How many watts for a single socket porcelain ceiling fixture?

[newbury]

I've got a lot of single socket porcelain ceiling fixtures scattered throughout my buildings. All installed before my time. In most of these areas I would like a LOT more light.

Looking on the web it seems all of them are probably rated "660W" but probably came with a sticker or annotation to put no more than 100W (or less) in them. But they are located so I can't see the base easily. They are ceiling fixtures.

I've bought a couple of "splitters" on Amazon, single male socket bases with multiple female sockets (3 and 5), both had 1 sticker on them advising using 60 Watts Max. Further perusal on Amazon indicates that is a per female socket thing. Thus on the 5 female socket fixture it seems rated for 300 Watts (5x60) of bulb.

So I put 4 "100 Watt LED Equivalent" bulbs (actual consumption 13.5 watts @) in the 5-way fixture and screwed it in. As I figured, it looked like the sun compared to the old single 60 watt incandescent I had there previously. Rated at 5,200 lumen for the 4 LED total compared to 800 lumens. But wattage consumption is less.

Which got me to wondering how many watts (using LEDs) is it safe to pump through one of the porcelain fixtures? I've also seen 1 male/7 female fixtures which would let me throw almost 10,000 lumen from one socket.

 

[coldsteelva]

I wouldn't worry - you will go blind from the LED output before you overload the porcelain fixture.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you are going to use LED's it will never become an issue.

 

[TCJatko]

Power (in Watts)= I (current) x E (voltage). A typical socket is probably supplied by a 15A 110V supply so it could, in theory, provide 1650 Watts of power, or enough to power about 122 LEDs of the 13.5 watt variety.

 

[RNeumann]

Most have a claimed rating of 660w. That being said the rating could be anything on yours. The evil will he heat. If you plan to push these little Edison sockets add a little lube to the threads and keep an eye on things. I don’t want to see you standing in front of a smoldering pile of rubble winning a Darwin Award.

Why not just wire in proper fixtures? It will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Why not just wire in proper fixtures? It will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

In some of my areas ANY wiring requires a licensed bonded electrician.

Screwing in a $12 "spitter" in my unfinished basement storage room and 3 $2 bulbs which will last for decades is definitely cheaper and easier than getting an electrician out here. Now if you want to arrange and pay for installation of a "proper" fixture that can probably be arranged.

 

[4570Man]

I've never seen a high watt LED bulb. I run 300 watt bulbs in the porcelain fixtures without burning anything yet. If you find a LED of 300 watt equivalent I'd like to know. The 300 watt bulbs are prone to blowing in a non fixed mounted fixture. Edit, they do make a 300 watt LED equivalent but the price is a long ways apart, and I don't like the color as much.

 

[CobyRupert]

There's 2 considerations:
Amperage and heat.

Amperage:
(5)-13.5 Watt bulbs = 67.5 Watts total.
67.5 Watts / 120V = .56 amps of currents. Hardly noticeable on a 15 or 20 amp circuit.


Heat: With incandescent lights, you can assume that most (>98%) of all the energy used is converted into heat. Not only does the fixtures conductors and sockets have to handle the amps, but it also has to handle the heat load that's cooking it too. If the fixture can handle a 100 Watts light bulb's heat, or even 330 Watts, the LED's 67.5 Watts (the most heat the LED's could theoretically generate) is no problem.

Note that in the summer, the energy consumption for an incandescent is even worse than the wattage listed on the bulb, since many people then run their air conditioner to remove the heat the bulbs create. However in the winter, while LED's save on your electric bill, they bump your heating fuel bill up.

 

[newbury]

I've never seen a high watt LED bulb. I run 300 watt bulbs in the porcelain fixtures without burning anything yet. If you find a LED of 300 watt equivalent I'd like to know. The 300 watt bulbs are prone to blowing in a non fixed mounted fixture. Edit, they do make a 300 watt LED equivalent but the price is a long ways apart, and I don't like the color as much.

Yes, up to a few weeks ago I couldn't find any 100 watt LED's in a price I would pay. Then Amazon had them on sale 4 for $14 and I bought them. I've a few places where only 1 A19 style bulb will do.

 

[newbury]

<snip>However in the winter, while LED's save on your electric bill, they bump your heating fuel bill up.

