Ohms on an incandescent light bulb.

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kda3310

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I am working in Iraq. The voltage here is 230 volts at 50 hz. I have a 100 watt incandescent light bulb rated at 230 volts. I am trying to find the ohms. The calculation is E2 / P = R, E / I = R, or P / I2 = R. (230 volts x 230volts) 52,900 / 100 watts = 529 ohms. When I put my digital meter to it it reads that it is 39 ohms. Why does my meter not mach the calculation.
 
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Your calculation appears correct. I don't know how you are measuring resistance on your meter. Something is off.
 
Keith has it. Room temperature is about 300K. The filament operates at about 3000K. If the temperature coefficient of resistance were constant (it isn't) then you would expect the operating resistance to be about 10x the room temperature resistance. Pretty close to what you've gotten.

This low resistance at start means that incandescent lamps draw a very high inrush current at starting. Dealing with this inrush current is one of the major requirements in switch design.

-Jon
 
winnie said:
This low resistance at start means that incandescent lamps draw a very high inrush current at starting. Dealing with this inrush current is one of the major requirements in switch design.
It's also what a 'tungsten' rating is about on a switch.
 
Thank You

Thank You

Thank you,

I am not a very educated man and had to get to work early in life. I have been in the electrical field now for seven year and am trying to poor my heart in to this. I am using Mike Holt?s program to help me with the algebra and am probably going to have many more questions.
 
Welcome to the forum, and ask away. Questions are the best way to a good education; ask a question, get a few rough answers from other people, and then use that to search into written answers elsewhere, until your interest in the question peters out and you ask the next question.

You will note lots of different personalities here. I tend to be the 'give a long winded theoretical answer' guy. *grin*

-Jon
 
kda3310 said:
Thank you,

I am not a very educated man and had to get to work early in life. I have been in the electrical field now for seven year and am trying to poor my heart in to this. I am using Mike Holt?s program to help me with the algebra and am probably going to have many more questions.

Welcome!

Winnie shares some great information. A lot of people around here share their hard earned knowledge. You can learn a lot here.
 
kda3310

Welcome to the board. I'm also in Iraq and it took me awhile to get use to dealing with the 230/415 volts 50Hz system. I have had a formal education in the electrical realm but I'm new at applying it in the field especially at 600Volts or less. I have had many questions and the forum has been very helpful. There are many knowledgable persons here. I'm convinced that some of them spend 3 weeks in hybernation every three years memorizing all changes in the NEC.
 
Using the assumption that resistance for metallic conductors is practically linear over the normal operating range (for this case there probably is some non-linearity) and that the normal operating temperature of the bulb is 2200 Deg C (assumed), and the bulb was at room temperature (20 deg C assumed) when measured to get the 39 ohms (and the bulb was rated for 230V not 240 volts (assumed), by adjusting for temperature I come out with 43 ohms.

That's roughly a 10% error from calculated versus actual measured, which I can live with since there were so many assumptions that had to be made.

To know for sure use a third-order polynomial curve fit for the VI curve, where V = A*I + B*I^3

Use two nonzero experimental data points possibly the half rated and full rated current would be good choices, you can sovle for good approximations of A and B. Then, because resistance (R) = V/I, assuming this can be modeled as a purly static device and the contribution due to power factor can be neglected:

R = A + B*I^2, for any given amount of current passing through the lamp.
 
mikehughes8 said:
I'm convinced that some of them spend 3 weeks in hybernation every three years memorizing all changes in the NEC.
Yeesh!

Would that three weeks was all it took.

And there's another one on the near horizon. . .:rolleyes:
 
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