How to make a lava lamp dimmer switch

[Deviant Grasshopper]

Now - to start out with, this is for informational purposes only. Don't come to me if one of your 30 year old lamps catches on fire or whatnot.

You'll need:

1 receptacle (outlet)
1 dimmer switch
1 2 gang box
an old cord

The pictures tell it all - white wire goes to silver screw, black (hot) wire goes to bronze screw. The switch interrupts the black wire. I use a kill-a-watt to tell me exactly how much power I'm using.

[Mark Goo]

Very cool. Have you found that it improves performance of the flow at all?

[Deviant Grasshopper]

Yes - definitely.. I think they design these lamps to work with a common average of power, and my century lamps in particular seems to be very sensitive to overheating. If I turn it down a notch they happily flow all day.

[Mark Goo]

Cool. back in the OG Lava Line archives, I think there was a lot of discussion about this. Someone had found a dimmer you could add to your lava lamp cord - in line. Dig through the archives if interested.
MG

[LampHead]

Nice setup. I will have to get a picture of a power strip I put a dimmer into. Its very stealth and looks factory. I used a dimmer from Home Depot and a metal power strip from Ace, drilled a hole on the side a installed the dimmer internally.

[www.6-ft-under.com]

OK, I need person savvy to the ways of electricity to answer this question for me....
I intend to build a large shelf to put all my lamps on. I only have one power outlet on this wall....I have 50+ lamps....how far away should I put the fire extinguisher?
Kidding! My question is: How many lamps can I run on this power outlet? Most of my lamps have the 40wt. appliance bulbs.
Help! Anyone?
--"Bert"
6-ft-under.com

[Keith]

Ok, get your calculator, here are the formulas:

Amps = Watts / Volts

Watts = Amps * Volts

Volts = Watts / Amps

So, a 40 watt bulb on 120 volt circuit will draw .333 amps.
Then fifty 40 watt bulbs will draw 16.65 amps (50 * .333)
Most household circuits are planned for 15 amps. You will need to run power from two completely different ciruits for that many lamps.
Each circuit will have a different circuitbreaker, wich will switch off if the circuit is overloaded. Most homes have a different circuit for each room (unless the room is small, you will have to check). You will probable have to run power from different rooms. And remember, any other lamp, or appliance on the circuit will also have to be figured into the total.

If this is going to be a dedicated display, you might consider having a seperate circuit installed just for it. And probably a 20 amp circuit.

As to how much heat that many lamps will put out, maybe someone else will have input, but it will be considerable

Hope this helps
Keith

[Deviant Grasshopper]

According to my kill-a-watt 3 40watt bulbs pull between 1.05 and 1.10 amps - so I'd say .37 amps per bulb is a safe bet..

At .37 amps you could put 40 lamps on one circuit assuming they're the only thing connected - 14.8 amps.

That's a lot of electricity. Personally, I'd only turn on 35-40 lamps at a time unless you're handy enough to pull another line from your box.

[www.6-ft-under.com]

Thanks folks! I knew that I had the right guys on the job!! I am planning a "wall of lava" so to speak. I am dedicating this room to a 60's-70's retro theme and the lavas should fit right in. I plan to run the lamps off of power-strips. Alternating every other one. That way when I turn on the power-strip it lights up every other lamp. As many as I have (50+ regular size plus 3 grandes and 1 giant) I realize that running them all at once would be asking for trouble.
I do have one more question..... I saw at Big Lots a month or more ago, power-strips that had 15 or so outlets on them. They were $25 so I didn't buy any....now I am regretting it. Big Lots is out of these and I can't find them anywhere else. Anyone know any other suppliers?
"Bert"
6-ft-under.com