The way you wrote that it almost reads like they cool the house. They just don't help heat it as much

 

[4570Man]

Most of the lights in my house are LEDs. The ones that aren't are a lot less than 300 watt. I save the beautiful 300 watt bulbs in a ceramic fixture usually mounted on an exposed metal box for applications in which I couldn't care less about efficiency.

 

[mbohuntr]

Keep this in mind as well, What is your breaker and circuit wire size? A 14-2 wire is not designed to carry over 15 amps.... and needs to be protected by a 15 amp breaker regardless of what your fixtures will handle. Watts = Volts x Amps, so 120V x 15A = 1800 watts MAX. You also need to find out what else is on the circuit. Most will tell you to run 80% of that max to be safe.. I agree.

Switching to LEDS usually means a large drop in wattage for the same lumens of output. Do not put a dimmer on it unless your lights specifically are rated for it, or.. you will end up with that same pile of smouldering ash...

 

[4570Man]

Don't know why he'd want a dimmer. The idea was more light.

 

[mbohuntr]

Don't know why he'd want a dimmer. The idea was more light.

Might already be in the circuit... I rented a house in AR. that had a dimmer... I got up one morning, started coffee, with the lights dimmed and smelled something burning.... The last occupant had slipped in a couple of LEDs in the can lights....

 

[Larry Caldwell]

In my barn I found some screw-in fixtures with a 12" white reflector, then screwed in a 2-bulb splitter and two 100w equivalent CFLs. One of those every 8 feet made things pretty bright.

 

[teejk]

Heard something about LED's on the radio last week...something about the bulb running cool but the base can get really hot depending on what you buy? Was a home improvement call-in show and maybe it was a caller trying to hawk one brand over another.

 

[mbohuntr]

Heard something about LED's on the radio last week...something about the bulb running cool but the base can get really hot depending on what you buy? Was a home improvement call-in show and maybe it was a caller trying to hawk one brand over another.

LEDs are DC voltage, so several things need to happen in the base of the light... 120 Vac in gets stepped down to some much smaller voltage like 18Vac via a transformer, then it is rectified to DC voltage anywhere between 24 to 5 Vdc depending on the application, and then might get pulsed as around 1Khz 50% duty cycle to save even more power.. so... yes there are places that might get hot. This is stuff I studied 15 years ago, and likely has changed quite a bit since then.

 

[RNeumann]

LEDs are DC voltage, so several things need to happen in the base of the light... 120 Vac in gets stepped down to some much smaller voltage like 18Vac via a transformer, then it is rectified to DC voltage anywhere between 24 to 5 Vdc depending on the application, and then might get pulsed as around 1Khz 50% duty cycle to save even more power.. so... yes there are places that might get hot. This is stuff I studied 15 years ago, and likely has changed quite a bit since then.

Every one I’ve had on an oscilloscope in the last several years is pulsed (duty cycle). And yes they are still all over the map with voltage and frequency.
The statement about the dimmer is correct. Most LEDs don’t dim and the ones that do brag about it and still typically need a special dimmer.
Their isn’t a standard with the LED bulbs and fixtures.

 

[Mace Canute]

Heard something about LED's on the radio last week...something about the bulb running cool but the base can get really hot depending on what you buy? Was a home improvement call-in show and maybe it was a caller trying to hawk one brand over another.

I just checked my computer room lights. I have a dual bulb fixture with Sylvania 6 watt LEDs, 450 lumens each. I can hold my hand on them anywhere but after about 15 - 20 seconds it's too uncomfortable to hold so yeah, quite a bit of heat but way less than the incandescents they replaced.

 

[newbury]

I just checked my computer room lights. I have a dual bulb fixture with Sylvania 6 watt LEDs, 450 lumens each. I can hold my hand on them anywhere but after about 15 - 20 seconds it's too uncomfortable to hold so yeah, quite a bit of heat but way less than the incandescents they replaced.

I don't think it's the heat of the bulb but the heat of the fixture.
But anyways -
Like I wrote I've a fixture w/ 5 sockets that I put 4 of the 100 Watt LED bulbs in. They have been running more than 12 hours.
So I pulled out my trusty HF IR thermometer.
Ambient temp is like 60 degrees F
The porcelain socket is 68 degrees F
The base that 1 light screws into is 104 degrees F
The "covered" bottom half the bulb is about 122 degrees F.