can i use 150 watt choke for 75 watt bulb

iam also facing similar problem. if ane one can give suggestion , it will be friutfull for many.

Try it and see!

I expect someone will jump on me for saying that, but it's hardly a mile out and I can't see it causing a problem.

If you did not replace the chocks your wattage still will be high but less than before .to prove that you can measure the current before and after

What the heck does a choke have to do with this? I don't understand your thinking...

A 75W bulb is just a 75W bulb; meaning it will draw 75W. the same holds true for a 150W bulb. You don't need to "do" anything to make either one do less, you don't need a choke or anything else. But it will also give out 1/2 the light (lumens) of a 150W bulb. So yes, it will save energy, as long as you can live with less light.

Rocket science this is not... sheesh!

One assumes from the choke reference that this is a flourescent lamp?

150W fluorescent? Must be 12 feet long!

Maybe it's a fitting for 2x75 just like I have in my garage (well 2 of 'em really but wo cares?)

But even this doesnt make much sense 'cos he wouldn't need to change the bulb ...just remove one!

Personally I'd rather be able to see what I'm doing!

Del and JRaef are both right. Fluorescent lamps use chokes or ballasts. Incandescent lamps do not. A 40W fluorescent lamp (let's shorten it to FL) is about 4 feet long. A 150W FL will probably be 15 feet long! Likewise a 75W FL would be 7.5 feet long.

Might this be something else then? Sodium vapor lamps perhaps?

In any case, good electrical practice dictates that you use the recommended chokes for any lamp. If you want to use a 75W lamp, use a 75W choke.

I'm not going to give any electrical proof. Just suffice it to say that if it were that easy to swap 75W lamps for 150W lamps (without changing the chokes) I'd have seen it done lots of times. The fact of the matter is that I've never seen it done. That means that it's either been proven wrong or even dangerous.

Yes you can use any watt bulb you wish as long as the voltage is the same. Try to get the new fluoresent type bulbs they give out more light a 60 watt gives off the light of a 100 watt incandescent.

By your reference to a choke, I think you are referring to a ballasted discharge lamp such as Mercury Vapor, HP Sodium, HID's, etc. These are all arc lamps and they require a ballast to provide arc striking capability, voltage regulation and current regulation. That might be an over-simplification but, you need the proper size ballast for the lamp you intend to operate. If the ballast is too small, the lamp won't light; if too large, POW! Goodbye lamp.

Want to save more on power? Use CFL compact fluorescent lights, low wattage and can use the same receptacle for incandescent bulbs.

Yes you can use a smaller ballast choke, maybe. Others have mentioned types of lamps that use ballasts. These lamps are all gas discharge. They are all either direct radiating like mercury or sodium vapor, or or indirect (fluorescent lamps) that use a phosphor coating to convert UV light to visible light that we can see). In each case the ballast must allow enough electrical current through to heat the lamp during its startup cycle.

In the mercury/sodium lamps it's a conventional tungsten filament that acts like a heating element to boil the metal in the lamp capsule into a vapor (ionized to create the light) and then to open a bi-metal switch that switches the power from the filament to the vapor. With a too-small ballast not enough power will be let through to heat the filament and get the lamp started. If it does happen to start up, not enough heat will be produced by the lamp capsule to keep the bi-metal switch open and the light will turn itself off.

In fluorescent tubes there are tungsten filaments at each end that are first heated to start the lamp. These two act like the cathodes in old radio tubes (when they are heated they emit electrons that flow into the tube and ionize the gas making the light). It is this ionized gas that keeps the heaters at the ends of the tube hot while the lamp is operating. A too-small ballast will not allow enough electron flow through to keeps these end filaments hot and the lamp will flicker dimly and never come on like it's supposed to. When fluorescent lamps are used in fixtures that can be dimmed, those end filaments are kept constantly heated by a small electric current fed to them from a pair of secondary windings on some sort of filament transformer. This is also the way that those new compact fluorescent light bulbs work.

In all discharge lighting including fluorescents the primary purpose of the chokes or ballast is to provide a high striking voltage. The secondary purpose is to limit the current dawn by the lamp after ignition.

