbs on ea string to find out what voltage each bulb is.) Of course, in New York CIty in the subway they use 5@ 120v bulbs in series attached to a board as work lights for the track maintenance guys. They clip one wire directly to the 3rd rail (600volts) and another wire to the I-Beams. O.P. Please make sure you have some ventilation in your enclosure. You don't say what wattage bulbs you're using, but the heat can build up quickly in a sealed container. I'd hate for the insides to melt or the velumn to catch fire. Clearprint 1000H drafting velumn is a very nice diffuser. I use theatrical diffusion gels that are extreme heat resistant and they're available in various densities. PM me if you want some help with that. Niel
To completely change the consept. With a box of only that small a size why not due the simple thing. First if it were me I'd just buy a set of Christmas Tree lights. They are already wired you know. Staple the wiring to the inside of the top of the box. Use as many as you want pending the size of the string of lights. I've seen some with only twelve lamps. If to much light, just remove a bulb but remember to buy the strings where if one is out, the rest still work. If afraid to leave an empty socket, just tape over it. Next go to any store that carries electrical supplies and purchase an in line switch. Wire that switch into the light string anywhere. Or you could just purchase an extension cord with the switch built in. They are not that expensive. If the box is just wood you could cut small openings in the top for the Christmas Tree type lights to stick into the box. Regardless with this system you could have enought low wattage lamps that there would be no shadowing at all. The nicest thing about this method is most or all the wiring is done for you.
Electrical 101 Niel, not to get into a electrical argument but your calculations are wrong. A Volt is a practial unit of electro-motive force, being the pressure which causes current of one ampere to flow through resistance of one ohm. Light blubs or lamps are rated in watts not in volts so in order to calculate if 3 lamps will work in a series system then you will need to consider the wattage of the lamps and the resistance of each lamp not the voltage(the higher the watts the less resistance). A series circuit is the simplest circuit. The conductor, control and protection devices, loads, and the power source are connected with only one path to ground for current to flow. The resistance of each device can be different or the same in which the same amont of current will flow through each device. The voltage across each device will be different but as long as the resistance or wattage of the lights does not exceed the capacity of the system the lights will work properly. When current flows in a circuit, the presence of a resistance in the circuit will cause the voltage to fall or drop as it passesd through the resistance. The resulatant different in the voltage on each side of the resistance is called a voltage drop. In order to see if the system will work as a series we need to know the voltage, the wattage or resistance, and the number of lights that will be used. We do know that Daggarjon will be using three lights or lamps and the system will be powered by 120 volts, the only unknown is the wattage of the lamps which will be the biggest factor because the higher the wattage the lower the resistance which means more lights can be use. If Daggarjon use three 60 watt light then we can calculate if the system will work by using a voltage drop calculation. In order to use this calculation you will need to convert wattage to ohm by the following forumal: R=E2/P which R= resistance, E= voltage, and P= power or watts. R=120 volts squared divided by 60 watts equals 240 ohms. Now that you know the ohms you will need to add up the the resistance of all the lamps which is 240+240+240 = 720 ohms. Now calculate the current or amps that each light will use. I=V/R= I=120 volt/720 ohm = 0.1666 amps. Now calculate the voltage drop across each light. V=R X I = 240 ohm X 0.1666 amps = 39.38 volts. 39.38 X 3 =119.952 volts. So in this case, a series system would work but if he used 4 lightsat 60 watts it would not because it would require 157.52 volts which would dim the lights. With that in mind he could use 5 - 100 Watts lights and use about the same amount of voltages. 100 watts = 144 ohms, which 144 X 5 = 720 ohms which use the same amount of current as 3 - 60 watt lamps. 144 ohms X 0.144 = 20.74 which 5 X 20.74 = 103.68 volts. As I said before, a parallel lighting system would be the best way to wire in this box, but either way would work if you use the math.
No disrespect but I learned a long time ago not to argue with science folk. With enough calculations they can prove that I don't exist. If looked at long enough, I believe them too! I stand by my earlier statements. 120v lamps wired in series will not burn at full intensity because the filament of the lamp is designed to have a particular voltage drop across it in order to work properly. In a series circuit each lamp does not see a 120v drop across it (as Andy21 shows by his math.) In fact the voltage drop across each part of a series circuit adds up to the total applied voltage. While the right number and wattage lamps MIGHT appear to run at close to full output, they in fact do not. With very few exceptions, household and lighting fixture wiring is done with parallel circuits. This insures that each lamp in the circuit gets the same voltage and that if one lamp burns out the rest of the lamps will stay on. What must be kept in mind with parallel circuits is that the wattage of the bulbs will add up (which means the amount of current flowing through the entire circuit will increase as more lamps are added) The total amperage of the whole kit and kaboodle should not exceed the ratings of any wiring, switch or breaker that it's plugged into. Most household wall circuits use 15 amp breakers and wiring which translates to aprox 1800 watts per circuit. 3@ 60 watt A-19 lamps = 180 watts which pull 1.5 amps = no problem 3@ 1000 watt T-3 theatrical lamps = 3000 watts which pulls 25 amps. = BIG problems I may not know that much about coins, but I do know something about practical electrical wiring. Best to all.
It's simple, Arizona Jack. Just look up the word brag, bragging, etc. To vaunt oneself or one's deeds or abilities. Per some guy that wrote a dictionary. I'm waiting for the person that will now explain the statistics on the heat build up inside the box with every type of lamp (bulb) ever made since Edison.
Now, if you just wire in a cooling fan from a computer power box you can eliminate the heat aspect and get a steady stream of hot air in your face. Oh, we're getting that already in this thread. Bruce
My apologies to the thread for allowing my day job to intrude into the world of our hobby. :bow: DJ, How do your pix look now with the box?
