How to wire a US lamp to Aus Standards?

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EthanHu

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Hi, I bought a lamp off of Amazon because it was heaps cheaper than over here in Australia. I thought I would use an adapter to allow it to work but I have ran into some problems. The lamp has a power cord coming from it and is designed as a reptile heat lamp, so it has a ceramic fixture.

The plug itself has one larger tab/port/terminal (?) bigger than the other. I found that this is used for the Hot/Neutral thing (I don't know much about it).
Because I am in Aus, could I just file the terminal down and put it in the adapter or should I replace the wiring with the 3 wire Australian cable and plug?

If I have to replace the cable, how do I do it?

I want to keep the ceramic fitting but it only has 2 terminals. Where do I put the earth?

Also, what type of cable would you recommend? It only has to withstand around 50 degrees C, max?


Thanks for your help.
 
Several issues here. If it is double insulated it won't need an earth. Is it?
Is it rated for 240 volts or only 120 volts?
I believe in Australia you are not allowed to change the cable unless you are registered.
Adapters are usually poorly made and best avoided.

You could file the thicker blade down and then carefully bend each one with pliers so it fits an Australian socket. Top left is live/active/hot in Australia, make sure you bend them in such a way the correct blade fits in the live/active/hot.

Personally I think buying electrical equipment from a 120 volt country for use in a 240 volt country to save a bit of money is foolish.
 
You also need to think about bulbs.

I'm pretty sure american ES bulbs use a different thead from european ones, I dunno which thread australian bulbs use but i'd suspect it's more likely to be the european one than the american one.

Trying to use an american 120V bulb on a 240V supply is going to cause very rapid and possiblly violent failture of the bulb.
 
winston1 said:
plugwash said:
I'm pretty sure american ES bulbs use a different thead from european ones.
Click to expand...

Never heard about that. US lamps use the standard E27 thread as far as I know.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Just discovered on Wikipedia that US lamps are E26. So I suppose a US lamp might be a loose fit in a European/Australian holder (but would not last long), but a E27 would not go in a US holder.

Looks like the Amazon lamp needs a new lamp holder as well!
 
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