The lamp wattage must be matched to the choke unit, mismatches will work, but will result in premature lamp failure or choke/ballast damage.

If you wish to reduce the wattage of the lamp the choke must also be replaced along with the igniter if it is an external unit.

Ordinary tungsten filament lamps can be chosen at random apart from the end cap constraints.

In the CR4 system of probing and response there are numerous initial posts wherein individuals are signed in as "Guest"; I have done so myself on occasion. Is there any way to define when a given guest (initial guest) is responding later in the postings. It gets confusing when there are so many people signing in as "Guest". Please advise. Thanks.

No, it's up to the poster to be forthcoming about having some sort of identity to which their comments can be ascribed. But unfortunately, most are just too lazy.

You could do away with these sort of lights altogeather, and give people helmets with lights on them and design some sort of kinetic power recharging system so that whenever they move this recharges the battery. I reckon 2 aerobic sessions a week would be enough to give the batteries a full charge, along with the daily wearing of them. If you think you might need extra light you could design a smaller kinetic battery charger which could be fitted to all the animals in the colony and to the smaller children, these batteries could then be connected by blue tooth probably to the existing helmets and networked around the colony.

Any questions to this suggestion dont be afraid to ask

You're supposed to be locked up in a dark room. How'd you get the chains off and how'd you get out?

Rub finger on wall until it's sore...take the saw...cut through the chain etc..

Shouldn't that be 'paw' instead of 'finger' Del ? Nah, it's rhetorical mate, don't bother. I'm just keeping up my post rate with easy targts. Just so's I stay on topic, is 'Choke' the right word ? I thought that 'thingumyjig' or capacitor or something would be better. The bloke in my local hardware shop knows exactly what I mean. Have you been watching that fil that Sky keep showing called 'Saw' ? The second one is bettter. This bloke has to sa.........

I do not know the size of your facility -- are you concerned a bout one lamp or 500 lamps? We recently installed motion sensors in a 900K sq ft facility where, when there is no demand for light within 15 minutes of the last motion, the lights turn off. This method offers adequate lumen's for the activities when required. We have seen significant savings. Payback is about 13 months for the investment in the upgrade.

I must mention that this facility operates 24/7 with busy and not so busy periods -- so the savings are obvious.

Not realistic for one or two lights.

CFL compact Flourescents 13w= 60 w incadenscent 17w = 75w? incadescent..

How about checking out the up and coming LED lights for 110vac or the light panels Phillips and others tout and the "Green Luminescents" to replace the banned or soon to be band standard cheep incadescent light bulb.. ( Buy stock in eye glasses we are all going to need them to see if these bulbs don't get brighter )

Why worry? Simply use CFL (Compact Flourescent Lamps). Your electricity consumption and bill will come down by 70-80%

I never saw where the originator said anything about flourescent lamps. Just "bulbs".

Let's just go with that. Some suggested that "try and see" and other for the new low energy lamps (nom. 120VAC 50-60Hz should be just fine).

Meanwhile, I'm getting "choked up".

You're right. He didn't say fluorescent lamps but he did say "chokes".

In common usage, a bulb is taken to mean "incandescent bulbs" which obviously do not use chokes (or ballasts, a term more commonly used in my experience). Therefore, if the "bulb" uses chokes/ballasts, then it must not be incandescent. If I go out and ask people what ballasts are used for, most, if not all, will say fluorescent lamps.

However, since he did mention bulbs, I took it to mean that he must be referring to gas discharge lamps that screw into the standard incandescent bulb sockets.

Just curious... What is your colony?

I don't believe all these posts on the subject of a light bulb. I'm really all "choked" up. Wonder how many there would be if the subject were the 'best position for sex'?

I have received some lamps that indicate "BASE DOWN TO HORRIZONTAL". what IS THE MEANING OF THIS?

Means they probably want the lamp operated in an upright position.

Don't know exactly, but I'm gonna try it.

Go ahead-you will lose only 2 Flourescent Tubes!