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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Niel, post: 376831, member: 13422&quot;]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.</p><p><br /></p><p>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 &quot;see&quot; a third of the voltage provided...so they will be aprox 2/3 less bright than advertised.</p><p>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.)</p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>O.P. Please make sure you have some ventilation in your enclosure. You don&#039;t say what wattage bulbs you&#039;re using, but the heat can build up quickly in a sealed container. I&#039;d hate for the insides to melt or the velumn to catch fire.&nbsp; Clearprint 1000H drafting velumn is a very nice diffuser. I use theatrical diffusion gels that are extreme heat resistant and they&#039;re available in various densities. PM me if you want some help with that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Niel[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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