Can you use a 3 way light bulb in a one way socket?

[whitegorilla372]

There are two filaments in a three-way bulb, low and mid-level amounts of light when lit separately. When the switch is turned once with a bulb rated 50–100–150 watts, only the 50 watt filament is lit. If a three-way bulb is put in a one way socket, only the 100 watt filament- middle brightness- will light up.

[yellowduck771]

Three way sockets were designed to accept normal incandescent bulbs. There is nothing different between the one way LED bulb and the one way incandescent bulb. So it is not only safe, but by design.

Subsequently, question is, how do you know if a light bulb is 3 way? Three-way sockets look very similar. The difference is that next to the metal tab at the bottom, theres a third contact—a bit smaller than the metal tab and set slightly off center. That extra contact matches a small ring-shaped contact on the bottom of a three-way fluorescent bulb.

Thereof, how do you use a three way light bulb?

Screw base three-way light bulbs and sockets work by supplying power first to the low-wattage element or filament—the 30W or 50W or 100W element in the three examples above. It will then send power to the middle-wattage element or filament (the 70W or 100W or 200W element), and finally to both at once.

What happens when you put a 3 way bulb in a regular socket?

Thus, if a 3-way bulb is screwed into a standard light socket that has only a center contact, only the medium-power filament operates. In the case of the 50 W / 100 W / 150 W bulb, putting this bulb in a regular lamp socket will result in it behaving like a normal 100W bulb.