Slowing down a fan?

Sure, wire it in series with the mains to drop the voltage. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I dunno. The lamps that use 3 way bulbs are quite common in the US. It is a bit of a PITA too. The default wiring of the 3 way socket could have been made to operate compatibly with a standard bulb, was instead wired so you have to click the switch twice to turn a standard bulb on or off. As such it is very common to run into this inconvenient combination.

I don't expect to ever see a 3 way CFL bulb, but I don't get why no one makes a compatible LED bulb. There are literally millions of 3 way lamps out there that no one is going to rewire. Instead they will forever be inconvenient to use.

lol

Doing so could have caused an insidious shock hazard because with a standard bulb in a three way socket, in every other "off" position there would still be a hot terminal in the socket.

I don't follow. Why is an unconnected terminal in the socket a dangerous condition? You can't reach it when a bulb is plugged in. When no bulb is plugged in there are two "shock" hazards.

The current design has exactly the same issue in any case.

How so? If you reverse the contacts, there is still one (single filament light bulb) "off" position with a hot contact.

I have a "3-way" CLF fixture in a ceiling fan. Its switch wired for off-one-three-four 60W equivalent CFLs. ;-)

It will.

With a regular bulb in a three way socket, it is OFF-OFF-ON-ON. After the s econd "ON" the next click is all off. You know it is off. so if you had use d a regular bulb in a pinch and then obtain a three way bulb and go to inst all it, you KNOW it is off after that last "ON" position.

The other possibility might sound like a conspiracy theory. That three way lamp manufacturers were in cahootz with the three way bulb manufacturers an d wantd to inconvenince those who did not pay up for the three way bulbs.

I also find it very suspicious that the gasoline "they" make works perfectl y in the cars "they" sell. And did you notice about cassettes way back then ? Ever hear the axion "Create a need and fill it" ?

Obviously a big plot to make money.

The car thing, Ransom Eli Olds started that in this country. Before then th ey used to burn gasoline out in the fields beecauseit was considered a wast e product. Stunk, no good for cooking nor lamps, and in fact amost dangerou s to keep in the house. So up comes the first conspirator and figures out h ow to use the shit. the rest is history and now the waste product they used to just burn to get rid of, is now the lifeblood of society to the point w here we fight wars over it.

The plan obviously worked.