220v from 110v for a street light

Hi people.
Got a street light from Europe, thus in need of an idea how to power it up using two 110v lines to make 220.

Please let me know how to, with some pictures if possible.
Heard of 2 phase conversion, but don't know how it works...

You simply put a two pole breaker in your panel such that the two outputs are fed from opposite line terminals. That usually requires that you use a full size breaker. The voltage between the two outputs will be 240V.
But you must make sure that your light is designed such that either input wire (in this case both) can be 120V from ground potential.
It is not code compliant or safe to try to do this using two existing circuits.

Or you can use one 120V circuit and a transformer.
In either case, and particularly if the light will be outside, you need to have a licensed electrician do the work!

The light will be outside my summer house. No license workers needed.
My neighbor said that initially all houses get 220v, and only then this voltage is split to 110v.
Also heard that I can use a wall plug that is for ovens, dryers, etc. It's 220v, just a different plug...

Tell me more about two pole breakers please. Can i join 2 110v lines and get one 220v?

In the US the common utility service is called 120/240 single phase three wire.
What this means is that there is a neutral wire, N, and two 120VAC wires, L1 and L2.
But the two lines are of opposite polarity. That means that when L1 is positive L2 is negative and vice versa. The result is that the voltage between L1 and L2 is 240VAC.
In the circuit breaker panel a 240V load like an air conditioner or a stove will be fed from a single large breaker that is fed from both lines and so provides two output wires with a voltage difference of 240V.
The National Electrical Code requires that the appliance be fed from one breaker so that a short circuit will always open both line connections at the same time.
If you take two 120V circuits that are both connected to the same line, L1 for example, then you cannot get 240V from them.
And in case it was not clear, normal 120V loads are wired from one L to N.

RCTPAVUK said:

The light will be outside my summer house. No license workers needed.
My neighbor said that initially all houses get 220v, and only then this voltage is split to 110v.
Also heard that I can use a wall plug that is for ovens, dryers, etc. It's 220v, just a different plug...

Tell me more about two pole breakers please. Can i join 2 110v lines and get one 220v?

Click to expand...

- Europe is 240V
- North America is 120/240V, SINGLE PHASE. It is not dual phase technically. It's a tapped transformer with the center tap a neutral and should be grounded.
- In a breaker box, positions alternate to each side of the tap. Use one breaker, and the live is 120 from neutral. Use two positions and there is no neutral, you get two lives both 120V from ground
- Those two lives should run your light, just remember to run a ground.
- If you touch both lives at the same time, yes it is dangerous. 240 is very dangerous, you can't let go. That said, either wire is only 120V from ground and in that respect, is safer.
- The driver in the light is unlikely to "notice" that you have two lines 120 from ground, not one grounded, and one at 240V, however, the level of EMI is likely to be higher.

As noted, alternate is to use a transformer. As its your summer home, the loss of efficiency with a transformer may not be a big deal.

Semiman

You should have no problem running that light with joined 110v power. you will be doing the same thing that most 220v baseboard heaters require you to do, you will have two lines that are 110V and then when you connect the two of them together and wire It up like normal you will get 220v of current, most houses and apartments are wired like this in those places so you can either hook up 220 or 110v heaters. Now unless the wiring that you have already is set up for that you must rewire a set of breakers to handle it.

May I ask why you feel the need to run a 240v streetlight at your home? If you just want a very bright light there are plenty of 110v metal Halide or high pressure sodium bulbs that would more than serve your purpose and would be cheaper to run in the long run.
And there are LED lights that run on low AC voltages with an inverter circuit they are pretty low power, ive only seen them with less than 200 lumens but they use crap LED bulbs and are less than $50 for the whole unit. It wouldnt take much to build yourself a nice LED floodlight with a CREE XML Led or something that puts off some serious light. you could even cannibalize one of those led lights that are already on the market for the cuircutry and replace the LED with something like a CREE XML or another high output quality LED unit and make yourself something pretty impressive that uses almost no power.

RCTPAVUK said:

Got a street light from Europe, thus in need of an idea how to power it up using two 110v lines to make 220.

Click to expand...

There are projects that are best done by professionals.

Just sayin'...