Christmas lights

I'd say 8 volts if put in series. Math: 240 / 30 = 8 Volts

Your name spake thus:

Yes--simple arithmetic: 240/30. I leave the answer as an exercise for the reader.

-- I hope that in a few years it [Wikipedia] will be so bloated that it will simply disintegrate, because I can't stand the thought that this thing might someday actually be used as a serious reference source. Because in its current form, it's not to be taken seriously at all.

- Horst Prillinger (see

Are they really in series? That is, when one goes out do they all go out? Some light strings are series/parallel.

'I say, d'you know those olympic synchronised swimmers? If one drowns, do they all drown?'

Most 240V sets (UK anyway) are all in series, but each bulb is designed to self-short if the filament fails - so the rest of the set remain alight, though sharing now a higher voltage per bulb. Eventually, after more bulb failures (due to overrun) the fuse bulb will blow and tommy will get upset, bawl out tears, and santa will head seriously for the drinks cupboard again.

What's 'Your name' worrying about Christmas for? It's more than six months away!

Um, cocktail hour here in the states. Good idea.

Most everywhere else are too, though often the larger sets are segmented with several smaller series sections.

I have one set of UK miniature lights which is very unusual from my perspective as it has sections of 10 2.4v bulbs in series and runs from a 24V transformer, that's something I've never seen on this side of the pond.

Can you give me a little hint?

I'd give you a hint, but I'm getting a little old, and don't understand this new math, so....

I'm pretty sure that these youngsters today got one part wrong. They keep saying pie are square, and that's just not right! Even us old guys know that pie are round, it's cake that square!

Take care.

Ken